Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Turning our hearts toward home - with mixed feelings!
Well, one last posting from me (Mr. B) as the students are probably busy right now getting their last one-on-one's in before taking the long trip back to Guatemala City tomorrow afternoon. Our last day in Chichi was another amazing demonstration of the Gospel unfolding before our eyes and hearts. Katy Peterson says that she ends each day with the feeling that nothing could top that day's experience. . . and then the next day is even more powerful in impact. Today was that way - again - as we finished some projects and then did our shopping in the bustling markets of Chichi (open on Sunday's and Thursday's only - with thousands of people crowding the town to buy blankets, fruits, vegetables, chickens - anything and everything). I was with the team of students that finished some repair on a dwelling deep in the mountains that was heavily damaged by a hurricane back in 2010 (or 2008 not really sure). The team started the work the day before carrying boards and posts about I am guessing a half a mile almost straight down a mountain side, on paths slippery with mud and sometimes only wide enough for a single foot in front of the other. All of us slipped many times today as we moved through the deserted mountainside until we climbed for a bit and suddenly found the adobe dwelling in front of us. There were actually two homes there, side by side but none others we could see - just small corn fields and apple trees. We climbed to the house where the woman who owned it was waiting. Miguel, the K'iche guide and ASELSI "community" pastor, warned us not to step across an invisible property line with the second house, nor were we to talk or even look at the woman there or her small children. Recently, her husband had murdered the son of the woman (a widow) of the home we were rebuilding - a dispute about land apparently. This is a very harsh and sometimes dangerous country when it comes to Mayan laws and disputes. We cleared away her ramshackle chicken coop, dug and leveled the mud, and began to construct a new room that will become here cocina (kitchen). It was hard work and exhausting, but the dark skies did not unleashed the torrential rains we had seen often and we were able to get much of the work done by the time we had to leave (another team from the states will finish the work and put a tin roof on next week). As we worked, we saw the widow and her small children through the vines and branches working with a machete cutting wood for a new chicken coop. She never stopped working all the time we were there, except to occasionally suckle her youngest, holding him with one hand while she continued chopping with the other. She did not speak to us and the small children just stared at us from a distance - never smiling but watching us in the same manner you might expect from children from a lost tribe in the Amazon would do with strangers with different colored skin and dress. After several hours of digging, sawing, and nailing we had to return the van waiting on the main road up the mountain side. Miguel told then woman in K'iche that another team would finish next week and that we were from a church from North America (usually how we are introduced - Virginia is not concept easily grasped for these people). We stooped under a plastic roof in the midst of her destroyed house - a few adobe walls with no furniture really. She thanked us in her language and said she could not pay us for our labor as she had no money. She said she knew that the lumber and materials were expensive. No one had probably ever helped her from the outside world before so I am guessing she did not really understand we were there to help and serve. We told her why were there, and that God had provided the resources. We asked if we could pray for her and her children, and Katy Peterson lead the time of prayer. We finished, rose from our knees and she thanked us again and then just stood with her quiet children in front of her (all of them small and barely clothed, dirty but beautiful in their expressive innocence). I had asked Miguel if we could give some money to buy food and he said yes - but no more than 400 Q's (about $30). She gratefully took the money, mumbled a thank you in her tongue, and silently waited for us to leave. We began to walk off bidding her and the children adios- and saw the tears began to fall from her eyes. I believe she was just overwhelmed and had no way to express the magnitude of the "miracle" God had provided for her. Just another day where we left humbled and in awe of how God works when we put our faith and backs into His service.
We climbed the now uphill trails and I realized that I am much too old to do this anymore! Jaime Guitz would second that thought as it was a heart pounding journey in this high altitude and even hard on the students. But we got back to ASELSI 30 minutes later, cleaned up, and started the transition to ending our week there. Five team members had stayed behind to offer a VBS type of program to the children of the women who came to ASELSI on "general clinic" day. We joined them and then rode off eventually in "tuc-tuc's" - small three wheeler's to the city market to shop (and to visit the church of Santo Tomas - built on the sight of a major Mayan religious temple - destroyed by the Spanish in the 1600's and replaced by this ancient Catholic church. How strange to see incense being burned on the steps of the church, offered to Mayan deities, and then to see inside century old statues of saints and the Holy Family with depictions of Mayan gods). The market was not too crowded by the time we got there and you all have gifts coming from various market stalls - and the students by the way loved the concept of being able to bargain the sellers down on price (which they did well!).
We ended the day after dinner by having a wonderfully impactful debriefing with John and Sharon Harvey, founders of ASELSI and missionaries to Guatemala now for 13 years. We drive to Lake Atilan tomorrow, do some zip lining through the clouds, and then to our final location for the night (SETECA - a seminary in Guatemala City affiliated with Dallas and Denver Theological Seminary's). Hopefully we can get one more blog in about our final team meeting tomorrow night - please be praying for that as it is the most powerful and life changing part of the trip if all goes according to plan!
See you soon - your students are tired but I can tell you from their comments - and faces - that their hearts have been broken and yet thrilled by what they have seen here this week - and that is a good thing. I would also tell you that most of them if not all of them have just discovered or had affirmed their true giftings this week - and most have also discovered that prayer is real and it works - and that God is much bigger, wiser, and more loving than they ever realized before. Be expecting some changed hearts.
