DTS Outreach to Lesvos, Greece Week 2 Update

"They will know we are Christians by our love." 

From before the beginning of outreach, we knew that evangelism in the camps was going to look different than it did in Guatemala. The people we encounter on our shifts at the refugee camp are primarily Muslims, and to help protect Euro Relief (the program we are partnering with) there are limitations on the ways we can express our faith with the refugee's. During our orientation, we were told to live Matthew 25. Jesus says that when we feed the hungry, when we give the thirsty something to drink, when we welcome strangers, when we clothe the naked, when we care for the sick, when we visit prisoners -  this, we did for Him. There are opportunities to meet those needs every day at the refugee camp. 1 John 3:18 says: "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 

We all know 1 Corinthians 13. We know that we love because God first loved us. We know that God is love, and we know that when we love, we are representing Him. Still, very day we walk into the camp, I find my self asking the Lord:

"Today, what does love look like?"

Sometimes, love looks like giving all of your energy and more to a group of 30 children who are bored, restless, and crazy. Love looks like letting four kids play with your hair at once, or letting them draw on your face with chalk, or playing games with them for 8 hours straight (somehow managing to keep their attention for more than 2 minutes). Sometimes, love looks like bandaging the arms of men who cut themselves because they could no longer handle the pain of the trauma, hopelessness and despair that they feel. Sometimes, love looks like sorting through clothing boxes all day - looking for clothes with limited resources. Love looks like giving people laundry detergent, when it is the only need on their list we can meet. Love looks like patience when refugees raise their fists and voices because we don't have any mens shoes to give them. 

"I still love you!" one of our leaders likes to say in response. 

Love looks like helping a man clean up his tent because someone has covered every inch of it with alcohol. It looks like finding a place for is wife and children to sleep, who are shaking with terror. Love looks like preventing a riot by playing board games with the men who are angry that they couldn't get their papers to leave the refugee camp. Love looks telling our stories, and it also looks like listening to the stories of the refugees. Love looks like encouraging the refugee that met Jesus 5 days ago, and says that the dangers of his new faith are "not important to him." Love looks like continually visiting a 16 year old who recently discovered Jesus through a vision, and lives in a Muslim family that does not encourage his faith. Love looks like building relationships, and visiting people more than once. Love looks like working your hardest, no matter how simple your job that day may seem.  Love looks like interceding for the refugees when it is not safe for us to enter the camp. Love looks like holding and singing to a little girl for as long as she needs because she is tired, lonely, sad, and just wants to be held. 

What the team has realized is that sometimes, our actions seem like small things; but when we do them with love, they become big things. When we love with everything we have, people ask questions. When we do Matthew 25, people want to know about the God we serve. The team continually thanks God for the opportunities we have had to share Jesus through actions and through conversations. 

 

The UNHCR estimates over 8,000 refugees have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe since 2014. This week, we saw thousands of life jackets, clothes, rubber dinghies, and boats that were used to help carry people from the Middle East into Europe. It had a huge impact on all of us because we've seen these people and heard their stories that have led them to take such a dangerous trek across the sea in hopes of a safer and better life. This crisis is very real, and these refugees are in great need. Please be in prayer for the situations in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all of the Middle East. Most of these nations are very dangerous to enter but here in Greece where there are thousands of refugees from different nations we have the opportunity to share with them the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord and in Him there is hope, peace, love, and everlasting life. We are honored by this incredible opportunity the Lord has given us. 

Due to security issues, for the next little while volunteers are unable to enter the refugee camp. We do not know when we will be able to return, however, please be praying that it will be as soon as possible. In the mean time, pray that God would show us different ways we can be serving Him here in Lesvos. 

