Hello Everyone.
In the morning we said goodbye to Andrew as he left to go back to school. We then, began our work at the Potter's House . At the Potter's House we are renovating and building houses and teaching a VBS. I was part of the house building team and we spent the day breaking up concrete, shoveling dirt, and stuccoing the walls of the house. It was a great day of hard work that we ended with pizza and a time of encouragement as we shared how God has been at work in our lives. God is penetrating our hearts and we can only praise Him for what is happening.
Thank You for the Support
Daniel Davenport
Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Hello again!
Today was full of safe travels, singing, and roadside snacks as we left Chi Chi for Guatemala City. We are now in a neat hostel where we will be staying for the rest of the trip. We had a much needed pizza dinner and are now meeting some other teams that are staying here as well. We said goodbye to our friends at ASELSI and are transitioning tomorrow into a brand new experience.We bonded with so many children and families and I personally fell in love with my surroundings and specifically the little girls. Not only are we staying in a new place this week, but we're also going to encounter new lives and new struggles. We're in a much more urban place with a completely different feel than the beautiful mountains that we left this morning.Our prayer is that our hearts are broken by the Lord. We desire to touch and be touched in exciting ways in our journey, and I believe God will fufill that desire.
As a team we woke up this morning much more refreshed and energized thanks to extra sleep, and headed to a conference room to have a beautiful morning of worship with missionary families. I think the whole team can agree that the sermon was what we each needed to hear and I know that I was especially blessed.
Please continue to pray for our hearts as we enter into a fresh start, for our health and protection, and for team unity and boldness for the Gospel. We'll be going on home visits Wednesday and we could use prayer for each of us to say the words that God intended for us to say and for hearts to be open. We're excited to see what God has for us this week and we'll make sure to keep you all posted!
As an added note, Andrew and Daniel wanted to say: "hi mom."
Much love,
Bethany Tibbets
Today was full of safe travels, singing, and roadside snacks as we left Chi Chi for Guatemala City. We are now in a neat hostel where we will be staying for the rest of the trip. We had a much needed pizza dinner and are now meeting some other teams that are staying here as well. We said goodbye to our friends at ASELSI and are transitioning tomorrow into a brand new experience.We bonded with so many children and families and I personally fell in love with my surroundings and specifically the little girls. Not only are we staying in a new place this week, but we're also going to encounter new lives and new struggles. We're in a much more urban place with a completely different feel than the beautiful mountains that we left this morning.Our prayer is that our hearts are broken by the Lord. We desire to touch and be touched in exciting ways in our journey, and I believe God will fufill that desire.
As a team we woke up this morning much more refreshed and energized thanks to extra sleep, and headed to a conference room to have a beautiful morning of worship with missionary families. I think the whole team can agree that the sermon was what we each needed to hear and I know that I was especially blessed.
Please continue to pray for our hearts as we enter into a fresh start, for our health and protection, and for team unity and boldness for the Gospel. We'll be going on home visits Wednesday and we could use prayer for each of us to say the words that God intended for us to say and for hearts to be open. We're excited to see what God has for us this week and we'll make sure to keep you all posted!
As an added note, Andrew and Daniel wanted to say: "hi mom."
Much love,
Bethany Tibbets
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Today was a great, fun, and relaxing day after a week of hard work and in preparation for a week of hard work ahead! We started off the day with zip-lining through the beautiful forest of Panjachel. It was quite the experience! :) Then we all went on a boat trip on Lake Atitlan, which was amazing. Seeing all this stunning nature really shows how amazing and creative our God really is. We then did a little shopping in a local market and ran into the President of Guatemala! We finished our night with dinner at the hotel and a great devotion by Luke and a time of really inspiring prayer. We would love if you could keep our team's health in your prayers, as some of us aren't feeling our best. God has shown us some amazing things this week, and we are looking forward to what He has in store for us next week.