We climbed the now uphill trails and I realized that I am much too old to do this anymore! Jaime Guitz would second that thought as it was a heart pounding journey in this high altitude and even hard on the students. But we got back to ASELSI 30 minutes later, cleaned up, and started the transition to ending our week there. Five team members had stayed behind to offer a VBS type of program to the children of the women who came to ASELSI on "general clinic" day. We joined them and then rode off eventually in "tuc-tuc's" - small three wheeler's to the city market to shop (and to visit the church of Santo Tomas - built on the sight of a major Mayan religious temple - destroyed by the Spanish in the 1600's and replaced by this ancient Catholic church. How strange to see incense being burned on the steps of the church, offered to Mayan deities, and then to see inside century old statues of saints and the Holy Family with depictions of Mayan gods). The market was not too crowded by the time we got there and you all have gifts coming from various market stalls - and the students by the way loved the concept of being able to bargain the sellers down on price (which they did well!).
We ended the day after dinner by having a wonderfully impactful debriefing with John and Sharon Harvey, founders of ASELSI and missionaries to Guatemala now for 13 years. We drive to Lake Atilan tomorrow, do some zip lining through the clouds, and then to our final location for the night (SETECA - a seminary in Guatemala City affiliated with Dallas and Denver Theological Seminary's). Hopefully we can get one more blog in about our final team meeting tomorrow night - please be praying for that as it is the most powerful and life changing part of the trip if all goes according to plan!
See you soon - your students are tired but I can tell you from their comments - and faces - that their hearts have been broken and yet thrilled by what they have seen here this week - and that is a good thing. I would also tell you that most of them if not all of them have just discovered or had affirmed their true giftings this week - and most have also discovered that prayer is real and it works - and that God is much bigger, wiser, and more loving than they ever realized before. Be expecting some changed hearts.
Beside the Campfire
Yesterday I got married to Andrew McKissic Washington so now my name is Katie Patricia Washington:) Haha no but we really did. In the morning we did a devotion with the Aselsi staff and it was awsome. After we split into two teams and one team was in the kitchen preparing sandwiches and the other was handing out tickets to the shoe-shiners and the men who carry ridiculously heavy loads. After we had a 11:30 program where Jeremy shared his testimony and NIck did too it was so powerful they both did a wonderful job. We did the dramas all the people that were there seemed very touched and responded well. Marisa and I had some powerful prayer with a single mom and her prayer requests just touched both of our hearts. In the afternoon the boys did some intense labor carrying down 50 lbs boards down a vertical mountain. And the other boys did a chicken coop and the girls set for the youth get together. At night we met another youth ministry they were pumped up almost as much we were.split into four teams; orange, yellow, blue, green. I was on orange team and we did great. Unfortunately, the blue team took the victory. Marrissa and I both shared our testimonies; everyone responded well to both our testimonies. Then we had a campfire jam. We got to know each other better and learn the needs of others and what we could pray for. The night was really awsome.
Love Katie B
ps love you mucho familia
Love Katie B
ps love you mucho familia
No way to put this into words. ..
It's me again (Mr. B). It is past midnight and the last two students have just left my room. No time for student blogging - I guess by now I am understanding that this trip was meant to be different in many ways, so I am just letting go and riding the wave the rest of the way!
We did not get back until 10:30 PM tonight and we decided we would still do our devotions (since the students wrote them, we feel a strong sense of not just saying it is too late, we are too tired). It was good that we did. . . the devotion was prepared by Philip Joe and it was on the role of suffering in our walks with the Lord. It is much too late for me to even begin to put into words what we have experienced over the past two days. I can't and I only hope that you create an opportunity when we get back to have your students convey to you what they have seen and heard, especially this week. Suffice it to say that it has been remarkable - more than that but I just cannot find the right words. I have been on many of these trips but have never witnessed what we have experienced here and nothing could have prepared me for it. A brief vignettes I will share however to give you some sense of what we have been doing.
Yesterday I was with five students, the ASELSI Director, and a K'iche translator (we go from English, to Spanish, to K'iche often and on these visits it was a must). We drove 30 minutes from Chichi into the mountains and only stopped when our four-wheel vehicle could no longer navigate the "roads". We were in the middle of wild mountain terrain, the heart of the Mayan nation, driven here in the 1500's when the escaped the brutality of the Spaniards in the valleys hundreds of miles away. We were visiting a family the local ASELSI extension pastor had recommended (three other teams were doing the same, close by in this remote region). We saw Juan walking on the deeply rutted path as we walk down to where the K'iche translator (and nearby resident) told us a family lived. As we met him we stepped back into the 17th or 18th century. Dressed in clothing threadbare and dirty, he led us up a hillside into his home - a dwelling he built 18 years before from mud, pine needles and stone. The floor was dirt and rock - he had built his home literally on rock - the "solid ground". There were family members huddled around a crude table but there was no other real furniture - a few stools, open walls, no electricity that I could see. His wive was there, dressed as all women we had seen in this part of Guatemala - traditional Mayan dress, colorful and woolen to ward off the cold. His daugther was there (in her 20's and blind). There were five small children also - with faces I know we will not forget - so innocent looking, so genuinely warm and shy. If they had seen gringo's before I do not know butdoubt it from what we had been told. They were his grandchildren, children of his son and daughter-in-law. They were not there - they are in prison somewhere in Guatemala for crimes we did not understand other than Juan claims his son was innocent and framed and that his wife had been arrested for trying to help escape from local "police" (there are a few police here, but most law in this part of the country is expressed by vigilante action (and please ask your students about this - Mayan law - you steal or abuse someone, you will probably be burned alive by vigilante law - totally true and real. Did I mention the very low crime rate here in the Mayan highlands?). His son will be there 18 more years - no money and no hope of bribing his was out. His daughter-in-law will be out in four. Juan