DTS Outreach to Lesvos, Greece: Week 1

Blog post brought to you by Graeme
Our first week on outreach has been very eventful. We have already had so many fun adventures and are still looking forward to many more. We have seen God move in some different ways and it has been so exciting.
Our first few days this week were spent traveling. We flew from Guatemala City, Guatemala to San Salvador, El Salvador. We spent an hour in the airport then flew to Madrid, Spain, a 9 hour flight. From there we flew to Barcelona, Spain and spent the night in a hostel not too far from the airport. The next morning we flew to Athens, Greece and then after a long layover we flew to the island of Lesvos, where we will be spending the next month.
After all that travel the adventure had just began. We landed at around 9PM and after collecting all of our luggage we found the two 9-passenger vans we rented. Bruce was one driver, and Tyler, our only other person who is allowed to drive took the other van. Bruce’s van had most of the people and Tyler’s van had a few people and all of the luggage (Bruce may have had it that way because of Tyler’s lack of stick-shift experience). Bruce’s van led the way on the hour long journey from the city of Mytilene, to the town of Molyvos where our hotel is.
The road winds through the mountains, with narrow roads and hairpin turns, but Tyler was able to keep up with Bruce. After a few wrong turns and missed exits Tyler’s van realized they were running low on gas. Maybe it was the extra baggage, or maybe it was just getting out of first gear, but the gas light was on and Tyler’s van was in serious danger of running out of gas. After backtracking for a few minutes because of a wrong turn, despite all the prayers, Tyler’s van finally gave out. It could go no further. The van was in the middle of the road and it needed to be moved. Memo, Chloe, Alyssa and Marissa answered the call and pushed the car safely to the side of the road while Graeme watched on, supervising from the beach .
At this point it was about one o’clock in the morning. The students did what any DTS group would do; they got in a circle and thanked Jesus for having them run out of gas in front of a beautiful beach under the stars. Then they began a worship session. It wasn’t long until Bruce showed up with the other van and after taking the girls to the hotel, he came back with gas to take the boys to the hotel.
The next day was mostly spent resting and catching up on sleep. We were given orientation and told how we were expected to act in the refugee camp, as representatives of YWAM, Eurorelief (the organization we are working under) and Jesus Christ.
Our first shift we pulled was an overnight shift, 12AM-8AM. When we showed up we learned that there had just been a riot. The volunteers working the shift before us had been evacuated after the tent they were working in had rocks thrown through it. There had been a fight and one of the guys ran into the tent seeking medical attention. Unfortunately, he was under hot pursuit and many men broke down the door, while other angry men threw rocks in after him. There was an altercation that occurred inside the tent as well, but all the volunteers were led safely out.
By the time we arrived, tensions were lower and people were calming down. A few minor fights broke out throughout the night but nothing too serious. That night most of us worked in the family compound, playing with kids and talking to people who were still awake. Some of us guys worked in the info tent, where we try to meet people’s needs by fixing their tents or handing out supplies such as diapers to mothers, razors to the men, and other miscellaneous needs.

During the day we do a variety of tasks. We put tents together, we take clothe orders and deliver the orders that we have taken. There are lots of clothes that we try to give out, but everyone at the camp has certain things they need and keeping up with demand is impossible. We are looking into more efficient ways to hand out clothing to those in need. 
A few of us had an encounter with some Muslim ladies who needed clothes. We brought them clothes for their families and they were so thankful. None of them spoke English but we managed to communicate for a while with laughing and smiling and broken English and Arabic. We had been praying for someone who could translate so that we could share more about ourselves and understand what they were telling us. Pretty soon, a friend of theirs showed up and she could speak great English. We got to stay a lot longer and have fun with the families. We have been back again and each time the family is happy to see us. Please pray that we will be good witnesses and be given wise words to share Christ with these families.

We would like to thank you for praying for us. We arrived safely in Greece and are so confident that this is where the Lord wants us. Many of us are battling sickness and we can We feel fatigue kicking in. Please continue to pray for the health of our team and for divine encounters from the Lord. We would love the opportunity to witness to families and see people come to Christ.

April Update

Base Construction
Our new YWAM base will soon be completed!!! We are expecting to make the big move in June to the new base.  We are grateful to the Lord for the provision to buy land and build and we are still in need of money to finish the construction and buy some new  appliances.  If you would like to make a donations it will be greatly appreciated.  We are excited about the potential of reaching more people and having a better training facility for our DTS and all the ministries we conduct weekly at the base.


