Scoop, lift, throw.  Scoop, lift, throw.  Scoop, lift, throw.  This has been my motion for the last week.  My team and I have been a part of finishing building a water well that has been an ongoing process for 3 years.  Once complete, the well will be a source of water for 4 families in the community.  Being a part of a project that will soon impact so many people has been a blessing.  My main job has been shoveling dirt into the surrounding walls of the well.  First off, I have never shoveled so much in my whole life and second, by shoveling every...

Blessed.  That is how I feel about this opportunity to spend my summer in Panajachel!  The Lord is doing awesome things in me, my teammates, and this city that were staying in.     This theme of water is constantly being brought to my attention.  One of the first days we were here, something broke in the bathroom and water was shooting out of the wall at a rapid pace.  The room began to flood, and we all had to sweep out the crazy amount of water in the bedroom until the water was turned off.   Our team is studying John, and in John Jesus talks a...

          This past week we did our first prostitute ministry. I was really excited to finally be going in to the red light district to minister to those that are so close to my heart. We made cards with encouraging verses in Spanish to give to the women we met and we also got flowers to give them so they knew they were beautiful and that someone loved them. The first place we walked into was a night club. The music was blaring and it was dimly lit with black lights everywhere. There was a dancer on stage and two waiting to go on. The Pastor we were with (who has...

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 the author writes that “He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time.” This verse is one I have held on to and pondered over the past few days. In the past week we’ve entered a lot of different situations where it’s been really hard to recognize anything beautiful so this verse has had even more meaning. Last Friday night we went to the red light district and entered bars with back rooms in plain view and even a strip club. We went to show God’s love to the woman that work there. These women were brokenhearted and in an atmosphere...

Je suis completement heureux detre ici avec des gens superbe ! Le temps que je passe ici est tout simplement fantastic. Jai la chance de visiter le Guatemala en compagnie de gens qui veulent servir Jesus. Dieu ma utilise cette semaine en faisant un appel aupres de plusieurs enfants. Jai utiliser ma manipulation avec les cartes en faisant des illusions. Gloire a Dieu ! je me demandais comment je pouvais mixer les cartes tout en prechant la bonne nouvelle. Jai eu la chance de demontrer que les cartes etaient seuleument des illusions, MAIS que Dieu est vivant et quil peut faire des miracles...

Wow. Another week in Guatemala has gone by. I’m still in love with it here, if not even more in love. My eyes have definitely been opened to more suffering that goes on here though. This week we went to the garbage dump and met and prayed with some of the people that lived there. It was awful.  We trudged though…I don’t even think I want to know, and the smell and the flies were at some points overwhelming. I remember looking down at one point and seeing the rotting carcass of a cow. What made it so horrible was the knowledge that this was home for some people. There...

Friday night we went to downtown Puerto Barrios in order to minister to the prostitutes in the bars. Before we arrived though, we spent a powerful time in prayer and worship preparing for this. It was incredible how God used that time to give us confidence, peace, and even joy. I definitely learned how powerful it is to be fully equipped with the armor of God! We took flowers in groups into different bars and gave them to the different women we met. I will never forget one bar in particular. 4 or 5 girls were sitting on a couch and their eyes were filled with an intense hopelessness. We...

Before I came to Guatemala, I was smugly satisfied with the amount of faith I have displayed in my life. Faith is something that has been spoken over me ever since I took a spiritual gifts class six years ago. I had no clue what that even meant at the time, but it was all coming into focus over the past two years: quitting my career, going on the World Race, interning at a church, applying for seminary (in Texas, of all places), and again quitting my job to lead a Real Life trip to Guatemala. I thought I was all stocked up on faith. I was confident … maybe even a little cocky. And...

The band Casting Crowns has written many songs that speak of our current times and our failure to truly trust, depend, and seek out Jesus Christ.  Their song, “What if His People Prayed,” has been on my heart lately, especially as I observe the members of Mi Reto, our host church.  The lyrics question why the church allows Satan to gain more souls, why we don’t take a stand upon God’s promises, and why we are too stubborn to turn from our own ways and seek to bear His name.  My favorite verse examines the family: “What if the family turned to...

Last Friday was the beginning of our second official week here in Guatemala and we hit the ground running. In the morining we visited a school in Puerto Barrios and had a program for them. Being there was hard because we didn’t get the response we had from the students in the school in San Manuel and it was very discouraging. We came home and had some family time to re-vamp and really prepare as a unit for  our ministry that evening. That night we went out to the bars in Puerto barrios to visit and pray with theprostitutes that worked there.We brought flowers to take with us to...

During prayer I find myself asking God question upon question.  I turn to Him in order to seek answers.  If I don't feel that they are answered adequately or in my own time, I continue to ask Him again and again and again.  However, God doesn't tend to work how we would like him to to work.  Earlier this week I had a revelation about questioning God.  If I lift a decision up to God for discernment and he puts peace into my heart, that should be the answer I'm looking for.  It is only when I am away from God and His word when confusion creeps...

Despues de un largo y caluroso dia de trabajo (cavando hoyos, trasladando tierra, haciendo mezclas de semento, limpiando, entre otros), llegamos a la casa misionera listos para darnos un buen baño. Al abrir la regadera me lleve una gran SORPRESA, no salio ni una gota de agua. Al parecer la reseva de agua que nuestra casa tenia deberia durar un minimo de dos meses y nosotros en dos semanas ya nos habiamos terminado toda la reserva. Pregunta para reflexionar:  ¿Que pasaria si un dia tu te llegaras a quedar sin una gota de agua? te enfermarias? te...