Teaching the Pastors

We dropped off the group from The Summit Church from Missouri and picked up Mark Puckett the same day to do a pastor seminar at our house. This was Mark's first time to visit and teach in Guatemala. His church has been a part of our ministry for over a year now! He came ready to teach and encourage the pastors in their personal relationship with God and leadership within the church. We had 18 pastors come to participate in the two and a half day seminar. The seminar was a eye opening experience for us all. We grew deeper in our understanding of the scripture! We learned so much about leading our families, churches, and communities through our influence and examples. Mark was able to share many personal experiences in reaching out and leading the church to love and influence the communities...in ways that are "outside" the norm for churches and pastors. I had many of the pastors share how this opened their minds and gave them some new ideas on ministering and reaching out to their communities. Many times we get so caught up with the traditions and religious way of doing things that we miss out on God's way. Not saying that God doesn't use some of our traditions and our religion to accomplish His purposes and reach lives...but we need to keep our minds and eyes open to the moving and direction of God in our personal live, families, and churches! We also went through a prayer clinic with the pastors. Many actually said that this gave them a more orderly way to pray and how to teach others to pray. It is simply the Lord's prayer that He taught His disciples.Mark went through the different areas that the prayer touches, and then we went through a time of prayer together using this model. So we had a great time learning together and sharing experiences and ideas. This time the pastors participated more than usual with questions and comments. They were very excited and ready to go back and put into practice what they learned!
Brandi and Nancy did a wonderful job cooking for all of us and the pastors during the seminar. The kids helped clean and cut vegetables too! And the food was so good!
Mark's church also bought a Communion set for each pastor that participates in the ministry! It was a stainless steel plate and cup. Beautiful! And we were able to give these out to the pastors at the end of the seminar and have continued to give them to the others that weren't able to be there. What a wonderful gift for these guys! And I have been to their church services since and seen them using the set as they served Communion to their church. Good stuff!! Praise the Lord!!

Summit in Guatemala!

We had a group from The Summit Church come and minister with us in June. This was their first time working with us, but many of them have been coming to Guatemala for years. One couple, they are our contact in the church, actually lived here as missionaries and are now serving the Lord in Missouri as pastors/missionaries. We had a great time with the group! They came with sincere hearts to serve along side of us and not to be served. They went with us where we usually go doing the same things that we usually do. This isn't that bad when it's two or three people, but when a group drives two or three hours up the mountain  in the back of a truck to then walk the village praying and giving to the families then stay that night for the church service it's not as easy. But they went the whole time and never stopped pouring into the families and schools in Guatemala! And they poured into our lives and our family as well!! One of our friends in the group even stayed back and helped Brandi at the house.
We visited three different villages with the group walking house to house, praying with the families, giving out food baskets to different families, and inviting them to come to the church to be a part of the service that night. They also sat down to talk and pray with each pastor and their family to encourage them and get to really know them. We walked with the pastors in their villages to minister along side of them. This wasn't always easy! In one of the villages we literally walked up a mountain side almost looking straight down as we walked up. It was kind of scary and really exhausting, but at the top, one of the families accepted Jesus into their hearts and house and actually walked down that night to participate in the church service!! It was so worth the climb! My legs were shaking when we got back down and didn't stopped until we got back home to rest. But that same night my truck broke down on the way home. Some of the guys stayed and waited with me for the wrecker to arrive and tow us back to the house. While we were outside waiting with all the gear in the back of the truck, it starts to rain! So we have to move all the gear inside the truck and pile up on top of everything while it rained. Then the wrecker driver shows up drunk! To drive us back home inside my truck on the back of the wrecker that was smaller than my truck! But hey...we made it home by the grace of God and actually had a great time together! The guys were very encouraging and cracking jokes and laughing which helped me not worry so much or get stressed out! The last place we went to visit it actually rained hard the whole time we were there! But the group still walked the village in the rain giving out the food and praying for the families! Each place we visited lives were saved and changed for forever! I spoke with the pastors days after we left and all shared about the change and moving of the Holy Spirit in the village and lives! WOW! Glory to God!!
The group also went to two different schools and performed a skit and message with the kids. It was very powerful and fun! There were 14 kids that accepted Jesus at the first school!! Praise God! And we were not allowed to do an invitation at the second school but the message and presence of God was just as powerful and moving! So we are praying and hoping that lives were changed there also! My kids actually participated in the skit and loved it! They had a great time! And they also visited the hospital two times to pray and give out gifts with Brandi and Nancy. That is always an impacting experience for both the group and the people at the hospital. So we praise God for His healing and lives that were changed there!
So we had an awesome time with the group and were treated like kings and queens! They took us out to eat several times and even painted part of the inside of our house! Saved me from a lot of work!! Haha And they took us to a city called Antigua and paid for our hotel room and food...just so many blessings and so much encouragement from them! We are so thankful and looking forward to having them come back next year! Good stuff!!