-Morgan Akers
-Morgan Akers
Friday, July 27, 2012
Hello world! Sorry for the lack of post last night, one of the nightly severe thunderstorms knocked out our power (which we are very used to by now) but last night it also disabled the wi-fi. No worries, we're all still alive and kickin! The past two days we've been continuing to work at the church in Poco Il, finishing the outhouses and painting the church itself- painting was my job, and it involved balancing on a tiny dirt ledge which often gave way and a extremely unstable "scaffold"... every time I had to move I had to hold the paintbrush in my mouth. It was fun. Today was our last day working and being with the kids from Church of God, and it culminated in a worship session where we got outrocked by the Guatemalan youth groups, then said good-byes and exchanged forms of contact. We are ready for a fun day at the beautiful Lake Aticlan and then off to Potter's House for the next week. Hasta luego,
James Montavon
James Montavon
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Hola from Guatemala! A quick recap of the past two days - Yesterday morning we visited a school. The kids were ages about 4-7. As soon as we walked in they cheered for us, they made us feel so important. Just a simple "hola" made them smile from ear to ear. After playing games with them we headed to a local hospital. We split up into groups to visit women's surgery, men's surgery, and pediatrics. The groups prayed for the patients and gave them gift bags. It was an eye -opening experience. In the evening, we played soccer with some local Guatemalans, they were very talented. We were a little embarrassed.
Today in the morning we first met up with ASELSI and led staff devotions. Next prepared hamburgers for a feeding program, while some of our team went downtown to hand out tickets for a free meal. Before handing out the meal we put on a program for them in the middle of the square with a skit and music. Andrew gave a salvation message and we prayed with them. We then split up into groups again. Some went to build a chicken coop, some to paint a church, build an outhouse, or babysit. Once we finished that we had a pretty relaxing evening. Keep us in your prayers and be thankful we are all safe and healthy. Its amazing to see the work of God firsthand.
- Shannon Hemmer
Today in the morning we first met up with ASELSI and led staff devotions. Next prepared hamburgers for a feeding program, while some of our team went downtown to hand out tickets for a free meal. Before handing out the meal we put on a program for them in the middle of the square with a skit and music. Andrew gave a salvation message and we prayed with them. We then split up into groups again. Some went to build a chicken coop, some to paint a church, build an outhouse, or babysit. Once we finished that we had a pretty relaxing evening. Keep us in your prayers and be thankful we are all safe and healthy. Its amazing to see the work of God firsthand.
- Shannon Hemmer
Monday, July 23, 2012
It's weird how God works. I never in my life thought that I would be on a trip outside of the country with a church sharing the gospel with people. I always told myself, "When I get older, I'll follow the Lord. I have things that I want to do before I settle down and devote my life to him." Long story short when God called me to go on a missions trip, I resented it. I literally hated Mr. Bognanno because he was so passionate about the Lord. Everything inside of me screamed to just quit. It was the summer before my freshman year of college and it was my time to party it up before I went. Then May 5th, 2011 happened; God called for me to give my life to him, with no holding back. He put in my heart to have a heart to yearn for being used as reckless abandon for his kingdom. Two months after coming to know Christ I was here in Guatemala as an infant in my faith, yet he used me in a way that I can take no credit for. He made sure last year that he was going to use me in a way that for the rest of my life, when anything happened for His kingdom, I would remember I was only used through him because without him I am nothing more than a lost sheep who had gone astray.
This year being in Guatemala, I have already gotten to see how far God has taken me. Being in America, change is so constant in our lives that Gods significant work in our hearts can be cheated and confused with just growth in our lives along with everything else. To be removed from Guatemala and this specific trip for a year, and then to see how things have changed in me is mind blowing. I went from hating Mr. Bognanno and wanting to get out of the trip to driving 2 hours into the rural areas of Virginia without technology just to spend 7 1/2 hours of prayer with Daniel Davenport over our trip, over our hearts as leaders on this trip, and for our lives. I went from keeping to myself about my struggles and my relationship with God to 2 Corinthians 11:30 "If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show how weak I am." I get to boast about my weaknesses to say how great and how strong my God is. I'm loving my trip so far and how God shows me more and more how he is active and living in our hearts to those who believe in him.