is raising them although he has no money and there are no jobs - these are farming villages and he has to eat the corn he grows to survive. His son was the breadwinner for the family and now that is gone. As we talked he asked to come in (bend down really) into his cocina - a small dark adobe room the size of a large closet. The cooking is done over open fire on a stone fire pit - what cooking there is. Our interpreter asked about his situation and as he told us about his life and this recent tragedy, the small children - especially the little girl - began to softly cry. We asked if we could pray. In this small, dark, and cramped space, the family instantly dropped to their knees (they were Christian apparently - unusual) and began to pray with us. They all eventually began to cry - more than that - great and deep sobbing and tears that streamed from their faces. The children all looked down and they laid their heads on the stone hearth, but we heard their tears and pain We prayed for justice, hope, and peace - we prayed for a miracle and we meant it (maybe for the first time in our students lives did they need to ask God for a miracle to end this suffering). After the translations, all of us also with faces wet with tears and hearts broken, Juan was asked how he fed this large family. He pointed to a small wooden shelf - there was half a bag of rice, some corn stalk leaves, a few roots and tortilla's (they grow some corn, so they have tortillas at least). They also had a small bag of red chili powder - very hot - which they put on the tortilla's to help ease the hunger pains. That was it - all the food they had and no money to buy more. The children were malnourished, thin, guant, and barely surviving. No refrigeration but no need of it anyway. They cannot afford meat, eggs, or dairy. We stayed and presented a large bushel of food items, and then toys for the children, and sandals for the family. And a Bible. They were overwhelmed and grateful. Juan never let go the rest of the visit of the Bible he now had. I am guessing he cannot read and even if he did, it would not be Spanish. But the Bible was God, and that meant hope. The children's eyes lit up when we gave them bubble wands, coloring books, crayons, and small balls. It was a Christmas they had never had before we were told. We started to leave and I quietly asked the ASELSI staff if we could give some money and they said yes but not too much (too dangerous as nearby villagers would harm them if they were suddenly "wealthy" for no reason - more Mayan law). We gave them 400 quetzales - around $30. I was told later that it would feed them for a month and maybe two with all the other food items we brought. Juan was grateful, proud but grateful. His wife began to cry again. The children just smiled and stood quietly holding their gifts - but not moving, not speaking - so polite, so well behaved. We told Juan he was man of honor for doing this (many men here abandon their families when things get rough - and women have no rights here). He thanked us profusely and then walked us back up the mountain side to our waiting vehicle. He had nothing but this was his land and his home, and he treated us as honored guests. I hugged him as I left and told him in translation, older man to older man, that God would honor his determination to keep this family together - honor him for being a real man. His bloodshot eyes met mine and I knew he understood and believed this. The students hugged the one child who climbed the trail was us and then got back in the vehicle. We drove (bounced really) over the rough dirt roads for a while. There was silence and then the students in the back of the vehicle held hands and began to pray for this family - no prompting and without my involvement. They cried as they prayed. That was just a small part of our long day.
Tomorrow maybe we will tell you the rest and then about our today (now yesterday) - of the street ministry to the shoe shine boys in the village and to the men that carry heavy loads on their backs with ropes secured across their permanently furrowed foreheads. About Jeremy's testimony - and Nick's - and how it impacted the audience we attracted in the city square. About how it impacted us, especially Nick who I believe will not be the same young man as he was before. About how it climaxed - after the stories, music, and drama's - with a salvation message again translated into two different languages but not by me. I told the students I did not feel I was here to do that - that they were. Andrew Washington finally stepped up and assumed the task. And I don't think he will be the same either. It was clear, powerful, from the heart, and it was anointed by God to be sure. We prayed for at least a half an hour after that, in the sun, with at least 20 or more men and women who wept and prayed and asked for prayer. The students prayed with them, hugged them, knelt with them - men dressed in rags, alcoholics, beggars - the refuse of humanity. I saw Nick and Jeremy pick up a man with one leg who scooted on his back side (they way he gets around) to the front in order to be ministered to. They carried him back rather than have him scoot back up the steps. He was covered in filth - a man that could not have been different in any respect than the cripple that Jesus healed at the pool of Bethseda. No one told them to do this - they just responded as did the other students in a scene that will never leave my mind - or theirs. They touched the untouchables, held them, cried with them, prayed for them although the language was different. The ASELSI staff were moved as well. This was not always the case in these monthly feedings of these lowest caste members of Mayan society. Few other teams responded this way from America - and none were so well prepared in song and drama (which is why the crowd was so large).
In a few weeks they will back at school and back to computer games, social events and sports. I don't however today or yesterday, or this whole trip, will ever completely leave their minds. They have had a taste of the Kingdom of God, eternity really, and used giftings they did not know they possessed before this trip. It continued tonight when we hosted a youth group from a nearby village - and testimonies by Katie Bolvito and Marisa Bognanno had the same impact and the night was amazing - ending with us sitting around bonfires - Mayan teens sitting with our teens. Amazing scene - ask them!
We did not get back until 10:30 PM tonight and we decided we would still do our devotions (since the students wrote them, we feel a strong sense of not just saying it is too late, we are too tired). It was good that we did. . . the devotion was prepared by Philip Joe and it was on the role of suffering in our walks with the Lord. It is much too late for me to even begin to put into words what we have experienced over the past two days. I can't and I only hope that you create an opportunity when we get back to have your students convey to you what they have seen and heard, especially this week. Suffice it to say that it has been remarkable - more than that but I just cannot find the right words. I have been on many of these trips but have never witnessed what we have experienced here and nothing could have prepared me for it. A brief vignettes I will share however to give you some sense of what we have been doing.