DTS to Greece and Israel!
Our Compassion DTS will be leaving on May 7 for the island of Lesvos.  Refugees from Syrian and

other countries have been fleeing the violence and destruction in their home countries to see refuge in Greece.  YWAM has been working with the refugees to provide food, clothing, medical help as well as spiritual help to the thousands of people who are in desperate need of assistance.  Our DTS will be spending 4 weeks helping minister to the people.  We will also be traveling to Bethlehem, Israel to work with the Palestinians whom YWAM has been able to establish relationships.  We are excited about the ministry opportunities we will experience in Greece and Israel.  Please pray for our group of 14.

Summer Spanish School and Outreach
We will be conducting a one month Spanish language learning experience during the month of July.  It will be a combination of Spanish language learning, discipleship training and ministry experiences.  The first 3 weeks will focus on learning Spanish and the final week will be an outreach to San Miguel Chicaj in Guatemala.  We will be working with the YWAM base and conducting a variety of ministries where the students will be able to communicate in Spanish to the people.  Deadline for registration is May 31 an enrollment is limited to 10 students.

New Voluntary Missionaries
We have 3 new missionaries working with our base!  David and Juli Voncannon have been serving in Guatemala for several years working with street people and the DTS. Denis Garcia will also join us to start the "Homes of Hope" program in the near future.  We are thankful for their decision to be a part of our base and look forward to working with them.

New Association
Our base along with the 2 other YWAM bases in Guatemala are currently in the process of forming Associations that will be recognized by the Guatemalan government. Our new legal name in Guatemala will be "Centro de Entrenamiento Misionero y Apoyo Social" (CEMAS) In English it is called" Center for Missionary Training and Social Assistance.  Being recognized will enable us to  do more things in Guatemala and provide visas for missionary volunteers who come to serve with us.

Donations:
If you would like to send a donation to support our base you can use our online link or you can send a check made payable to YWAM Chico.  Send the donation to:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Road
Chico, CA 95973
Please attach a note to indicate it is for YWAM Antigua.

Base update

DTS Outreach Teams.
This past week we had the DTS from YWAM Heredia, Costa Rica ministering with us.  They joined us in our ministries to the children, senor citizens, Soul Patrol evangelism, Bible distribution and our worship service that is open to the community. We always enjoy hosting DTS teams and make ourselves available to help them achieve the purposes of the DTS outreach.  Our base has a fireplace on the roof which we use frequently with teams. We will be receiving another DTS team from San Jose this week and we look forward to working with them.
This week we are also hosting a Dental Clinic for people in our neighborhood.  A dentist from Minnesota and two other people are with him to conduct the clinic.  We are scheduling 12 people each day for 4 days so they will be helping many people in the short time they are with us.  They also will be purchasing and installing 2 fuel effecient stoves in the community and will bring food to bless them.


Base Construction continues to move forward and we are anticipating that the first floor will be completed by the end of February.  We are excited to be able to use the new facility for the DTS and short term teams that will be coming.  We prayed and asked for donations to help us raise the money needed to construct the second level of the building ($60,000) and we received all we needed thanks to the generosity of several people including a matching gift of $30,000.  We have a team from Yelm, Washington coming in mid February to work for 2 weeks on the construction of the base.  We are praying that they will help speed up the timeline of completion through the volunteer help they will be providing.


Our next DTS begins on February 13 and we have 9-10 students enrolled.  All of them speak English so we will conduct the entire course in English.  We are looking forward to the 5 months of training they will receive and are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the transformational process that happens to students in the DTS. It is not too late to join us if you are interesting in attending!!!