On the the stuff you really want to hear is our day! Today was an interesting one. We got our official orientation of ASELSI and from there began to get sorted and prepared for the youth group event we were going to be putting on tonight. After that we broke into individual groups and went on home visits to just invest our lives into people. Mr. Bognanno being who he is told me 5 minutes before we get in the cars to leave that I will be leading the visit for my group. To be fair he did that for Claire and Nick also, but there is something suspicious about him giving short time notices when I'm involved. For my group, it was encouraging to see as soon as we got to the house there was Jesus written on one of their doors. I thought I could assume that they were believers, and the majority of them were. We got to meet this family and hear some of their story and it really hit my heart hard. The mother of the family had problems with seizures and the family spoke of an instance where she had a seizure and she fell into a fire. It immediately made my think of the story of Jesus healing a boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9:14-29 and just thinking of the father exclaiming "Help me with my unbelief!" The father of this family was a believer but he had been a drunk and after the fire incident he stopped going to church and felt like it was his fault that this had happened to his wife. They had at least 7 kids and all but 2 were believers. Daniel was in my group and he shared the gospel with him. What happened after that will be in my mind the rest of my life. Daniel and I offered words of encouragement to the mother and what was coming out of my mouth to her was straight from God, he was just pouring into my head different things that he had revealed to me that I could share with her, and Daniel also. Afterwards Shannon who had been quiet for most of the trip stepped up and prayed for the mother in confidence and boldness. With faith she came to the father we serve that there will be healing in her life, and even if it's not on this earth she knows her real healing, and her real rest is in heaven because she is a believer in the God of this universe. I then prayed for the father and shared a little in my life to show I know a little of what he was experiencing. He rededicated his life to the Lord right then. Then Daniel prayed for the little girls and they accepted Christ into their hearts. It is a beautiful thing to see someone come to accept Christ as their personal savior. We then presented the family with a gift bag and about the equivalent of $40 to go towards medicine for the mother. Their family touched my heart and I hope that they together will continue to live and to glorify God.
Lastly was the youth group for the night, and God was most certainly in the building. The skits that I had worried about went exactly how it should have. The testimonies were the perfect ones that were meant to be said (Phillip and Morgan), the music went well, and the time of the bonfire went well. God is definitely working in our lives and I'm really getting to see growth in different team members and even mine. Everyone who is on this trip was meant to be on this trip, and God is going to do miraculous things in the days to come. I apologize for typing so much, I get it from my parents. :)
Andrew Washington
This year being in Guatemala, I have already gotten to see how far God has taken me. Being in America, change is so constant in our lives that Gods significant work in our hearts can be cheated and confused with just growth in our lives along with everything else. To be removed from Guatemala and this specific trip for a year, and then to see how things have changed in me is mind blowing. I went from hating Mr. Bognanno and wanting to get out of the trip to driving 2 hours into the rural areas of Virginia without technology just to spend 7 1/2 hours of prayer with Daniel Davenport over our trip, over our hearts as leaders on this trip, and for our lives. I went from keeping to myself about my struggles and my relationship with God to 2 Corinthians 11:30 "If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show how weak I am." I get to boast about my weaknesses to say how great and how strong my God is. I'm loving my trip so far and how God shows me more and more how he is active and living in our hearts to those who believe in him.