Yesterday I was with five students, the ASELSI Director, and a K'iche translator (we go from English, to Spanish, to K'iche often and on these visits it was a must). We drove 30 minutes from Chichi into the mountains and only stopped when our four-wheel vehicle could no longer navigate the "roads". We were in the middle of wild mountain terrain, the heart of the Mayan nation, driven here in the 1500's when the escaped the brutality of the Spaniards in the valleys hundreds of miles away. We were visiting a family the local ASELSI extension pastor had recommended (three other teams were doing the same, close by in this remote region). We saw Juan walking on the deeply rutted path as we walk down to where the K'iche translator (and nearby resident) told us a family lived. As we met him we stepped back into the 17th or 18th century. Dressed in clothing threadbare and dirty, he led us up a hillside into his home - a dwelling he built 18 years before from mud, pine needles and stone. The floor was dirt and rock - he had built his home literally on rock - the "solid ground". There were family members huddled around a crude table but there was no other real furniture - a few stools, open walls, no electricity that I could see. His wive was there, dressed as all women we had seen in this part of Guatemala - traditional Mayan dress, colorful and woolen to ward off the cold. His daugther was there (in her 20's and blind). There were five small children also - with faces I know we will not forget - so innocent looking, so genuinely warm and shy. If they had seen gringo's before I do not know butdoubt it from what we had been told. They were his grandchildren, children of his son and daughter-in-law. They were not there - they are in prison somewhere in Guatemala for crimes we did not understand other than Juan claims his son was innocent and framed and that his wife had been arrested for trying to help escape from local "police" (there are a few police here, but most law in this part of the country is expressed by vigilante action (and please ask your students about this - Mayan law - you steal or abuse someone, you will probably be burned alive by vigilante law - totally true and real. Did I mention the very low crime rate here in the Mayan highlands?). His son will be there 18 more years - no money and no hope of bribing his was out. His daughter-in-law will be out in four. Juan is raising them although he has no money and there are no jobs - these are farming villages and he has to eat the corn he grows to survive. His son was the breadwinner for the family and now that is gone. As we talked he asked to come in (bend down really) into his cocina - a small dark adobe room the size of a large closet. The cooking is done over open fire on a stone fire pit - what cooking there is. Our interpreter asked about his situation and as he told us about his life and this recent tragedy, the small children - especially the little girl - began to softly cry. We asked if we could pray. In this small, dark, and cramped space, the family instantly dropped to their knees (they were Christian apparently - unusual) and began to pray with us. They all eventually began to cry - more than that - great and deep sobbing and tears that streamed from their faces. The children all looked down and they laid their heads on the stone hearth, but we heard their tears and pain We prayed for justice, hope, and peace - we prayed for a miracle and we meant it (maybe for the first time in our students lives did they need to ask God for a miracle to end this suffering). After the translations, all of us also with faces wet with tears and hearts broken, Juan was asked how he fed this large family. He pointed to a small wooden shelf - there was half a bag of rice, some corn stalk leaves, a few roots and tortilla's (they grow some corn, so they have tortillas at least). They also had a small bag of red chili powder - very hot - which they put on the tortilla's to help ease the hunger pains. That was it - all the food they had and no money to buy more. The children were malnourished, thin, guant, and barely surviving. No refrigeration but no need of it anyway. They cannot afford meat, eggs, or dairy. We stayed and presented a large bushel of food items, and then toys for the children, and sandals for the family. And a Bible. They were overwhelmed and grateful. Juan never let go the rest of the visit of the Bible he now had. I am guessing he cannot read and even if he did, it would not be Spanish. But the Bible was God, and that meant hope. The children's eyes lit up when we gave them bubble wands, coloring books, crayons, and small balls. It was a Christmas they had never had before we were told. We started to leave and I quietly asked the ASELSI staff if we could give some money and they said yes but not too much (too dangerous as nearby villagers would harm them if they were suddenly "wealthy" for no reason - more Mayan law). We gave them 400 quetzales - around $30. I was told later that it would feed them for a month and maybe two with all the other food items we brought. Juan was grateful, proud but grateful. His wife began to cry again. The children just smiled and stood quietly holding their gifts - but not moving, not speaking - so polite, so well behaved. We told Juan he was man of honor for doing this (many men here abandon their families when things get rough - and women have no rights here). He thanked us profusely and then walked us back up the mountain side to our waiting vehicle. He had nothing but this was his land and his home, and he treated us as honored guests. I hugged him as I left and told him in translation, older man to older man, that God would honor his determination to keep this family together - honor him for being a real man. His bloodshot eyes met mine and I knew he understood and believed this. The students hugged the one child who climbed the trail was us and then got back in the vehicle. We drove (bounced really) over the rough dirt roads for a while. There was silence and then the students in the back of the vehicle held hands and began to pray for this family - no prompting and without my involvement. They cried as they prayed. That was just a small part of our long day.
Tomorrow maybe we will tell you the rest and then about our today (now yesterday) - of the street ministry to the shoe shine boys in the village and to the men that carry heavy loads on their backs with ropes secured across their permanently furrowed foreheads. About Jeremy's testimony - and Nick's - and how it impacted the audience we attracted in the city square. About how it impacted us, especially Nick who I believe will not be the same young man as he was before. About how it climaxed - after the stories, music, and drama's - with a salvation message again translated into two different languages but not by me. I told the students I did not feel I was here to do that - that they were. Andrew Washington finally stepped up and assumed the task. And I don't think he will be the same either. It was clear, powerful, from the heart, and it was anointed by God to be sure. We prayed for at least a half an hour after that, in the sun, with at least 20 or more men and women who wept and prayed and asked for prayer. The students prayed with them, hugged them, knelt with them - men dressed in rags, alcoholics, beggars - the refuse of humanity. I saw Nick and Jeremy pick up a man with one leg who scooted on his back side (they way he gets around) to the front in order to be ministered to. They carried him back rather than have him scoot back up the steps. He was covered in filth - a man that could not have been different in any respect than the cripple that Jesus healed at the pool of Bethseda. No one told them to do this - they just responded as did the other students in a scene that will never leave my mind - or theirs. They touched the untouchables, held them, cried with them, prayed for them although the language was different. The ASELSI staff were moved as well. This was not always the case in these monthly feedings of these lowest caste members of Mayan society. Few other teams responded this way from America - and none were so well prepared in song and drama (which is why the crowd was so large).
