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.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

A day dream...

One morning, about a year before we came to Guatemala, I was sitting at the kitchen table in Greenhill studying for a Sunday school lesson I would teach.  Daniel was working at the PD, I was pregnant with Mary Kathleen, and Levi was asleep upstairs. We were in the process of fully committing to coming to serve in Guatemala.
All of a sudden, I saw a big field full of people sitting and listening to Jesus teach. My mom, dad, and grandmother were in the crowd sitting and listening. Jesus came to me and asked me to help Him serve, so I went around serving really quickly and then I went and sat down with my parents and grandmother. Jesus came up to me again and asked me to help serve, so I got up and helped as fast as I could and then went back to sit with my family. This happened one more time, and then Jesus finished teaching and everyone in the crowd got up to go back to their homes. I just stood there crying and watching my parents and grandmother leave when Jesus whispered in my ear that it was time to go.
When I "woke up", I was in the shower getting ready for church. 
I felt God let me see this because He knew that I was fighting between leaving my family and coming to Guatemala. Although it still was the hardest decision of my life, I often think of what I saw in the vision and remember that it was God who called us to serve here. 
I feel also God wanted me to see that we all have a calling. My family is where they are suppose to be, ministering where they are to minister.  There were so many people listening to Jesus, and they left to go back to their homes and tell others. We all have a calling and a purpose. 
 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

God still speaks to His people

I've shared these stories with some people before, but I would like to take the next few posts to write down and testify to how God has spoken to us in specific ways at one time or another in our lives. Please be sure to share your experiences if you feel led, because God speaks to his people all the time and it's important to tell others about it to encourage them... It's not bragging. It does not make us religious freaks. We are just telling the truth and testifying to God's "realness". 

We are a very distracted generation... It's true. There are not many people that can actually say they haven't walked into a wall, or something similar, because they were looking down at their phone. So, I want to point out that most every time we have heard God speak specifically, we have been in a fairly quiet place or intentionally seeking God... And the phone was put away. 

On a side note, God speaks to us every day. The Holy Bible is God (John 1:1). Although I am sharing just a few of the specific examples of where God spoke to us personally, God is very alive and active in His Word (Hebrews 4:12). Read It.

Ok, the first experience I would like to share is short since I've already talked too much.

I was at a retreat with my church, Casa Del Alfarero (Potter's House), the very first year we came to Guatemala (October 2009). Since I didn't know much Spanish, honestly I didn't expect to get too much out of it. Wow was I wrong. God speaks our language. I guess I had forgotten that. 
The very first few minutes of the retreat, Ms. Anita Marroquin hung a banner with Isaiah 54:11,12 on it and said, "Someone needs to hear this today." Of course I couldn't read it on the banner, so I got my Bible and read it and God said, "These verses are for you today." As I read the words, I felt God's love towards me in such an amazing way that I started ugly crying before the retreat had even begun. The verses on the banner spoke to a specific situation in my personal life, and although I was comforted in an unexplainable way, I was also greatly concerned for my kids' well-being at the time. The truth is, I wanted to go back to Alabama. God had given me promises just a couple moments before that He would take care of me, but I argued that He couldn't take care of my kids... So God says, "Keep reading." Isaiah 54:13 says, “All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.”  Why do we argue with God?
Later on in the retreat, we talked about the prodical son. The leaders put rings on our fingers like the dad did in the story, and since I didn't understand hardly anything that my leader, Dinora Leytan, said at the time... as she slid the ring on my finger, God took that moment to say, "I will never leave you." I believed Him too. I've since had a gold ring made with the words "God is with me" on it, and I never take it off as a reminder that God will never leave me. 
God spoke a whole lot more in that retreat too! During those three days, I began to let God change my heart towards our home in Guatemala. Shamefully, I fought a lot more after that, but God is faithful, loving, and very merciful. He keeps working on us. 
  

Monday, August 15, 2016

Short Update - Yes!

