October Update

We are currently studying "Spiritual Warfare" with Don and Barb Johnson who have been serving with YWAM for over 30 years. They established the base in Nicaragua over 20 years ago and have been engaged in many battles to see the work established and flourish. We are blessed to have them with us to share from their experience and knowledge gained over the years. Our final week of the lecture phase will focus on missions and cross-cultural communication and will help our students prepare for the outreach to Haiti October 16-December 6, 2010.
This past Monday we joined forces with "The World Race" teams who are in Antigua on the first leg of their 11 month mission trip. It was an awesome time of worship and fellowship with believers from many countries.
We are looking forward to our time in Haiti working with churches and missionaries who are doing a great work. Please continue to pray for our students and staff as we prepare for our mission. We are believing God for great things to happen in us and through us.
We will be posting a blog on our website: www.ywamantigua.org about our outreach to Haiti.

Outreach Update

We have finalized our outreach plans to Haiti and are looking forward to our time of ministry. We will spend our first 2 weeks working with Brother Jean Lyonel near Port au Prince who works with Heaven's Family. Their ministry has built a camp about an hour from PAP for people who have lost their homes. Our next week will be spent with Haitian Christian Missions in Fonds Parisians about 1.5 hours from PAP. Our final 4 weeks will be spend with Reach Haiti Ministries. We will be doing a variety of ministries with all ages. The students are prepared to present 2 major YWAM Dramas "Redeemer" and "King of Hearts" which we will present in many locations. We will also have a couple more shorter dramas along with lots of Children's ministry programs. The students are doing research on Haiti and will present their information during our last week of the DTS.
Our final 3 weeks of the classroom phase will go quickly but will also be very important topics: Identity; Spiritual Warfare and Cross-cultural communication and missions.
Please continue to pray for our team as we pray in the finances for our trip. Several students need help and if you would like to be one of their supporters please send a gift to the following address:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardsons Springs Road
Chico, CA 95973
Make your check payable to YWAM Antigua and attach a note indicating it is for the "Outreach to Haiti."
Thank you!

DTS Update

We are in our 7th week of classes. This week we are doing the "Plumbline" class which is one of the most intense weeks of the school as it is a time of soul searching and identification of areas of our lives that we are not walking in the truth. It is a time of restoration and healing of past hurts that have been carried into our lives today and have an effect on our relationship with God and others. We anticipate that God will bring great healing to our students in the areas of their greatest needs.
We have prayed about our outreach destination and will be leaving for the Dominican Republic and Haiti on October 16. Our plans while there are still being formulated and we ask for your prayer as we contact ministries that are able to receive our team. Communication has been difficult to say the least but we are trusting God to guide us as we continue to pray and seek Him.
We invite you to join us in prayer and in helping us financially as we travel and minister on the outreach. We would like to raise $5000 to help with expenses and be able to give money to ministries we will be working with to help them in their relief efforts. Haiti is still suffering from the earthquake with over a one million people living in tents. God is moving in the hearts of the people and we look forward to extenting hands of compassion to the people as we meet spiritual and physical needs.
If you would like to support us financially you can make a check payable to YWAM Antigua and send it to the following address:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Road
Chico, CA 95973
Attach a note stating that it is designated for the Haiti outreach.
Thank you for your prayers and support, it is deeply appreciated.

DTS Update

We are now starting our 5th week of the DTS and will be focusing on Supernatural Ministry. Our visting teach is Pastor Rod Marquette from Rochester, Minnesota. Rod and a member of his church, Cecil, came last year and had a tremendous impact on the students. We are looking forward to their teachings and all that God will do through them in the lives of the students this week.
We said goodbye to the Backpackers DTS from San Jose, Costa Rica today. They stayed with us for a week after being delayed when Mexicana Airline declared bankruptcy and their flight to Guatemala was cancelled. We enjoyed hosting them and it was a great experience for our students to get to know them and share what God is doing in their lives.
We continue to pray about the location of our outreach beginning October 16. We are considering India and Haiti but remain open to wherever the Lord leads us to go. We want to be His hands of compassion reaching out to a fallen world to bring hope and liberty to those who suffer.

DTS 2010

Our DTS class of 2010 began July 25 with 7 students; 4 from San Pablo La Laguna,Guatemala and 3 from the USA. We have 4 languages represented in the group: English, Spanish, Tzutujil and Mam! Everyone is learing new words from each language to help with our communication. We are looking forward to all that God is going to do in the lives of each student as they spend time seeking Him and learning from the ministers God sends our way to teach them. Please join us in prayer for each of the students, staff and teachers who are involved in the 5 month DTS. Our students from San Pablo have never been away from home for any length of time which is an adjustment for both them and their families. Several of them have never used appliances that the students from the USA have been accustomed to for many years; ie. microwave, gas stove and oven, hot water showers,washer and dryer just to name a few. We have raised support for the 4 Guatemalan students but need to raise more for the 8 week outreach phase which will begin October 15, 2010. If you would like to help sponsor them please send a donation to:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Rd
Chico, CA 95973

Make your check payable to YWAM Antigua and attach a note that it is for the DTS Scholarship fund.

A Community in Need

We recently hosted two men who represent 2 different organizations that are working to meet the needs of the poor of Guatemala. One organization, Proyecto de Fe, provides work for women in the Lake Atitlan area along with several other projects they have going. The other organization, Faith Harvest Helpers, sends containers of food,medicine, medical supplies, books etc. to countries in need. They are planning to ship a container to Guatemala and distribute it in February 2011. We visited several communities while the men were with us to identify the areas of greatest need as well as the areas that they can access with the team of doctors, dentists and fellow laborers who will be coming in February. One of the communities we visted has been almost wiped off the land. The first blow came from Volcano Paycaya erupting and spewing ash and rocks on their community. The rocks burned holes through their tin roofs and destroyed much of their crops. Two days later, Tropical Storm Agatha hit Guatemala and caused massive mudslides which destroyed many homes. It was an incredible sight to see the destruction that has happened. These families need to be evacuated permanently from this area as it is dangerous to live there but they have nowhere else to go. The needs are great and the resources are few. While we were there Pacaya sent a huge pillar of ash in the air as is pictured in the photo.

Covenant Church Outreach

Last Friday, June 11 a group of 16 adults and children from Covenant Church in Pittsburgh, PA arrived for a week of ministry with us. We went from the airport directly to San Pedro La Laguna. The roads where in several places restricted to one lane due to the Tropical Storm Agatha damage which has caused major mudslides and destroyed many homes, roads and over a hundred people have died. Relief work is ongoing and it will be awhile until the families that have lost everything will be able to move into a home. The Covenant group conducted a "Women of Valor" seminar in Santigao, Atitlan and also helped purchase 4,500 pounds of food that will be distributed to help victims of the tropical storm. We havebeen working in a refugee camp near Panabaj since January distributing food once a month. The people of the refugee camp were evacuated when Agatha hit and moved to their new home in Chuk Muk even though the homes were not completed. While we passed out numbers for the families to present to receive their bags of food, the group played with the children of the community until the rain came down hard. The people traveled in the rain to Santiago to receive their food immediately after they received their numbers. The rain did not hinder them, they were in need and we were blessed to be able to help meet in a small but significant way the needs they continue to have.