In a few weeks they will back at school and back to computer games, social events and sports. I don't however today or yesterday, or this whole trip, will ever completely leave their minds. They have had a taste of the Kingdom of God, eternity really, and used giftings they did not know they possessed before this trip. It continued tonight when we hosted a youth group from a nearby village - and testimonies by Katie Bolvito and Marisa Bognanno had the same impact and the night was amazing - ending with us sitting around bonfires - Mayan teens sitting with our teens. Amazing scene - ask them!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Americanos beat the Guatemalans!!!! by Katy Peterson
Last night, there was sweat, there was rain, there were tears, but most importantly... there was victory over the ASELSI Guatemalan soccer team! Yesterday we woke up bright and early to the lovely sound of a rooster ... at 4 am now i know how my dad felt living in Georgia. We went to the school we had painted the previous day and performed skits, songs, and testimonies (which were shared by Andrew and Katie A, they did an amazing job and i know both their parents would have been proud) then we split the kids up into 5 groups and played games! (there were about 20 kids in each group, all in 6th grade) many laughs and smiles later we came back to ASELSI where we did home visit... that was a once in a life time opportunity for me. there was one man in the home that my team visited he has 3 daughters and 1 son (one of his daughters born blind) his son had 3 children and his oldest daughter had 2 children, the 2nd oldest daughter had 1. so he was a grandparent of 6 children. He shared with us that his son was taken to jail, because he was a taxi cab driver and one day bad people got into his cab and the police thought he was with these bad people, so they arrested him, the mans wife then decided to go and safe him, and then she was put into jail as well. leaving 3 children father and motherless. leaving the grandparents to take care of all of their children and their grandchildren. i learned yesterday what the true meaning of a man was, and for the first time what a pray of desperation sounded like. when we ask the family if we could pray for them, i bowed my head and closed my eyes, like i always do, but all the Mayan family (who believed in God, surprisingly) dropped to their knees, and Katie B started praying i heard yells and cry's of plea towards the lord, it was so overwhelming that it brought me to my knees and i couldn't help but plea to the lord to bring this family back together. partially the little girl who's father and mother were in jail touched me, if you could have seen the look in her eyes as we were talking about he parents, you would have been heart broken too. we parted by giving them gifts, and hugs and went back to our hotel were we prepared to play the ASELSI soccer team, ... now did we really win? ... no, but we were sure the most entertaining to watch! best in show goes to....... the Los AMERICANOS from Virginia (and Minnesota:) pictures of the pray visits should be up shortly:) hope all is going well back home, i can tell you this, my life has been changed once again, and i know your children won't be coming back the same people they left as. Love you Mom, Dad, Char, Alex, Courtney, Isaac, Christina, and little Liam!
Monday, July 25, 2011
As I am writing this the student leaders and I have just finished a time together that we had spent in prayer. We are headed into our second week and many of the teammates seem worn down and tired. There is a feeling in this area of Guatemala
that I have not felt anywhere else and all that we really knew to do was to pray. This trip I have learned so much about what prayer truly is. It isn't just a group of people getting together to speak out words of wisdom to God. But it is a direct connection with God and a time in which there is no hindrance between you and Him. It is an awesome thing and I have really come to see how God truly answers prayers. Last week at the Potters house when we went through our prayer walks I really realized that God had his hand in this trip. Every home we went to there was a student who headed up the conversation. And in every house that we had entered the person had been through something very similar to the one they were to pray for. It was no accident or coincidence but purely a God thing. The house that I went into to share with was different in that it was much larger than all of the sorrounding ones. But that wasn't what had surprised me. It was that the woman who lived there was telling us about how she used to be very sick and that her husband had become her caretaker. But whenever we had gone her husband was very ill and had told her that he felt as though he was going to die. It was amazing to see how strong her faith was and how whenever it seemed as if she should have no hope she still looked to the future and was not let down or discouraged by her circumstance. I had gotten to share my testimony with her and it was amazing how much I could relate with her. Not only that but I was able to relate with how she felt the fear of losing someone whom she loved and not knowing what was going to happen and the uncertainty that will follow. It was something that really touched me because I was so unsure about what I was going to say, and then whenever I went into the home I was covered by a sense of calm and it was amazing to get to pray with her. So as I am going through this week I am beginning to realize the true value of prayer. It really is a powerful tool that is going to be answered whether we like it or not. Yesterday in our church service a HUGE rain storm came and was so loud on the tin roof of the church that it was hard to hear the service. So I turned to Phil and we just decided that we would start to pray because so much of what we were doing needed to be heard. By the time I ended my prayer the rain had already begun to calm, and a couple of minutes before we got up to play music for the service the rain had stopped all together. I truly believe that that was not a coincidence but an answer to prayer. That night in our devotion time, we brought it up and found out that a majority of our team was praying for the same thing and it was amazing to really see the answer to prayer.
In this area that we are in, there is a strong sense of community. I really realized that today whenever we went today to paint the auditorium of a school in which we will be doing our vbs tomorrow. All of the parents had come to help, and a job that would have taken our whole team probably two days to accomplish took the whole group that was there all around 3 hours. Everyone was working together and it showed. It was a really great to experience the feeling of such a community. I am excited to see all that God has in store for our team as we finish out this week! It has been a great trip and I am so happy that I got the opportunity to come. It has been a great two weeks and I have learned so much, this trip has really been a priceless experience for me.