DTS Outreach Week 7,: La Ceiba, Honduras

La Ceiba Week 7
What can I say?  Our team has been on outreach for the past seven weeks now.  We have seen and done some amazing things here.  Actually the truth is, God has done everything.  He has provided everything we need and worked miracles through us.  He gave us strength on the days we felt weak, healing on the days we were sick, energy when the kids needed to be loved, and patience when we feel overwhelmed.  God doesn’t have to prove that he is anything, but he has proven to be faithful time and time again.  With God, all things are possible and we have seen him do some pretty impossible things.
This has been our last full week of ministry here in La Ceiba and definitely not an easy week.  Every member of our team including the leaders and Bruce have been sick this week.  A bad cough has swept over each of us, more severe for some of us.  Jaimie went to the clinic on Monday to get checked out.  We received news that she has bronchitis or pneumonia; they did not take an x-ray so we can’t be sure, either way it’s serious.  Most of the week she did not have the energy to do anything and was prohibited from participating in children’s ministry.  That was tough because each of us thoroughly enjoy children’s ministry.  Most everyone else was healthy enough to participate with an occasional person staying back to rest.
Since this is Jaimie writing the blog, I truly don’t know all of what happened this week.  I apologize for that but have gathered information from those who have participated in the ministries.  Monday morning, the team went to the church to work on the building.  To start, they sanded part of the walls as they are in need of a new coat of paint very soon.  Unfortunately, they did not get the opportunity to return to finish the painting job.  With everything they do, they give 100% and as I stayed back to go the doctor, I did my part by praying for them.  Sometimes, all we can do is pray.  We pray for prosperity, the Holy Spirit’s presence and guidance, God to move mightily in people’s lives, health, energy, and joy.  God answers each and every request.  There have been times that we feel God is not answering us, but sometimes that is because he has not answered them in the way we wanted him to.  We go through trials because God is showing us the way he has for us.  Times do come where our schedule is changed because God wants to use us in a different way.
Tuesday through Thursday we did a mixture of children’s ministry and house visits.  Children’s ministry has been a challenge this week.  The reason for this is that the culture is different here than in the other places we’ve been and therefore, the church is also run differently.  It is not uncommon to find that many people talk during the church service; in fact this is the normal.  Children’s ministry is just the same.  They do not sit still and pay attention very long and it is not just the “little ones” who get restless.  All feel the need to move around or talk to their neighbor.  While it is a hard part of culture to understand, we must accept it as truth and act accordingly to help the children to the best of our ability even through our feelings of unworthiness or incapability.
Pierce and Yuli had the opportunity to fulfill an appointment that only God could have set up.  They visited the TV station down here for an interview.  This station is partnered with one channel in the United States as well.  Only Pierce was interviewed.  Time ran out before Yuli had the opportunity to be interviewed but she took pictures and was there to pray for the Holy Spirit to guide Pierce’s thoughts and words.
House visits was enjoyable as I was able to participate very minimally with the rest of the team.  Not being able to hold the little children was so very hard for me because the children capture my heart in an instant.  God continued to give me the strength to overcome and a joy to be faithful during the times I did participate.  We have received no word of healings in the past few weeks but that does not mean that God is not moving.  There have been many times that he has chosen to move within us during the times we did not want to participate in ministry.  On the days we did not want to spend time in intercession because we simply wanted to go to bed seemed to be the nights that God would speak to us the most.  In all things, keep a good attitude and do those very things you don’t want to as though you were doing them for God and not for men.  Colossians 3:23 reminds us of that and so we correct our attitude and he continues to be faithful. 

RESUMEN DE LA SEMANA 7 por Yuli
Día 1: domingo 6 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día con devocional de Pierce después desayunamos. A las 8 fuimos a la iglesia y tuvimos ministerio con niños enfocado en misiones. Después almorzamos y tuvimos un tiempo libre. Cenamos y fuimos al servicio en la noche enfocado también en misiones. Después regresamos a casa y compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 2: lunes 7 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día desayunando después fuimos a la iglesia a hacer trabajitos en la mañana. Almorzamos y fuimos a visitar y a evangelizar casa por casa con algunas hermanas de la iglesia. Regresamos a casa. Cenamos y después tuvimos devocional por Manolo seguimos con adoración por Eliza y por ultimo intercesión dirigida por Manolo. Luego compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 3: martes 8 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día con el devocional por Yuli después desayunamos. En la mañana tuvimos ministerio con los niños de la iglesia. Bruce Pierce y Yuli fueron a la radio después regresaron a la casa. Cenamos y después tuvimos intercesión dirigida por Jaimie. Compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día. 