Pastor Seminar with Chris Weldon

Well after Chris spent two days beating on the police officers here in Chiquimula and training them on many other things (haha), he came to our house and lead the pastors through a study on the Psalms. God used him in a great way! I know Chris had to be exhausted...I was! The pastors loved the seminar! I loved the seminar! It opened our eyes to see the Psalms at a different level and come to understand them more! I was a little worried about the education level for some of us, but the pastors were so attentive and alert and asked a lot of questions! And there were times where they had to explain and answer a lot of questions...praise the Lord they seemed to be right on with the teachings and material being taught. We had 22 pastors able to come and participate in the day and a half seminar. Many had to sleep in tents and outside on sleeping bags, but they really enjoyed the fellowship and the Food!! Brandi and Nancy always do a great job cooking and providing us and the pastors with some of the best tasting food!! For many of the pastors, it is the only meal out of the whole month where they will be able to eat meat...and a lot of it! Praise the Lord!! Thank y'all for your support and prayers for these seminars!! It really means so much to the pastors and more to us that y'all remember, pray and provide for these seminars! Chris had several folks from his church help pay the costs of this seminar, and he was able to buy a book on "How to Preach in the Spirit" for each pastor that was here. He left the English copy for me and let me tell you that it is a awesome book!!! So thank you to Chris and his church for their love and pouring into the lives of the pastors as well as our lives! God is so good!

Police Training!!

Boom Baby!! Back in action!!! Dan Dan the Po Po Man! Haha! I know...really weird...but funny! I had the greatest time working with Josh Byrd and his ministry training the police officers here in Chiquimula! And with one of my old partners I use to work with at Florence Police Department, Lee Smith. We worked on the same shift together for almost 4 years. And Chris Weldon also came, who is a Florence Police Officer; but during my time at the PD, Chris was my pastor at the church where I was serving as youth pastor. Good stuff huh? We trained the police here for two days. There were about 75 officers that passed through the training. They were so excited and grateful! I was excited for them! What a blessing. Some of the supervisors shared with us that they hadn't received any new training for more than 15 years now, and others had only practiced firing with their firearms 2 times during those 15 years! But they received firearms training and were able to go to the firing range and shoot! It felt great to be back doing a little bit of that work again! I didn't know if I would remember the training with the cuffs and ground fighting, but it all came back to me after a few minutes. I have seen some of the officers since the training, and they were still friendly and talked to me...so I guess I'm still good here. Thanks Josh for letting me be a part of your ministering to the police and to Lee and Chris for letting me participate with them in the training! Good stuff!

Kids' Graduation at the Church on the Rock

Last year we met a guy named TJ who ministers in Central America by giving out Spanish material to different missions and people to distribute to the communities. He gave us enough material to give to all our pastors for each member in their churches! WOW! I really didn't know how they would receive the material or if they would even know how to use it...but they Loved It!!! And we received another load from TJ again this year with some different material and more of the same for our new pastors.
Well...our pastor/friend from the church on the rock has two leaders in the church who taught the little kids the Sunday School material. The kids studied the whole book so they did a graduation ceremony for the kids. They had clowns, songs, pinatas and diplomas for the kids! All the kids walked in carrying a little candle to symbolize being the light of the world by learning and using God's Word! It was great! They even had a diploma and gift for our kids...just to include and love them b/c they didn't study with the church. We were so impressed and thankful for the love and time the church is pouring into the kids in this village! And we are thankful to TJ for providing the material for the churches. We have several of the pastors telling us that the members are very excited and are loving the material! So praise God and glory to Him for His awesome work and moving in Guatemala!! God is Good!! There you go...

Awesome Youth Seminar!

Praise the Lord for blessing the youth seminar and showing up and filling hearts and minds with His Truth and Power! This was our first youth seminar for 2014, and it was the biggest we've had yet!

There were 29 kids between 14 and 20 years old...16 girls and 13 boys. Many of the youth had already assisted several of our seminars but there were quite a few of them that were fresh for the picking...picking on them of course! The others are like much of our friends and family members...they are already use to me and it takes more to get a reaction out of them. Does this sound like my dad or what!? Scary! But the new ones are way too easy! And it's so funny seeing their faces and watching them laugh as I go around talking to all of them with the microphone, but then when they realize that I'm getting closer to them or that they are next...their expressions change to appear nervous or anxious for what is about to happen to them. So hilarious!! And exactly what I look for! It gets them interacting really fast having to rely on complete strangers b/c the crazy guy with the mic is coming our way.

I also cleaned the pool and had it ready so they could swim a little...many of them have never been swimming and were very nervous, but were trying to drown each other by the end of the seminar while laughing! It was great! Haha Our ministry house only has 13 beds! 13! And a little more room for maybe 4 inflatable beds, giving us 17 beds inside to sleep. So we were trying to think of where these youth were going to sleep and how to keep them separated. But some of our dear friends and neighbors helped us out by loaning us there tent for the guys to sleep in outside in the yard. The guys loved it! It was a huge tent and then another two person size tent. So between the two all the guys were able to sleep under something and not get eat up by bugs or bothered by our dog. And the girls all doubled up on the twin size bunk beds while two had to come into our house and sleep on the couch and another inflatable bed. I heard some noise around 4:15 AM!! mind you and went to the living room to see what was happening. The two girls in our house were sitting up talking and ready to start their day. I told them that they are staying with the Gringos (North Americans) so they were out of their mind to be functioning at that hour in the morning and needed to go to sleep like all other normal people. Ha! Joking...but I did ask if they were ok and they looked at me like I was weird for wondering and still sleeping! Good stuff!