Please keep praying for our team as we go out into this community throughout this week and are working with the people. It will be a great experience but we are always confronting spiritual warfare whether here or in Virginia. It is something that we cannot be void of, but it is something we can definitely pray through! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers they really are felt here and GREATLY appreciated.
Love you Mammy, Pops, and Ash! Miss you guys and can't wait to see you!
-Jeremy
that I have not felt anywhere else and all that we really knew to do was to pray. This trip I have learned so much about what prayer truly is. It isn't just a group of people getting together to speak out words of wisdom to God. But it is a direct connection with God and a time in which there is no hindrance between you and Him. It is an awesome thing and I have really come to see how God truly answers prayers. Last week at the Potters house when we went through our prayer walks I really realized that God had his hand in this trip. Every home we went to there was a student who headed up the conversation. And in every house that we had entered the person had been through something very similar to the one they were to pray for. It was no accident or coincidence but purely a God thing. The house that I went into to share with was different in that it was much larger than all of the sorrounding ones. But that wasn't what had surprised me. It was that the woman who lived there was telling us about how she used to be very sick and that her husband had become her caretaker. But whenever we had gone her husband was very ill and had told her that he felt as though he was going to die. It was amazing to see how strong her faith was and how whenever it seemed as if she should have no hope she still looked to the future and was not let down or discouraged by her circumstance. I had gotten to share my testimony with her and it was amazing how much I could relate with her. Not only that but I was able to relate with how she felt the fear of losing someone whom she loved and not knowing what was going to happen and the uncertainty that will follow. It was something that really touched me because I was so unsure about what I was going to say, and then whenever I went into the home I was covered by a sense of calm and it was amazing to get to pray with her. So as I am going through this week I am beginning to realize the true value of prayer. It really is a powerful tool that is going to be answered whether we like it or not. Yesterday in our church service a HUGE rain storm came and was so loud on the tin roof of the church that it was hard to hear the service. So I turned to Phil and we just decided that we would start to pray because so much of what we were doing needed to be heard. By the time I ended my prayer the rain had already begun to calm, and a couple of minutes before we got up to play music for the service the rain had stopped all together. I truly believe that that was not a coincidence but an answer to prayer. That night in our devotion time, we brought it up and found out that a majority of our team was praying for the same thing and it was amazing to really see the answer to prayer.
In this area that we are in, there is a strong sense of community. I really realized that today whenever we went today to paint the auditorium of a school in which we will be doing our vbs tomorrow. All of the parents had come to help, and a job that would have taken our whole team probably two days to accomplish took the whole group that was there all around 3 hours. Everyone was working together and it showed. It was a really great to experience the feeling of such a community. I am excited to see all that God has in store for our team as we finish out this week! It has been a great trip and I am so happy that I got the opportunity to come. It has been a great two weeks and I have learned so much, this trip has really been a priceless experience for me.
Please keep praying for our team as we go out into this community throughout this week and are working with the people. It will be a great experience but we are always confronting spiritual warfare whether here or in Virginia. It is something that we cannot be void of, but it is something we can definitely pray through! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers they really are felt here and GREATLY appreciated.
Love you Mammy, Pops, and Ash! Miss you guys and can't wait to see you!
-Jeremy
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Chichicastenango
Well, it's Mr. B again, but don't be too upset. . . we have had a very long and exciting transition day and the students for once were not resisting the notion of going to bed. I need some much needed rest, so this will be short and by tomorrow I am sure I get a few of them to relate what we have seen, heard, and experienced today - and it was incredible.
We left Guatemala City early this morning and with our team and 28 black bags loaded onto two vans and a truck we began the long and winding journey into the mountains to Chichicastenango. The ride was long but the scenery was breathtaking. We wound up roads that were narrow and with many sections reduced even more because of construction. Driving in Guatemala is something I will just let your students tell you about when they get home - something like Disneyland's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on steroids. But folks here know how to drive in this madness, so worry not, we arrived safe, sound, and only with some queasy stomachs. We knew we had finally arrived in Central America today as the last vestiges of the capitol city faded away and we were in a world more green than any of us have probably experienced before and rural in a way that is hard to explain. Mountains, lakes, volcano peaks looming through the ever-present cloud cover - all viewed through fields of corn growing wild mixed with apple and coffee trees. Horses, cows, and sheep roam without fences and the villages we drove through were small and the roads so narrow that two vehicles pass only within inches of each other. The native people here are Mayan - most 100% and many do not speak Spanish. The dress is wildly colorful, rural, and almost ancient. We finally arrived at our charming but, again, very rustic hotel in time to quickly change for a quick tour of ASELSI and then off to a village church for the evening youth service. We will tell you more about ASELSI tomorrow but we were impressed with the magnitude of their ministry in an area that they told us was the poorest region in all of the Western hemisphere except for Haiti (and with the highest infant mortality rate in the Western world). It is an amazing ministry but still with so little to help so many - more of that later.