Día 4: miércoles 9 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día con el devocional por Jaimie después desayunamos. En la mañana tuvimos ministerio con los niños de la iglesia. Almorzamos y después fuimos a visitar y evangelizar casa por casa con algunas hermanas de la iglesia. Cenamos y fuimos al servicio de la noche. Regresamos a casa y compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 5: jueves 10 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día con el devocional por Eliza después desayunamos. En la mañana tuvimos ministerio con los niños de la iglesia. Almorzamos y después fuimos a visitar y evangelizar casa por casa con algunas hermanas de la iglesia. Después tuvimos adoración por Eliza y Compartimos altas y bajas. Cenamos y así termino el día

Día 6: viernes 11 de diciembre.
Empezamos el día con el devocional por Heidi después desayunamos. En la mañana tuvimos evangelismo en el parque de la Ceiba. Regresamos a casa a la 1 de la tarde. Almorzamos y en la tarde tuvimos adoración dirigida por Eliza e intercesión en la playa dirigida por Pierce. Cenamos y fuimos al servicio de la iglesia y ministramos. Regresamos a casa y compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

DTS Outreach Week 6: La Ceiba, Honduras

It took all day, but we arrived in La Ceiba safely.  Thankfully, God saved Heidi and Jaimie from serious injuries when a rock was thrown through their window on the bus.  The window completely shattered within seconds after the rock flew through.  They were hit with glass in the face and along their arms.  Thankfully they came out with only a few tiny scratches on their arms.  We were only 10 minutes from arriving at our destination in La Ceiba.  God watches over us no matter where we are or what situation we are in.

Our first few mornings we spent painting the outside of the pastor’s house.  Before beginning to actually paint, we had to peel away the old paint that was loose at the bottom of the wall and sweep the entire house to rid it of cobwebs and dust.  Monday went well after we fixed the little mess we got ourselves into.  Different people were told different things and we started painting with two different shades of paint.  They were quite close so it was an easy fix and we are all glad that the mistake was caught early in the process.  Many of us stayed on level ground while others were willing to go up the old, rickety wooden ladder to reach the very top of the wall where the rollers would not reach.  That person also painted behind the caged windows so the wall was completely painted one color.

There was no children’s ministry this week but we participated in several services.  Almost every night of the week, something is going on in the church.  People always seem to be gathering to corporately worship the great God we serve.  Worship here is very lively.  Along the coast, the people are descendants of the African slaves that were brought over years ago.  It has been a joy for us to participate in lively worship with them.  To sum it up, they fell their freedom to worship.  Hands go up all around the room, people keep beat to the drums by clapping their hands, people join hands to show they are not alone, shouts of praise and joy ring to the heavens and people sway as the Holy Spirit moves freely inside them.

We prepared for a youth conference which took place on Saturday.  Thursday afternoon we helped make center pieces for the tables.  Friday night we helped in the service as usual, but afterwards was when the real work started.  We were at the church until 11pm setting up and decorating for the conference which took place on Saturday.  During the conference, Yuli and Jaimie had the opportunity to preach.  Their topics were “Changing a generation through a life of dedication” by Yuli, and “Changing a generation through a life of service” by Jaimie.  The stories of Daniel and Joseph were both very helpful to their topics.  God truly speaks to people as they prepare to speak.  Those that deliver the message always seem to receive more than most of the people receive.  God works in mysterious ways.  We were there from 8am until a little after 6pm.  We were all so extremely tired and many of us were sick.  We decided not to wait an hour for the evening service to start and just went home.

“Being a leader is an opportunity to serve and not boast about a title or what you have.”  Manolo reminded us of this while at the conference on Saturday.  While he may not have been trying to come up with a great quote, it is 100% true.  While the coast is a big tourist attraction and the scenery reminds us of being back home in the States, we are here as missionaries to serve and not boast about what we could do while here.

Please keep our team in your prayers.  I’d like to share some of our specific prayers with you all.  We all need health prayers.  Many of us are getting sick with colds, bronchitis, headaches, twisted ankles etc.  As a team, we have been praying for each other for physical healing and also for the strength to finish what we have started.  We want to stay unified as one under the name of Jesus.  Prayers are greatly appreciated also as we think about coming home to our friends and family.  We all want smooth transitions back into our own cultures.  God Bless!

RESUMEN DE LA SEMANA 6

Día 1: domingo 29 de noviembre.

Viajamos todo el día desde las 3:30 am hasta las 8:30 pm. Cenamos nos ubicaron y si termino el día.

Día 2: lunes 30 de noviembre.

