| | Friday: Door-to-door, Abdeel and Mama´s House (Lucas and Andrew)
Good morning, Lucas here. The morning began with a devotion lead by Ruth from Isaiah 40:28-31 about finishing the “race” strong and not to let up before the end. It’s a passage of encouragement to let us know that our God will give us strength and hope when we grow weary. He is always with us.
After breakfast we headed out for another round of door-to-door visitations. This time around we went to houses around Fe Viva. The houses we went to were in walking distance. We have been so blessed to be able to meet these wonderful families.
 
The first family we visited was the “tortilla lady”. Fe Viva has been buying tortillas from her family for years. When we got to her house, the “tortilla lady” and her daughters were making fresh tortillas. The group joined in on the tortilla making process as we shared the word of God. After we made some tortillas with our own hands, the “tortilla lady” cooked it over an open fire with a large circular hot plate for us. Once the dough was cooked we ate them and they were good. The next family we visited was right next door. It was a family of 5 which consisted of a husband and wife with three young girls. The husband is in Guatemala City working on the weekdays and comes home on the weekends, so it’s tough for the wife to take care of their three daughters. Even though there are struggles that they go through the wife’s faith in God is strong. She knows that God has been good to her family. We prayed a blessing upon them and protection for the husband when he is away from his family.
 
The third house we visited we all could tell that their faith was weak. Gene shared his testimony with them about how God has worked in his life. Please pray that Gene’s testimony and the message of God will open up their hearts to welcome Jesus Christ fully into their lives. The fourth house we visited, I (Lucas) was bless to have the opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ to a 13 year old boy by the name of Hugo. I told him that Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for our sins, rose from the dead and went to Heaven to prepare a place for all of us and now He offers that gift of eternal life everyone. Please pray that Hugo will accept this free gift that God has given us.
 
The next house we went to is the one behind Fe Viva’s compound. It’s the house of a young boy by the name of Angel that past G-team members made friends with. He greeted us with a great big smile. Angel and his sister Elizabeth were so welcoming to us that Steph gave Angel a bracelet and Ruth gave Elizabeth a necklace. They both love their presents. The last house we visited has a lot of chickens, ducks and turkeys in their yard. They raise them as their source of income. After we prayed for them and their family, they decided to bless us with a live chicken to take back to the compound so that we can make a meal out of it. We were all in shock and touched by their generosity. Soon after they captured the chicken they wanted to give to us, we went back to Fe Viva for lunch.
Please continue to pray for all the families we visited. A lot of the little children and family members we came across today had minor fevers (simply because of the conditions they have to live in), so please pray for their health to improve.
 
 
Andrew here to continue the blog -- After the door to door visits, we had lunch and then quickly went over to our friends at Abdeel to pray a blessing over their land and the new stove. The stove was now all installed and they’ll be using it for the first time this Saturday for their food preparation and sale.
 
One of the things Abdeel wants to do is to purchase the building in which they are now renting. They wanted us to join them in praying prophetically for the day they would have possession of the land. We performed a symbolic act with Alex, Herbert and Becky in which we buried a bible with wine, salt, water, and oil in to the land we prayed for. It was a very moving time for all of us as we prayed in faith for what this property would accomplish for the youth in Chiquimulilla.
 
Our next scheduled event was a service over at Pastor Rafael’s home, so we came back after the prayers, changed and went straight to the pastor’s house for a service and a wonderful dinner. We were late for Pastor Raphael’s house so we arrived seeing many of the church members sitting outside ready to greet us. To me I’m at home when I am at the Pastor’s house. We gathered in the hot oven of a church, but it didn’t matter because we were with family.
 
 
After a few songs together, one in English, one in Chinese and one in Spanish, and our skit, I shared my testimony and I think I moved a lot of people’s hearts. It’s getting easier and easier for me to share my testimony and I can see how it’s affecting people as well. Pastor Dan preached on 1 Kings about the story of Elisha, and how he hears God’s voice in the silence. It’s important for us to grow in our relationship with Christ, not just relying on the big spiritual events in our life, but more importantly on the day to day stillness and constant embrace of our Lord.
 
 
After service we ate at his house. It was THE BEST FOOD EVERRR. We had a full menu of bean salad, pasta salad, and veggie salad. We also had chicken that was raised by Mama Rosa (Pastor’s wife). We had steak… which was the best beef that Guatemala can offer. The steak was topped with salsa and avocados. Last but not least we had chicken soup. It was a pot full of love that Mama Rosa had prepared for us. We had a wide range of drinks. We could’ve had soda, or a home made juice. But I think all of us drank the coffee the most. In the words of Lucas “this isn’t just a cup of coffee it is COFFEEEE.” I thought the food was truly a blessing to all of us. We gladly ate all that we can fit in to our stomach. Even Vincent had a belly at the end of that meal. I believe that meal was not just good for the body, it also satisfies the soul.
 
 
  
After dinner Pastor Dan and I took a look at some of the MRI scans of Pastor Raphael. We also took a look at his medication so Pastor Dan can look at some things. We prayed in a circle as a big family before we went off and say our good byes. We embraced each other with much love and compassion. For we know we probably won’t see each other for a whole year. We gave our thanks and off we went to the concert.
The concert was in town. Our sister Carol Gleeson was the one to inform us of this event. There is a team of missionaries from New Jersey who came on Tuesday they are a music orientated group and they are planned to hold concerts and talks in public. We got a chance to talk to some of the people on the large 40 people team. They needed some prayers as far as equipment is concerned. The gear they had was a little broken and needed some fixing. It was great to be able to meet other missionaries and to see what other churches are doing to help people in Guatemala too.
 
Some prayer requests… Safe travels tomorrow to Guatemala city and catching the flight. Also the continual growth in spiritual life after this trip. We´re almost finished our travels! Thanks so much and God bless!
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| | Posted 7/26/2008 1:42 PM - 3 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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