What We Do

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We are a non-profit organization that works with pastors, churches, schools, and the local hospital in Chiquimula, Guatemala. We host training seminars for pastors, leaders, and youth from rural areas and we help supply the congregations with Biblical materials to minister to their communities. We visit several public schools to share a Biblical story and play with the kids. We also pray in the local hospital and give out toys, toiletries, and Biblical materials. Ways to Be a Part of this Ministry: Come - We need pastors and leaders to come and teach these pastors and leaders here in Guatemala. Or you could bring a group to work in the churches or schools with construction or evangelism. Financially Support - If you would like to support this ministry, please visit our website at www.eyeswideopenministries.com to donate online or send your donation to: P.O.Box 245 Florence, Alabama 35631 Make your checks payable to Eyes Wide Open Ministries. All donations are tax-deductible. Pray - Please pray we will follow God's leading in all we do.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

2nd Pastor Training Seminar 2011

Hello. I hope everyone is doing well. I want to thank everyone for your prayers for the seminar. I hope I can describe how your prayers greatly impacted the seminar. We had all together 16 pastors this time. There were 9 new pastors that did not participate in the first seminar. Pastor Bryan McIntyre was the teacher, and the topic of the seminar was the Five Principles of Faith. It was two and a half days of teaching. We also had the same women cooking for the pastors. Again, I think we all gained weight those two and a half days. Very good food!

Well here is where I know your prayers changed everything. It felt as if the seminar was always under spiritual attack. The morning we were to start, my translator called, who also had the truck to carry us back and forth, and told me his daughter was very sick, and he could not make it to translate. So I called another friend to see if she could do it that morning, and she said that she could translate. So she translated for the first day. We were also able to use the truck from my friend. That night we drove back to the church to have the night service and at the hour we were to start a huge rain storm came. The church started leaking water and the rain and wind were so strong that you could not hear anything being said because the church has a tin roof and open windows. So we had to leave fast because there is a place in the road were you have to drive through the water and when the rain runs down the mountain, the river grows fast and after a short period of time with strong rain no one can pass. Praise the Lord we made it back safely. The next day my friend told me she could not translate because her husbands family was going to stay with them for the weekend so she had to be at her house. I called other people and could not find anybody. So I had to translate for the rest of the seminar for my dad. So praise the Lord it went well, for all I know, and the pastors understood. We went back at night for the service, and this time there was no rain but there was a plague of insects in the church. You had to dodge and move so the flying insects wouldn't hit you, and you had to keep your mouth shut or you would get a big snack for the night! Brandi went crazy and started sweeping them out of the church, but just as fast as she swept, the clean area was covered in bugs again. So after the service, we offered the pastors to come and sleep in our house or stay at a hotel. Only two agreed to stay with us at our house. The others said after they turn the lights off the bugs would leave! But the two pastors that stayed with us had a good time with us. The final half day went well. We gave the pastors certificates for completing the study and concordances were donated to help the pastors in their studies. So all went well at the end, praise the Lord. But I have to say that I just about lost it several times and wanted to hide in a corner after all the mishaps kept coming.

God is faithful and accomplished what He desired for His pastors. They expressed many things that they had learned and many things they could use to teach their churches and villages. And I don't know about you, but I have to admire their hunger and commitment to learn. Many walked several miles every morning to get to the church in 100 degree weather, others slept on the floor in the church and had to walk 20 minutes to get to the river to take a bath, and others slept with the bugs. You have to ask yourself how many of us would have said, "Forget this! I ain't sleeping on the floor or with bugs. I won't bath in a dirty river or walk miles in this heat!" I admire those pastors and hope that y'all can see their hunger and passion through this email and maybe this will effect us all to have the same desire and commitment to God and his calling on our lives.

Dad did a great job teaching the seminar and getting the pastors to understand, seeing how he had to rely on a not so good translator the last two days. I was able to see many of the pastors listening and understanding. After they would make comments or share something with the others, then I knew they were learning and seeing new things they had not yet understood about faith. That is so rewarding and leaves you feeling so excited and ready to start seminar III. The pastors said they were already expecting to have the third training as well. So please be in prayer with us about who God will send to train His pastors in Guatemala.

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