House in San Jacinto

Welp...we finally finished the house in one of the villages close by. We have been in construction for a little over two weeks. This is the house and family that

we met last year in Nov. and felt lead to build them a new house after their house was in danger of falling after the raining season left. Josh and Jessica Byrd came to serve in Guatemala this past Feb. and the Lord opened the door through their ministry to pay for the house. Josh and I worked with three other pastors who are our friends on this project. We also had help from a few other men that lived close to the house. Julio is the man who we are building the house for and he helped also. I got to say, I had no idea how exhausted I would be from working on the house. And I know Brandi has been working just as hard at home with the three kids. But praise God He accomplished His purpose and will for this family. It has been the hottest this year the two weeks we take

to build the house. The temperature has always been right at or over 100 F. Rough stuff, and we came out of it with a couple of bruises and cuts, just Josh and me. The other guys are just fine! But we are still walking and breathing Praise the Lord. They would say that we are accident prone and would laugh all the time. One time after I fell backing out of the house where all the material was stored and Julio's mom started laughing I picked up a block and broke it over her head!! Just joking. But I am thankful that God watched over us while we provided them with entertainment. I don't reckon we are use to walking and building a house on the side of a mountain. It would have been nice to have a bulldozer to level everything out flat. Haha So I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers for this project. The house and all the other expenses came to be right under $2,000.00!  If any one is interested in sponsoring another family with a house there are plenty of folks who have no house at all and others like Julio who need help due to weather or just simply that the mud and sticks used to build the house are not holding anymore. I'm not the expert in construction but I know that God can do anything and we want to be ready when He leads and directs us, even in doing construction. So pray that the house doesn't fall and hurt anyone! Haha Just joking! Thank you and Praise God!!!

It's Hot!!

Well it is 2:30 pm and it is 106 F outside! And it feels worse in the house because there is a slight breeze outside. If I could figure out how to strap a fan to by body and carry it everywhere I went...that would ROCK!! Sometimes all I want to do is go sit in the car or go somewhere in the car to sit in the A/C but with gas being over $5 a gallon that won't work either! I went to the capital yesterday and spent a little over $75 just getting there and back and it is only 100 miles away. But Guatemala is very mountainous and hard to drive with the road conditions. The rain is suppose to be here already, but it hasn't come yet. Brandi and I both have our own fan at night blowing on us. Sometimes I don't know how we are able to breathe. But still manage to sweat like crazy and have to wake up to flip the wet pillow to the other side a couple of times. It would be great if one of them icebergs could float down here and land in our back yard!! Can you tell I'm hot??? Later

Women's Seminar Pictures

First Eyes Wide Open Women Seminar:  April 19th & 20th, 2012 - Thank you ALL for your prayers and support!  God is working in the lives of these precious women and He is using them to do great things in Guatemala!

Worshiping before the classes

Pastor Jendrick and Pastora Claudia from Casa del Alfarero leading worship

Teaching about why we are loved by God

Special diner

Night worship

Dinora Leytan leading a class on Believing that We were Born for Big Things

Prayer time

We were able to give out certificates, flowers, and presents. The presents were donated by Casa del Alfarero

Presentation of flowers and certificates

Hanging out after dinner

Beautiful! Pastora Mary from Salfate church (The church on the Rock!)

The certificates their name, the meaning of their name, and a verse

Precious Anacleta! She could out quote anyone on Bible verses!  Taught to her by the Lord because she cannot read. 

Sidia, who lost her husband this past year. He was a Pastor that was in the wreck with 10 other pastors coming back from a Revival. 

Amazing Odilia with one of her presents!

Back in School!

Well, we went back to our first school this past Friday. I had such a great time with the boys. We played a game with them and then I spoke to them on "How to treat others." The teacher told me that they are starting to fight a lot and hit each other. So I taught them on the love of God and the command that God gives us to love. At the end, they were able to repeat to me that if we do not obey God's Word, then we do not know God. And if we do not love others, then we can't love God. Some of the boys started pointing out other "bullies" in the classroom saying, "He is a liar and does not love God!" Hahaha I thought, "Oh my! I hope this kid doesn't pound him later for saying that." But I had fun with the boys. I also learned that slapping a guy on the backside here does not mean that you are a big tough athletic jock like it does in the States...I won't be doing that anymore. Josh, who is a missionary living here now with his wife Jessica, came and helped me at the school also. He is like 6'3 and all the kids were talking about how tall he is. Many are calling him Goliath! Haha


Then we went to our second school in San Juan yesterday, and it was a little tougher crowd! Nancy, who works with us in the ministry, and I taught on the same subject, and we played games and had a great time, but these students seem to really be struggling more with stealing, fighting, and disrespect. I actually had one 8 year old boy yell out while I was speaking that I didn't know how it was here because I am a gringo and live in the States. He also kept yelling out the wrong answers and being a distraction throughout the entire lesson. I thought about using some of my police moves on him, but I decided to minister to him instead. Good choice I thought. Anyway, after Nancy and I told him that I had lived in Guatemala for a while and after telling him that one day he was going to get the snot beat out of him, he at least kept quiet so the others could listen. Please pray for these kids in the public schools. We have had several people tell us that many of them, like in the States, live with just their moms or with grandparents. The problem is though, the government does not support families like this like they do there. Many of the children are working by the time they are 6 years old, and because of this, they are put in great danger. One child that was selling candy in one of the communities here was stolen and murdered just a couple of weeks ago. So, to tell you the truth, I probably do not have a clue what these kids go through. Please pray that God will use us in the way He wants to minister to these kids and pray that our eyes will stay open to how we can help them in every way we can.

