DTS Update Week 9

We are currently in our 9th week of the classroom phase. Our topic this week is Spiritual Warfare and our teacher is Terry Keith the Base Director of YWAM Heredia Costa Rica. Terry has been a YWAMERS for 26 years and has vast experience in the ministry. We are blessed to have such highly qualified and experienced teachers in our DTS this year.

We have made a decision to do our outreach in Haiti and Guatemala this year. We will be leaving for Haiti to work with YWAM Haiti on October 16 and return November 17. Our last 3 weeks of outreach will be spent in Guatemala in 3 different locations: Yulmacap in NW Guatemala; Quetzaltenango and San Pablo La Laguna.

DTS 2011

We have just completed the 4th week of the classroom phase of the DTS. We have 12 students attending this year from the USA, Canada and Curacao. Through the generosity of a local church we are able to use their classroom for our daily classes which helps the student focus on the studies and eliminates distractions at the base. We have been blessed to be able to secure excellent teachers from the USA, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Each day the students are involved in work duty and this year we are partnering with a hospital for disabled children and adults, an orphanage and a ministry that makes wheel chairs.
The students are also involved in the weekly ministries of the base which include the English Worship service, Kids club, feeding the poor and conducting a worship service for homeless people.
We are tentatively making plans to do our outreach in Haiti and Guatemala. Please pray for the students finances that they will each be able to raise the support needed ($2000).

Diaspora DTS and Riverpoint Outreach

After the team from Nachitoches, Louisiana left we were surprised by a call from the Diaspora DTS from the YWAM Los Angeles base. They were on their 2 month outreach to Central America and contacted us on short notice to see if they could spend a week with us. We had the time they wanted available so we were able to host them and conduct ministry with them. They had 9 team members with only a couple who spoke English as all of them were from South Korea. They were a wonderful team to host. We enjoyed their times of worship in Korean, the dramas and songs they did with the children and their times of intercession.
We just finished hosting Riverpoint Church from Georgia for a week. They brought the largest team we have ever hosted-24 youth and adults. We had a great time of ministry with them and divided them into 2-3 groups at times to be able to get more involvement and touch more lives. Some of the things they did were: Kids ministry at the base; home construction project; painting a Christian school; ministry at Hermano Pedro Hospital and Orphanage; feeding the poor; conducting services for the homeless. Kids ministry in Santa Maria de Jesus and evangelism in Central Park. They took advantage of ministry opportunities that became available and did a great job. We were blessed by their servant attitude and sincere desire to see people reached with the gospel.
Our next group arrives July 10 from Rochester, Minnesota. They will be our last team before we start our DTS on July 24 with 13 students.

Natchitoches Outreach

From May 30 to June 8 we hosted First Baptist Church of Natchitoches, Louisiana. They came prepared with ministry for children and adults. Part of their time was spent working at the YWAM base in the minstries we do on a regular basis and they spent time at San Pablo La Laguna ministering in two churches we have formed relationships with over the past 8 years. We also have an intern, Dave, working with us for 6 weeks. He and the music pastor of the Baptist church sang the song in the video and were a blessing to everyone.You can view this on youtube: Outreach Music at San Pablo La Laguna.

We will be hosting 3 more teams in June and July and then will focus our efforts on the DTS which starts on July 24. We are anticipating 12 students enrolling and look forward to working with each of them.

Miraculous Healing!

Last Saturday 3 of our staff and another YWAMer from Colorado Springs traveled to San Pablo La Laguna to visit some families and take pictures of the home and church construction projects we are providing financial assistance. We stopped to pray for a 17 year old girl, Tracy, who had serious health issues that the doctors could not diagnose nor prescribe anything to help her. She experienced paralysis at times over most of her body, would go into a state of unconsciousness for up to an hour and a half and was unable to walk the day we saw her due to the intense pain she felt in her leg. When we met her in her parents home she was sitting in the chair as noted in the picture. We joined in prayer for her and asked God to heal her in the way of his choosing and in his timing. She was not healed immediately but a couple days later she was at a church in Panajachel and four women carried her to the front of the church at the altar and prayed for her. She felt a fire go through her body and she was instantly healed and began to walk and leap and shout for joy!!!! All praise be to our all powerful and loving God who hears the prayers of his children and responds.