We arrived at the small church and quickly set up to essentially provide the entire 2.5 hour service to approximately 100 Mayan youth of all ages. It was an evening I don't think your students will soon forgot. Katie Bolvito and Coleman Merenda both gave very powerful testimonies that even these very poor and somewhat isolated youth could connect despite the obvious differences in culture and resources. The students performed two songs in Spanish that the native youth enthusiastically embraced. Last night during our devotion time, Katy Peterson asked if she could deliver the main message (which we were told we would be invited to give). I told her I would ask, knowing that the chances of a youth giving the "sermon" - in a region that is extremely conservative (mark that - very conservative) was slim at best. However, we learned that this is the only church in this area that encourages women to participate in ministry and even has a woman in charge of the youth ministry. So, as God has done every day on this trip, things worked out perfectly in that Katy was allowed to give the message which she did (with the difficulty of translation thrown in) with great boldness and confidence. There was no question in any of our minds that God had ordained this and provided the opportunity that we hope will not be our last. I have asked God everyday to let the students lead every ministry aspect of this trip and so far God has done more than I could have even hoped for. The students also performed two very powerful and moving drama's (I hope the video's make it to you soon on YouTube) and the local youth responded to them both in a way that I can only tell brought chills to me - and tears. We ended the evening all standing together in front of the church, singing, clapping, and dancing (yes, Immanuel Bible Church students dancing in front the Lord in worship and loving it). What a sight. Your children standing and dancing together with Mayan youth (our khaki's and tennis shoes mixed with traditional Mayan skirts and blouses), holding hands, shouting praises, and with many of the Mayan youth crying. Their pastor at the end said it was a vision of what heaven will be like - all of us from every race and age - together focused only on worship of the Lamb!). We finished the service by giving the church a special offering from our team (and the money you provided in support) and went back to the hotel for dinner with a missionary couple here at ASELSI (he from Argentina, she from Holland - more on that later as we will see them again later this week).
Time for bed -and sorry about so much detail but it was evening like none other that I can remember in working with your students and these short-term missions. You can be so proud of them - and grateful to God for sending them here. There are hearts being changed and giftings being used for the first time - all of it because they responded to the calling to serve. Continue to pray for our health and stamina. This is a very rural and isolated area and much cooler (check that, cold!). Thanks for the prayers also - we feel them.
Mr B
We left Guatemala City early this morning and with our team and 28 black bags loaded onto two vans and a truck we began the long and winding journey into the mountains to Chichicastenango. The ride was long but the scenery was breathtaking. We wound up roads that were narrow and with many sections reduced even more because of construction. Driving in Guatemala is something I will just let your students tell you about when they get home - something like Disneyland's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on steroids. But folks here know how to drive in this madness, so worry not, we arrived safe, sound, and only with some queasy stomachs. We knew we had finally arrived in Central America today as the last vestiges of the capitol city faded away and we were in a world more green than any of us have probably experienced before and rural in a way that is hard to explain. Mountains, lakes, volcano peaks looming through the ever-present cloud cover - all viewed through fields of corn growing wild mixed with apple and coffee trees. Horses, cows, and sheep roam without fences and the villages we drove through were small and the roads so narrow that two vehicles pass only within inches of each other. The native people here are Mayan - most 100% and many do not speak Spanish. The dress is wildly colorful, rural, and almost ancient. We finally arrived at our charming but, again, very rustic hotel in time to quickly change for a quick tour of ASELSI and then off to a village church for the evening youth service. We will tell you more about ASELSI tomorrow but we were impressed with the magnitude of their ministry in an area that they told us was the poorest region in all of the Western hemisphere except for Haiti (and with the highest infant mortality rate in the Western world). It is an amazing ministry but still with so little to help so many - more of that later.
We arrived at the small church and quickly set up to essentially provide the entire 2.5 hour service to approximately 100 Mayan youth of all ages. It was an evening I don't think your students will soon forgot. Katie Bolvito and Coleman Merenda both gave very powerful testimonies that even these very poor and somewhat isolated youth could connect despite the obvious differences in culture and resources. The students performed two songs in Spanish that the native youth enthusiastically embraced. Last night during our devotion time, Katy Peterson asked if she could deliver the main message (which we were told we would be invited to give). I told her I would ask, knowing that the chances of a youth giving the "sermon" - in a region that is extremely conservative (mark that - very conservative) was slim at best. However, we learned that this is the only church in this area that encourages women to participate in ministry and even has a woman in charge of the youth ministry. So, as God has done every day on this trip, things worked out perfectly in that Katy was allowed to give the message which she did (with the difficulty of translation thrown in) with great boldness and confidence. There was no question in any of our minds that God had ordained this and provided the opportunity that we hope will not be our last. I have asked God everyday to let the students lead every ministry aspect of this trip and so far God has done more than I could have even hoped for. The students also performed two very powerful and moving drama's (I hope the video's make it to you soon on YouTube) and the local youth responded to them both in a way that I can only tell brought chills to me - and tears. We ended the evening all standing together in front of the church, singing, clapping, and dancing (yes, Immanuel Bible Church students dancing in front the Lord in worship and loving it). What a sight. Your children standing and dancing together with Mayan youth (our khaki's and tennis shoes mixed with traditional Mayan skirts and blouses), holding hands, shouting praises, and with many of the Mayan youth crying. Their pastor at the end said it was a vision of what heaven will be like - all of us from every race and age - together focused only on worship of the Lamb!). We finished the service by giving the church a special offering from our team (and the money you provided in support) and went back to the hotel for dinner with a missionary couple here at ASELSI (he from Argentina, she from Holland - more on that later as we will see them again later this week).
Time for bed -and sorry about so much detail but it was evening like none other that I can remember in working with your students and these short-term missions. You can be so proud of them - and grateful to God for sending them here. There are hearts being changed and giftings being used for the first time - all of it because they responded to the calling to serve. Continue to pray for our health and stamina. This is a very rural and isolated area and much cooler (check that, cold!). Thanks for the prayers also - we feel them.
Mr B
Saturday, July 23, 2011
And then there was light...
Hey guys, it's Katie Agazzi!