Welp...this is going to be short. We are praying for y'all and love keeping up with some of y'all through facebook and email! We are praying for our country as well! May God's kingdom come and His will be done during the elections! And be sure to shine God's light and love as you live out each day for the world to see and glorify God in heaven! Good stuff!
We had two pastor seminars within a month period at the new ministry facility here in El Morral! We have been living in our new house for two weeks! It is so awesome! It is cooler here and away from the city and noise! We are so thankful and happy...love being here with the folks and seeing their reactions to having North Americans living here. And I ain't shy...I go around talking and getting to know them. Loving it! The kids love the house! Said it was the best house ever! Praise God! And the seminars were inspiring! Some of the pastors shared about how they were at that point of feeling abandoned, alone, and exhausted, but now they were leaving feeling inspired, encouraged, and ready to go at it again! That's what we pray and look for! God is good! Thank all of y'all for giving and praying so that they can be encouraged and grow in the knowledge of God! 
We have almost finished the second dorm and bathroom! Can you believe it!? We are getting to that point of laying the floor tile and installing the toilets and windows. The floor will cost $1,500 to finish, and the bathroom and windows will cost another $1,500. Please be praying for the ministry so we can get this next phase finished and start using the dorm and bathroom during the seminars. Right now we are teaching, sleeping, and eating in the one finished dorm room...but it's still so nice! The next process will be getting the roof for the auditorium put on. That will be $3,700. We don't have this but really need help getting these next phases finished so we can keep going with the smaller little by little costs in getting the walls and floors done for the auditorium. Be praying with us and watch what God will do! He is so faithful and good! And we pray blessings for all y'all that have helped and will continue to help the ministry and these pastors and their communities. 
Well...I'm older...and Brandi is getting older this coming Wednesday and then Mary Kathleen will be older this coming Sunday...dadgum! Going by fast! Thank y'all for your birthday wishes! We had a great time this past week with Brandi's parents here, Keith and Kathy. The kids loved seeing their Paw Paw and Maw Maw! And we loved sitting and talking and spending time with them! God is good and sure blesses us with the little things in life! We are so grateful! 

Well...that's all for now! Love y'all and are so thankful to have y'all as a part of our lives and as co-laborers in the ministry here in Chiquimula! God bless!!

McIntyre Family 
 

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Dry lives

We have been experiencing a very dry rainy season this year in Guatemala. My family in Alabama has shared that it's been dry there too and how people are losing their gardens. People have said they have already lost the first corn crop of the season here as well, and that's a big deal when you live off a harvest. 
Night before last, the sky opened and it rained for at least two hours in El Morral! It was actually kind off funny because we haven't gotten the shutters on all of our windows in the new house yet, and daniel got soaked. (My side of the bed was nice and dry though. After I laughed at him, he piled on top of me for the rest of the night.)  The next day, we expected to wake up to a wet land, but because it had not rained in so long, we never would have even known it had rained if daniel's side of the bed had not been wet. 
In a church service last night, they sang the worship song "Let it rain, open the floodgates of heaven, and let it rain." As I was singing, God spoke to my heart and said "When you go through such a dry season, one good rain isn't enough." 
Oh how this one powerful sentence spoke to my life. On crazy busy days, I forget to drink water. My body screams at me by mid-afternoon. And know what else I forget on those crazy busy days? I forget to sit in God's presence and drink His living water. I'll be really honest now... We've had crazy busy days for more than two months now it seems. My spiritual body was screaming last night in that church service. When God spoke to me about my dry life, He wasn't mean about. He just spoke the truth. 
The truth is that it's not healthy to wait until our bodies are dehydrated to drink water. The same is true for our spiritual bodies. 
I've heard some people say that they go to church on Sunday mornings to fill their spiritual tank for the week. Although we are filled ANTIME we sit in God's presence, it's not a healthy decision to only drink His water one time a week. 
We have busy lives... But God spoke truth to my heart last night. I don't want to wait until my life looks like dying corn before I come to Him and drink. Help us Lord drink deeply from Your love and Spirit, every day of our lives.
 
This is a corn field in El Morral. See how the bottom of the corn is brown? It rained again last night, praise God! Lord willing it won't die.