Update on one of our pastors and friends

We have asked for your prayers for our friend where we built the church on the rock. He had a mini stroke about three weeks ago and has had to stop working his construction job. He is taking medicine to help balance out certain levels in his body that are thought to cause strokes. He had to stay in bed the first full week and now is getting back slowly with therapy for his left side which was effected. He is able to move the left side but has no strength in his left hand and pain on the whole left side of his body. He is able to move around now and do a little throughout the day. He has not been able to work to provide for his family. We asked y'all to pray and those who could, to give money to help pay for medicine, medical bills, and food for his family. Well, the Lord provided through your giving in a big way!!! We received $460 to give to him!! PRAISE GOD!! He and his wife were soo excited! They told me that they had to borrow money from other people to pay for the medicine and the medical bills and that would cover that payment and give them plenty to live on while he can't work. They said over and over that they would be praying for all of you who are praying for them and also helping them financially! They were very appreciative and prayed for God to bless each of you! So thank you very much for your prayers! I have received many emails from many of you saying that you are praying or that the church is praying for him. I have relayed all those emails to him. Thank you! And thank you to all who gave money to help them out while he recovers. Please keep praying for a complete and fast recovery for him! He is still preaching too and leading his church and working there for the Lord while recovering, but I have to keep reminding him to slow down and recover while he can! Thank you again!

Seminar Pictures (Feb 2nd & Feb 23rd-25th)

First one day seminar with Pastor Alex Rodriguez on February 2nd. We were all challenged with Alex's presentation on how it is our responsibility to spread the Gospel where God leads us!












Second seminar of the year with Pastor Jendrick Lobos on February 23rd through 25th. He, and a team of pastors, taught about administration in the church and encouraged the pastors to push their congregation to grow spiritually. Also, he gave many ideas on how to better organize their churches and be better administrators in that which God has entrusted to them. They also gave food and other items to each pastor at the end of the seminar as a gift for their families. They all were such a blessing!

Trip to Belize

We had to make an emergency trip to Belize this past Sunday, 12th. We have been working on getting our residency papers turned in and starting the process for about two weeks now. This is a long process and requires many different kinds of forms. We thought we had all of it ready and were told we had all of it ready...but the day of we found out that we did not have it ready. We were late in leaving the country because every 90 days the visa for Guatemala expires and you have to leave. We talked to them and to stay and pay the fine was cheaper than paying to travel to another country. So we decided to stay and pay the fine. Once you are in the process for residency you do not have to leave. So we find out Friday that we are missing three papers that are all in the States!! These papers were not listed on the requirements; therefore, we did not have them. So because our visa had expired we had to leave the country. This is a SHORT version of what happened...having to return to the capital the same Friday after leaving the capital to get the papers to be able to leave for Belize and then later that NIGHT, after we were home, finding out that the immigration office made a mistake and had Brandi's passport at their office in the capital, 4 hours from us and we had to have it to leave the country on Sunday...but God was very merciful and gave us strength to make it to the next day. We had to take a 1 1/2 or 2 hour boat ride along the shore of the ocean to get to Belize with all the kids with us. And then we had to stay 2 nights and come back the third day to Guatemala to get another 90 day visa. They gave us a lot of mumbo chumpo at the border entering Belize and tried to get us to get our entry and exit stamps and go back that same day and not have to stay the night! Tempting!! Very tempting but we found out later that it is a requirement from Guatemala to leave for three days to get the visa so praise the Lord we stayed! We were able to relax somewhat. Belize seems to be more run down than Guatemala where we were, but it was cleaner and they speak English!! And they had real MILK!!!! I got to drink real milk like in the States!! Trip well worth it!! We made it home safely, praise the Lord, and have time to get the papers from the States to get our residency. The trip ended up cost like $460!!! The very reason we want our residency so we don't have to go spend a lot of money that we do NOT have to leave and come back! That trip alone cost more than one of the kids' residency and only $40 cheaper than Brandi's or my residency. So a little stressful but got through it all and are still kicking! We are just trusting the Lord for the money to finish out the month and keep going. He is so very faithful and knows what we need way before we figure it out and already has prepared it all in advance! Looking back only strengthens our faith and trust that He will continue to provide and accomplish His purposes here in Guatemala because looking ahead only makes us stress and worry! Haha We got today, praise the Lord! So thought I'd fill you in on this weeks adventure. There you go.

Daniel