August Update

We are less than one month away from our DTS and we are excited about the students God has given us. We have been praying for 10 students and it looks like we will have 9 coming in September. Four of the students are from Guatemala. They speak Tzutujil as their first language and Spanish is their second language. We are blessed to have them be a part of this life changing experience. Please keep all the students in your prayers as they make final preparations to come.
We hosted a group from Knoxville, TN this month who came to do a construction project with another ministry. They put in some long days of work and accomplished a lot in the short time they were here. We are blessed to be able to have a facility that can accommodate teams comfortably and it is always good to fellowship with believers from different parts of the world who come here.
We will be hosting a group of artists from Pepperdine University on August 14 for a week or so. They have shipped art supplies here and will be distributing them and doing ministry using the talents God has given them.
We are looking for a new ministry site for Higher Grounds Coffee House as we will be vacating our present site at the end of October. We are working with Seeds of Hope Ministry as they will be taking over the operation of the coffee house and will be focusing on ministering to the Guatemalan youth. Please pray that God will open up a perfect place for the ministry to be established and for all the helpers that are needed to carry out the ministry.

July Update

DTS News: The summer is cruising by quickly and we are preparing for the DTS that will begin in September. We have students from the USA, England and Guatemala registered as well as student from Ghana who would like to be here if a visa can be procured. We are excited about the students God has sent our way and look forward to working with them during the 5 months of training. We have some great teachers coming and we believe that God will speak through them to all us, both students and staff. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword and as we sit under anointed teaching it changes lives.

Summer in Antigua: We have hosted groups from Chico, California and Knoxville, Tennessee this summer along with several individuals who have come to Antigua to study Spanish or conduct ministry. The Lord has been faithful to keep the base occupied and has sent volunteers our way to help us with the work. Currently we have a young lady from England working with us for a month. She will be assisting with the teams coming and teaching ESL. We were blessed to have the World Race group pass through the coffee house, all 90 of them! Business has been slow so their visit really helped us financially.

Future of Higher Grounds Coffee House : We have made a decision to close the doors of the coffee house at the end of October when our lease expires. The current owner of the property wants to increase the rent substantially and we are not able or willing to pay what she wants. In addition we will do not have the staff needed to properly run the coffee house with the DTS coming this fall and we want to focus our efforts in other areas. We are praying that God will raise up several people who will carry on the ministry at Higher Grounds. It is a unique ministry and really there is no other place in Antigua that serves the needs of Christians who are passing through or are staying for an extended time and are looking for a safe and pleasent place to study, fellowship and worship in English. Please join us in prayer as we truly desire to see the ministry continue in the hands of another ministry.

Wedding Bells: One of our staff members, Abner, is getting married October 24! We are happy for Abner and Katie and pray that God will bless their union and place them in the ministry he desires for them.

May Update

The month of May has been a great month of ministry. We hosted the CDTS students from Chico and set up ministry for them in Antigua as well as ministry in San Pablo La Laguna. The CDTS is a small group of 4 students so each of them get to be involved in every aspect of the ministry. They have conducted the Thursday night English worship service at Higher Grounds Coffee House and have introduced some new things that have been really good. We will take advantage of their different approach and use it in some of our meetings. The leaders of the team had to return to Canada due to the death of Dawn's father who died suddenly and unexpectantly from a brain aneurism. The entire family of 5 returned for the funeral and the CDTS was left without a leader for a few days until help could be sent. The students continued their ministry and have done an excellent job. They will be returning to Chico on June 4 to complete their training.
May 18-21 we hosted a seminar on Financial Support Raising. It was attended by 30 people who really benefitted from the teachings of Andy Huddleston and John Ray. Their timely and practical advice along with testimonies of God's provision for their ministries was a huge encouragement to all of us. Everyone was given tools to use to help them raise the support they need to continue the ministry God has given them.
We also conducted a seminar on prayer with the ladies of the Assemblies of God in the Lake Atitlan area. Over 200 women along with as many children and a few pastors were in attendance. We had simultaneous ministry going on for each of the groups. We plan to do more of this type of ministry in the future in addition to conducting seminars in Antigua.
We are recruiting students for the September DTS. We are offering 5 scholarships to help Guatemalan youth attend and have 3 applications submitted. It will be a tremendous opportunity for them to participate in the DTS. Please pray that God will supply all we need to make the DTS a reality this September!

April News

We are in the middle of Semana Santa, Holy Week in Antigua. It is a big celebration in the country and Antigua will have thousands of visitors coming to participate in the events. It is a colorful time as people decorate the streets with alfombras which are like rugs made of colored sawdust, flower petals and fruit. Some are very elaborate and take hours to make while others are pretty simple. The processional will walk over them and completely destroy them in a matter of seconds and then the city cleanup crew follows behind to dispose of all the material. It seems like an awful lot of work to have it destroyed so quickly. Higher Grounds Coffee House will be open all night Thursday as this is the big night of the week. At 3 a.m. Roman soldiers will come riding on horseback and the proclamation of Jesus being sentenced to death will be read in various places in town. The entire week places most of its focus on the suffering and death of Christ and in the past the day of the resurrection there is very little celebration and the town returns to a silent state. YWAM Antigua will be conducting a sunrise service at Cero de la Cruz which is on the side of a hill overlooking Antigua. It is a beautiful setting and a great way to begin the most important day of believers in Christ. Without the resurrection our life is being lived in vain. But thanks be to God who raised Christ from the dead and through him we have the promise and assurance that we too will one day rise from the grave and be clothed with immortality!
We are presently hosting a Crossroads DTS group from Chico, California until June 4. They will be doing a variety of mercy ministries and some ministry to children, youth and adults. We are blessed to have them with us and look forward to all that God will do in each member of the team. Please pray for them and pray for the activities we will be involved in during Semana Santa. We want Jesus to be glorified and for people to embrace the resurrection life that is only available through a personal relationship with him.

Outreach teams

Our 2 teams, one from Laramie, WY and the other from Austin, TX are busy with a variety of ministries this week, that include construction, food distribution, drama presentation, music, and evangelism. They will both leave at the end of the week and then we will be hosting a Crossroads DTS from Chico, CA for part of their outreach.
The weekend activites of Lent have begun in Antigua and the city is expecting large crowds. We are looking forward to the ministry opportunities.

March news

During the month of March we will be hosting 2 teams from the USA. One team will be doing a variety of ministries and the other team will focus on constructing a home for a Pastor and establishing a feeding program for children in the mercado. We look forward to working with them and pray that God will give them a great experience while they are here.
The Lent period in Antigua with all of its processions started last Sunday. Each weekend until Easter there will be at least one procession. Thousands of people will be coming to Antigua to watch these activities. It is a time of year when people are open to the gospel message and we ask that you will pray for the believers here to take advantage of these opportunities to share the gospel message.

Construction Project and Prayer Seminar

During the first week of February we joined forces with a group from Canada to help with the construction of a health clinic in San Pablo La Laguna. We began work at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning and finished pouring the roof at 3 p.m. Over 40 men from the community and church came out to help. The clinic will be completed in the next couple of months and will meet a great need for better health care in San Pablo. We also constructed a home for a family of 7. Their small two room adobe style home was replaced with a block home that will be much more comfortable for them. We made a triple bunk bed so the 4 boys will have a bed with a mattress instead of a board or the ground to sleep on.
On February 14 we hosted a seminar on prayer at Higher Grounds Coffee House which was attended by 45 people. It was a great day of learning and practical application on prayer and worship. Our desire is to use the coffee house meeting room to be a place of regularly scheduled prayer as well as personal prayer throughout the week.