El día empezó con el devocional dado por Manolo y después desayunamos a las 8:00 am. En la mañana pintaron las paredes de la casa del pastor Nino. Almorzamos y tuvimos tiempo de adoración dirigida por Jaimie y luego tiempo de Intercesión dirigida por Eliza. Parte de la tarde fue libre después cenamos y así termino el día.

Día 3: martes 1 de diciembre.

 El día empezó con el devocional dado por Yuli y después desayunamos a las 8:00 am. En la Mañana se siguió pintando las paredes de la casa del pastor Nino. Almorzamos y tuvimos tiempo de adoración dirigido por Jaimie y luego tiempo de intercesión dirigido por Yuli. Parte de la tarde fue libre después cenamos y fuimos al servicio allí nos presentaron e hicimos un drama. Regresamos y tuvimos tiempo de compartir altas y bajas del día y así termino nuestro día.

Día 4: miércoles 2 de diciembre.

El día empezó con el devocional dado por Jaimie y después desayunamos a las 8:00 am.  Después en la mañana fuimos hacer evangelismo en el parque de la ceiba. Regresamos y almorzamos. En la tarde tuvimos intercesión dirigida por Heidi y el resto de la tarde fue libre. Cenamos y fuimos al servicio en la noche donde ministramos y dirigimos. Regresamos y compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 5: viernes 3 de diciembre.

El día empezó con el devocional dado por Eliza y después desayunamos a las 8:00 am. Tuvimos adoración dirigida por Jaimie y Se termino de pintar la parte que faltaba de la casa del pastor Nino en la mañana. A medio día almorzamos y luego en la tarde ayudamos a hacer los adornos para el congreso del sábado. Cenamos y fuimos a la iglesia donde compartimos la dirección del servició con el equipo que venía del Salvador. Después del Servicio adornamos y así termino el día.

Día 6: Sábado 9 de Diciembre.

Empezamos el día con devocional dado Haidi después desayunamos. Estuvimos todo el día en el congreso donde Jaimie y Yuli dieron plenarias y todos estuvimos sirviendo en el congreso. En la noche compartimos altar y bajas. Después regresamos a la casa y así termino el día.

DTS Outreach Week 5: San Miguel Chicaj, Guatemala

Week 5:  Sam Miguel Chicaj

Heaven Meets Earth

Our week in San Miguel Chicaj was very short.  For some it felt even shorter because they were unable to participate with the team due to an illness.  We all learned different things.  Jaimie learned how to overcome frustration through prayer for her team.  Even though she was unable to participate in house visits for two days, she learned just how important her prayers still are over those her team is encountering.  Prayer also empowers her teammates giving them the strength they need to continue praying over others.  Yuli has learned the importance of patience.  As she stayed back one day, she learned to simply wait for God’s perfect timing even when we want to do things our way.  All of us learned about flexibility.  We had the opportunity to work with another YWAM team who were from Juarez, Mexico all week.  Sharing our times of ministry, getting to know new people, and learning other ministry styles has been wonderful.  Sharing a kitchen for two teams would not be possible so we helped out the other team who already had a meal plan.  This suited both teams perfectly.

First day of ministry began with putting fresh paint on walls.  One of the buildings rented by the San Miguel Chicaj YWAM base still had its old school label pasted on the front of it.  The paint previously used to paint these signs was oil based and we had new paint that was water based.  To begin, all that oil had to be scraped off so the new paint would stick.  Then an entire new coat of paint was put on over the wall.  Several of the Guatemalan men looked at Jaimie weird because girls don’t usually paint and especially don’t climb a ladder.  I guess they got to see something new as well because she didn’t mind what other people thought about it.

Visiting radio stations has become a routine for us in Guatemala.  There is a saying, “Third time’s a charm” is actually quite true.  Everyone came back saying that it went better than the first two.  I think we just needed some experience which we all have received quite a bit by now.

Most of the other ministries we partook in were quite routine.  Evangelism in the park is the same set up but with different people God wants to encounter.  We do dramas to draw a crowd and give testimonies with the gospel message.  Afterwards, we all go out in small groups to talk with the people.  I have yet to see a person come up to me so we have made the habit of going out to the people.  Many of us learn things about the Holy Spirit and how he works during these times.  Some of us see someone who God highlights but we don’t know why.  As we begin talking with them, the Holy Spirit reveals more about the situation and then lovingly pushes you out of your comfort zone with an action.  The Holy Spirit can move in the other person but most often, he wants to use us as his tools.  For this reason, we have learned to be comfortable in stepping outside our comfort zones.