Outreach Ministries

YWAM Antigua has several ministry programs that we conduct on a weekly basis.

Every Monday night we host a worship service in English in Antigua. We have a time of contemporary worship, teaching, prayer and fellowship at our service that reaches out to the English speaking population of Antigua. Many of the people who attend are missionaries or students who have come to Antigua to learn English. The service provides a connecting point for people who are here short term or long term. When visiting teams are with us we always make their participation in the service an option for them. During our DTS our visiting teachers participate in the Worship service.

Each week at the base we host Kid's Club for the neighborhood children. Typically we have from 40-60 kids coming for a time of singing, stories, crafts and games. Many of the children are unchurched so this is a great opportunity to make an eternal impact on their lives. Visiting teams often will do several days of kids ministry at the base and it is always a special time for the children.

Every Saturday night we host "Soul Patrol" at the Central park in Antigua. This is a hang out place for people of all ages. Many are passing time, relaxing and are open to having a conversation about Christ. There are a mixture of Spanish speaking and English speaking people in the park which give everyone more opportunities to share their faith with someone who speaks their language. God always shows up and leads us to people in need and it is a blessing to be able to be available and used to bring God's love to people.

One night during the week we do a small feeding program for people who live on the streets of Antigua. Many are addicted to chemicals or have been abandoned for various reasons. We give them a hot meal and spend time talking with them as well as pray for them. These are the people that most people pass by yet they are equally loved by God and worthy of being treated with care and love.

On Sunday nights we have been holding a worship service for a group of homeless people who live by the market area of Antigua. Each of them has a story of how they got there but our goal is to get them out of there, free from addictions and working to meet their needs. We want Christ to take control of their lives and bring the changes that are needed to help them enjoy the life he intends for them to live. Please keep these outreaches in your prayers.

Home in San Pablo destroyed by fire

Fire destroys home On Tuesday night the home of Gaspar and Anna with 9 other family members living in San Pablo La Laguna was completely destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire has not been determined but the family is now homeless and has lost everything that was inside the home. All clothing, school books and notebooks, beds, blankets etc. was consumed in the blaze. The home was made of wood and was built for the family after Hurricane Stan struck Guatemala in 2005. No one was in the home when the fire started and we are very thankful for that. The family attends Canaan Assemblies of God church in San Pablo and the church is housing them in their Sunday school classrooms until other housing can be arranged. It has been a very tragic event for the family and the community and we are praying that many people within the community as well as people like you will be able to help them recover their losses. Please keep the family in prayer and if you would like to make a donation to help them rebuild their home I know they would greatly appreciate it. The home that was burned down was similar to the one in the photo on the left. The family like most families in this community is poor and does not have the resources to build a new home. We have been bringing teams to San Pablo for several years and have built a dozen or more homes for families who would never have been able to build a home with the income they receive which on average is $4-5 per day. A typical home we are able to build using cement blocks and a metal roof costs about $1800-$2000. We also build bunk beds for the children so they can have their own bed and not sleep on the floor or have to share a bed with several others. We always provide windows and doors for the home as well. It is a very simple home but provides adequate shelter for the familes and is much healthier to live in than the adobe homes that are made of clay bricks and have dirt floors. If you have a team coming to Guatemala that would like to build a home for them please let me know. Donation information is noted below. If you want to donate please make your check payable to YWAM Antigua and send it to the following address with a note attached stating it is for the Home Construction Project. All monies sent will go directly for the project and are tax deductible. Thank you for your help! YWAM Chico 15850 Richardson Springs Rd Chico, CA 95973