And because we had so many this time, Brandi and Nancy could not help me with the lessons and teaching. They were very busy cooking the entire time and did a wonderful job too! The food was the best! (Nacho Libre for those that have seen the movie) But I had to do all the teaching this time by myself. We have 6, 1 1/2 hour sessions each seminar with the youth. I was already getting exhausted by the end of the afternoon sessions. But one of our friends, Joel, from our church came by to see how he could help and offered to teach one of the sessions in the morning...I was very thankful for his offer and help! He did a great job teaching about our identity in Christ and the Bible as our guide. And praise the Lord our kids did great while Brandi and Nancy were very busy cooking. And the last day for lunch, our friends Diego and Raquel came over and helped grill the meat for the youth, and another friend, Elder, came to participate and help with the kids on Sunday. Huge help for us all!

We also took the kids to our church for the youth service Saturday night. There is a great service with music, dramas, games, and a message at our church ever Sat. for the youth. We have always took the youth to this service, and they love it!! And it is a huge difference for them coming from the villages in the mountains to the churches in the cities. Different people, clothes, music, and way of worshiping. It would be like a contemporary service taking their loud music, games, and casual clothes to the traditional service...WHAT!!? That wouldn't work! Haha! The youth love it and eventually start worshiping and interacting with the others. Yes! It does work b/c it is ONE body. But that's all I'll say for now. All 32 of us had to load up in the beast (my F350) to go to the church service. WOW! Talk about nervous! There were 10 of us on the inside and 22 in the back. We made it there and back safely! They were use to it and thought nothing about it. That was how most of them came down the mountain to our house. But I'm not use to it!! Praise the Lord nothing happened and all are safe.

We taught the youth about Faith in action, Getting out of a Spiritual Rut, Anointing and Presence, Listening and Obeying, Rejoicing at all Times, and Identity in Christ. We had several heavy worship and prayer moments were the Spirit was able to minister and reveal Himself to many of the youth. That is what it is all about, and what we all need! Without His presence and ministering, we are just using empty words and making empty noises. We pushed for the youth to participate in the praying and worshiping as much as they would. Many joined in and were very attentive. They had notebooks and pens for note taking. Most of these youth are leaders and studying to be pastors. We hope and pray that they will study the notes and the Bible lessons to go and teach and use them in their services and in their communities. This is our prayer and reason for the seminars!

I want to thank all of our supporters and prayer warriors! Y'all are a part of everything I mentioned here with the seminar and the lives of each youth that came. It is incredible how God ordered and uses His church, the body of Christ, to accomplish so much all over the world. God has used you to teach and encourage these youth. Thank you! I pray that you can receive that as the blessing that it really is! And may God continue to bless each of you for your faithfulness and love for His church and people!

Praise the Lord!

We praise our Lord and God who sees and loves us at all times no matter what we are going through in this life. God has been so faithful to us throughout these past 5 years here in Guatemala and not only to us, as a family, but to the ministry and to all the other many many families that we work with and come in contact with while ministering. And I'd like to give God the glory for what He has done for two of our pastor/friends. The pastor from the church on the rock has finished his house and is living it now! He called me the other day and asked if we could be a part of the thanksgiving celebration and dedication of his house. He and his wife are so excited and thankful, along with all the members in his church who have seen them working so hard in the construction and ministry. They are all going to get together this Thursday and celebrate together and pray blessings over the house and the pastor and his wife. And the view from the front porch...wow! It looks out at the mountains that have huge rock faces and are covered with green pine trees! Beautiful! And all this came from God's working and providing! We had two families that God used to provide the money for the house. Pray with us that God will bless those two families for their faithfulness and love for God and His people.

And God also heard the cry and plea from our pastor/friend in Camotan and his congregation for finishing the construction of their church walls and roof before the rain arrived. They live at the end of the highest mountain peak in Camotan...hahaha. The village is one of the most poorest villages of the area, but you can't notice that when you visit the church and talk with the people. They are so excited and lively! They don't think in limitations because they live as sons and daughters of the King!! And man do they give and give. It reminds me of when Jesus pointed out the widow that gave two pennies, all that she had, while all the others gave bags full of money out of their plenty. And Jesus praised the widow above the others. These folks in the village may not be able to give all that is needed, but they give all that they have and then go even further to work hard with their hands and put so much time into helping with the construction. And God also provided for the construction so that they will be able to finish before the rains come and not end up in debt. Praise the Lord!! He is so good and faithful! And His timing is perfect and miraculous so that no one else can receive the glory or credit...only God!

I will post some pictures next week of the pastor's house that is finished and the church in Camotan that finished the walls and roof. Keep praying for these villages and families! And praise our God and give Him thanks with us for His wonderful works and love for His people!! God bless!!