Family is a huge part of the Central American culture.  It is important that we take the opportunities given us to go out into the community and visit families.  Not one person on earth could say their life is perfect.  We all need prayer for one thing or another and the people here are very eager to receive prayer.  While I know of no miracles occurring this week, many felt the Holy Spirit’s presence heavily during these times.  I believe they are being healed, we just didn’t have the opportunity to see the change.  On the other hand, we did receive word that Delila, one of our cooks in Yulmacap and Barillas, has been healed.  Delila had a cyst which required surgery.  We all felt the Holy Spirit present and working before we said goodbye to her, but didn’t receive word of her healing until after her next doctor appointment.  She joyfully contacted us to share the wonderful news.

God is at work all around us.  All one must do is simply be obedient and open their eyes to see just how mightily God is moving.  The joy we have found is that God does not work from afar; he works through us.  Each time we obey his call to action, we bring God’s heavenly kingdom down to earth.  Heaven truly can touch earth and the meeting point is you and I.

RESUMEN DE LA SEMANA 5

Día 1: domingo 22 de Noviembre

Empezamos el día con desayuno luego empacamos el microbús y después empezamos nuestro camino a San Miguel. Llegando a la base del lugar kathy y Daniel nos dieron orientación sobre varias cosas. En la noche tuvimos servicio y después cena y conocimos al equipo de Paso Juárez. Fuimos a ministrar a una Iglesia en la noche y así termino el día

Día 2: lunes 23 de Noviembre

El día empezó a las 8 am con desayuno. Después unos pintaron la pared de enfrente de la casa donde estábamos hospedados mientras que otros limpiaban la casa por dentro. A medio día almorzamos y luego salimos para el hospital de Salamá a visitar y orar por los enfermos después también fuimos a evangelizar al parque y fue un trabajo compartido con la otra EDE del paso Juárez. Tuvimos cena y luego tuvimos intercesión dirigida por Manolo. Después recibimos el devocional dado por Eliza. Compartimos nuestras altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 3: martes 24  de Noviembre

El día empezó a las 8 am con desayunó. Después tuvimos adoración dirigida por Yuli e intercesión dirigida por Jaimie. Fuimos a Evangelismo Personal y algunos casa por casa. A medio día almorzamos y luego salimos a la cárcel de Salamá a visitar y evangelizar a los presos. Cenamos y en la noche fuimos a Evangelizar. Tuvimos el devocional por Heidi. Compartimos nuestras altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 4: miércoles 25 de Noviembre

El día empezó a las 7am con el desayuno. Después nos dirigimos a la aldea donde hicimos el ministerio compartiendo también con la otra EDE del paso Juárez. Estando en la aldea se empezó a repartir casa por casa los nuevos testamentos en Rabinal achi.  Almorzamos y en la tarde ministramos en la iglesia Nathareno en esa aldea. Regresamos a San Miguel Chicaj y cenamos.  Después en la casa tuvimos servicio de adoración donde ministramos. Después tuvimos el devocional por Pierce. Compartimos nuestras altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 5: jueves 26 de Noviembre

El día empezó con el desayuno a las 8 am. Luego tuvimos ministerio en la Radio. Después a medio día almorzamos. A las 2 pm salimos a otra aldea donde se fue a evangelizar casa por casa y después cena. Luego hubo un servicio donde se ministro igual compartiendo con la otra EDE. Después regresamos a la casa compartimos un tiempo con Kathy y su equipo donde se despidieron. Después compartimos altas y bajas y así termino el día.

Día 6: viernes 27 de Noviembre

Empezamos el día empacando el microbús. Después tuvimos desayuno a las 8 am. Después nos despedimos de la otra EDE del paso Juárez. Luego salimos con rumbo a la base. Almorzamos y llegamos a las 3 pm. Tuvimos intercesión dirigida por Pierce. Tuvimos tiempo libre. Cenamos y así termino el día.