Yesterday was our last day at the Potters House, meaning it was the last day working on our three houses. As the day got longer, the tasks got more tedious and a lot of last minute touches were coming up well at the last minute. We had hoped to finish before lunch, but only a little after we got back and finished, the people from the neighborhood and the owners of the house came with balloons, party string, and confetti to celebrate the finishing of their houses. We talked, prayed, and were each given a gift from the owners! Either a colorful beach towel, purse, or . I and also as a few others felt like they didn't have to bring us gifts. That we built or renovated their houses in Gods name, not ours, the Potters House, or Immanuel. But the first and last day, the owner of the house that I was at said that she will never be able to pay us back, but that God will in many wonderful ways. As we were leaving the houses, I felt God right next to me patting my back because we didn't build those houses to get a hand clap or to check one more thing off my list, but it was because God has called us to go and serve his people. It was sad saying bye to the people of the Potters House, but I know some day I will see them again. As Mr. B said earlier, we had a late night last night having a talent show and playing charades and signs.
Finally.....we get to sleep in and have a day off! (: We had breakfast, had either one or two one on ones, and then hopped on a School Bus to take a trip to the MALL! Most of us had agreed that it is way better than American malls. Better food selection, better prices, and better clothes. But it wasn't really about the shopping, it was about being together as a group again and just taking a day to relax and have some fun! Some wanted to see a movie, but were disappointed when they found out none of the movies were in English, haha. But after more than 2 hours, we were all tired and ready to go back to the hotel. When we got back we got more than an hour to rest before dinner, which was great as usual! And then as always after dinner, we headed upstairs to start devotions, practicing skits and music. Katie B. shared her testimony tonight and we would all agree it was very powerful and moved us all. After some tears, we shook it off and started working on the "Everything" and "King of Hearts" skits, which are both turning out very very well. And then my favorite part, worshiping. For me, being able to worship to God is a privilege and is my favorite part of church or devotions. It's a way for me to express my love for God and just show Him how much he means to me. We practiced all Spanish songs, which are kind of difficult for me, but Jaime was there to mouth the words in front of us. (: Then Nick did his devotions on a poem he had written on Lightness and Darkness which really moved me and had me thinking.
God has been really moving me in a way he has never before in the past couple of days. Two nights ago I shared my testimony with the group and a couple people just came to me, put their hands on me, and prayed. At that moment I could feel the God sitting right next to me, holding my hand, and just telling me over and over again how much He loves me. That gave me so much courage and really strengthen my relationship with God. But now I'm off to bed for a very big day tomorrow! Miss all of you so much!
Katie Agazzi
Yesterday was our last day at the Potters House, meaning it was the last day working on our three houses. As the day got longer, the tasks got more tedious and a lot of last minute touches were coming up well at the last minute. We had hoped to finish before lunch, but only a little after we got back and finished, the people from the neighborhood and the owners of the house came with balloons, party string, and confetti to celebrate the finishing of their houses. We talked, prayed, and were each given a gift from the owners! Either a colorful beach towel, purse, or . I and also as a few others felt like they didn't have to bring us gifts. That we built or renovated their houses in Gods name, not ours, the Potters House, or Immanuel. But the first and last day, the owner of the house that I was at said that she will never be able to pay us back, but that God will in many wonderful ways. As we were leaving the houses, I felt God right next to me patting my back because we didn't build those houses to get a hand clap or to check one more thing off my list, but it was because God has called us to go and serve his people. It was sad saying bye to the people of the Potters House, but I know some day I will see them again. As Mr. B said earlier, we had a late night last night having a talent show and playing charades and signs.
Finally.....we get to sleep in and have a day off! (: We had breakfast, had either one or two one on ones, and then hopped on a School Bus to take a trip to the MALL! Most of us had agreed that it is way better than American malls. Better food selection, better prices, and better clothes. But it wasn't really about the shopping, it was about being together as a group again and just taking a day to relax and have some fun! Some wanted to see a movie, but were disappointed when they found out none of the movies were in English, haha. But after more than 2 hours, we were all tired and ready to go back to the hotel. When we got back we got more than an hour to rest before dinner, which was great as usual! And then as always after dinner, we headed upstairs to start devotions, practicing skits and music. Katie B. shared her testimony tonight and we would all agree it was very powerful and moved us all. After some tears, we shook it off and started working on the "Everything" and "King of Hearts" skits, which are both turning out very very well. And then my favorite part, worshiping. For me, being able to worship to God is a privilege and is my favorite part of church or devotions. It's a way for me to express my love for God and just show Him how much he means to me. We practiced all Spanish songs, which are kind of difficult for me, but Jaime was there to mouth the words in front of us. (: Then Nick did his devotions on a poem he had written on Lightness and Darkness which really moved me and had me thinking.
God has been really moving me in a way he has never before in the past couple of days. Two nights ago I shared my testimony with the group and a couple people just came to me, put their hands on me, and prayed. At that moment I could feel the God sitting right next to me, holding my hand, and just telling me over and over again how much He loves me. That gave me so much courage and really strengthen my relationship with God. But now I'm off to bed for a very big day tomorrow! Miss all of you so much!
Katie Agazzi
Blog Note
A very late night last night - we finished with our Potter's House portion of the journey. We are tired to say the least but still in good spirits. So many stories to share with you - so many dreams realized by team members and grateful families with new homes (and new friends). We dispensed with our usual schedule of practice last night and instead just did devotions and a very creative competition between the boys and girls - a talent show (the boys won by the way!). After that, charades took up the rest of the evening. A transition day on Saturday. Will catch up today on the blog later. All our well and sickness is almost gone - thanks for the prayers!
Mr. B
Mr. B
Friday, July 22, 2011
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