On the the stuff you really want to hear is our day! Today was an interesting one. We got our official orientation of ASELSI and from there began to get sorted and prepared for the youth group event we were going to be putting on tonight. After that we broke into individual groups and went on home visits to just invest our lives into people. Mr. Bognanno being who he is told me 5 minutes before we get in the cars to leave that I will be leading the visit for my group. To be fair he did that for Claire and Nick also, but there is something suspicious about him giving short time notices when I'm involved. For my group, it was encouraging to see as soon as we got to the house there was Jesus written on one of their doors. I thought I could assume that they were believers, and the majority of them were. We got to meet this family and hear some of their story and it really hit my heart hard. The mother of the family had problems with seizures and the family spoke of an instance where she had a seizure and she fell into a fire. It immediately made my think of the story of Jesus healing a boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9:14-29 and just thinking of the father exclaiming "Help me with my unbelief!" The father of this family was a believer but he had been a drunk and after the fire incident he stopped going to church and felt like it was his fault that this had happened to his wife. They had at least 7 kids and all but 2 were believers. Daniel was in my group and he shared the gospel with him. What happened after that will be in my mind the rest of my life. Daniel and I offered words of encouragement to the mother and what was coming out of my mouth to her was straight from God, he was just pouring into my head different things that he had revealed to me that I could share with her, and Daniel also. Afterwards Shannon who had been quiet for most of the trip stepped up and prayed for the mother in confidence and boldness. With faith she came to the father we serve that there will be healing in her life, and even if it's not on this earth she knows her real healing, and her real rest is in heaven because she is a believer in the God of this universe. I then prayed for the father and shared a little in my life to show I know a little of what he was experiencing. He rededicated his life to the Lord right then. Then Daniel prayed for the little girls and they accepted Christ into their hearts. It is a beautiful thing to see someone come to accept Christ as their personal savior. We then presented the family with a gift bag and about the equivalent of $40 to go towards medicine for the mother. Their family touched my heart and I hope that they together will continue to live and to glorify God.
Lastly was the youth group for the night, and God was most certainly in the building. The skits that I had worried about went exactly how it should have. The testimonies were the perfect ones that were meant to be said (Phillip and Morgan), the music went well, and the time of the bonfire went well. God is definitely working in our lives and I'm really getting to see growth in different team members and even mine. Everyone who is on this trip was meant to be on this trip, and God is going to do miraculous things in the days to come. I apologize for typing so much, I get it from my parents. :)
Andrew Washington
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Ohhh man where to begin? Today has been exciting from start to finish, it began with several clogged showers and a delicious egg and french toast breakfast, Guatemalan style. We then got the opportunity to go into the city of Chichi where we were able to see the Church of Saint Thomas which was built on the ruins of a Mayan temple. Then we pushed our way through the crowded market streets and went to the city cemetery. One of the first things we noticed as we walked through the gates were the Mayan shamans or witch doctors who praying over alters and wafting their smoke incense all over the place. Our guide Eman, who understood what they were saying, told us that they were praying curses and enchantments against us, the Christians. After we left the cemetery we were allowed to put our Spanish speaking skills to the test by walking around the market bartering, shopping and constantly refusing and trying to avoid the swarms of children and old ladies trying to sell us blankets and bookmarks. Following an intense and very musical Tuk Tuk ride back to the hotel we all got to relax and it was here that Daniel and I found our undiscovered and incredible talents of interpretive dance. Not long after this glorious discovery we went to the Church of God where we were finally able to put all of our missions meetings and team practices to use. First we all stood up front and serenaded the congregation with a little La Nina De Tu Ojos action, then Rebekah, Daniel, Bethany and I preformed the King of Hearts skit. After that Jonathon gave his testimony and I went up and tickled the ivory with some How Majestic is Your Name. Then Daniel came to the pulpit and wowed the crowd with an incredible sermon on our team verse 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 while the rest of us took the kids and had a Bible lesson. After Daniel finished we mingled with the congregation for a little while, got to know the youth group and finally came back to our hotel. It's been an amazing day and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow.
Safe Arrival
Tim emailed last night to say that the team has arrived in Guatemala safe and sound. They are ready to minister this (Sunday) afternoon at a local church. They will post a more detailed update as they are able.
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