Road Trip!!

We just got back from a visit with another one of our Casa del Alfarero church in a city called Coban. It is about four hours from Chiquimula, and it is higher in the mountains making the climate cooler and the vegetation greener. We went with our pastor to celebrate the church's four year anniversary. I played the drums and Brandi sang in the worship band. We had a great time worshiping and singing with the people in the church. We played Saturday night and Sunday morning. Last time we went, we stayed in the pastor's house their in Coban. It was a very pretty house and big so we had our own room and two beds for the kids and Brandi and me. But this time we have Uriah also so we were thinking it was going to be a little rough and crowded with the whole family, but we wanted to go anyway. Well the church in Coban paid for us to stay in a hotel this time. It was one of the most gorgeous hotels I have seen in Guatemala! It had it's antique look about it but was very comfortable, and the room had three beds. Levi and Mary Kathleen got to have their own bed and Uriah slept in a pack-n-play, and Brandi and I got our own bed. The hotel had hot water also, so we took hot showers. It got so cool that night that we were actually cold with no A/C! Awesome! So we ended up having a great time and slept very comfortably. So why say all this...I thought it was a great opportunity to praise God and thank Him for His goodness and gifts that we so do not deserve! He never ceases to amaze me and surprise us with these kind of things. And we have done nothing to deserve these things...it is just the goodness and mercies of the Lord that He pours out on us all the time! So thank you God for such an enjoyable and relaxing time in Coban where we were also privileged with the opportunity to lead worship with Your people there! God is GREAT!!! 

The Unworthy servant

I was reading my Bible today in Luke 17 when I received a revelation from God that humbled me and reminded me of certain things in my life that I need to keep in focus. Jesus came to serve and DIE for us!! So no one can say that He is not fair or that He demands too much! He gave ALL!! For you and me! So with that being said I saw another side of who God is in this chapter. Jesus was more speaking to those with self and spiritual pride issues within themselves. But we must allow Jesus to examine our heart to discover if these things are inside of us as well. And as you read the verses try to imagine that the men and the servant is you in your today job or serving in the church or your ministry. This opened my eyes and made me want to cry! But it's simple! 
In verses 11-18, Jesus heals 10 men with leprosy while they were on their way to the priests to present themselves and begin the ritual of those who have been cleansed. Only one returns singing and shouting praises to God and falls at Jesus' feet to say thank you. Jesus was amazed that only one had come back after all had been healed. Jesus was astonished at how the other 9 had acted after He did something wonderful in their lives...as if nothing had happened and they went on with their lives. Kind of makes me thing..."Finally got what we needed, now let's go." or "It's about time...been praying about that for a while, now let's go on." How sad!! How many times do we do this very same thing? And amaze our God at how we act. The very gift of Salvation should put us at the level of that one man who came back shouting and singing praises to God!! Everyday!! Not just at that moment or week that we receive salvation! And then the countless acts of kindness and mercy throughout our lives should keep that fire going in our spirit to shout and sing praises everyday!! And how often do I find MYSELF complaining or thinking that's not fair? Or this is too hard. It stinks!!! Stinks bad!! Then we read in verses 7-10 in that same chapter and find the same idea taught there. If we are serving God as His servants, then why do we at times think this is not fair or man I deserve something better than this after all I have done! Here Jesus teaches that we are serving the King and Master! We have done nothing to deserve this privilege but His gift allows us to be able to serve Him. Jesus says in verse 10, "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'." And what do we normally say or think?? Huh?? I know many times that is not my response. Sometimes I act and talk like I deserve better after all I've done or given. How foolish and destructive that is to me. The very fact that I am allowed to serve Him...many times by serving others...is a privilege and a great honor for me. I want to cry at how often I have treated my Master and God after I have completed the tasks He has allowed me to do. But if we take on this spirit and this attitude...which is all of what Jesus was on Earth...we then put ourselves in the position where God can teach us more about Himself and who He is. And then become more like Him! Another Wow! So I am re-focusing today on how I can serve better and serve with this attitude and heart! I want to shout and sing about the goodness of God in Guatemala! And at the end of the day thank God for the privilege of serving Him and serving others. Because I also know that my Master loves me and desires to be with me intimately! How wonderful and amazing that is! I am an unworthy servant!! Only doing my duty!!  There you go....

Visitors from the church on the rock

This past week was my birthday, the 12th, and Brandi's birthday, the 17th, and this week is Mary Kathleen's birthday, the 21st. Our friends from the church on the rock came to our house Sunday the 12th to celebrate with us our birthdays and spend some time together. But something unexpected happened that morning at church with Brandi. She had to leave church and go to the hospital to get some oxygen and an anti-inflammatory shot because her throat was swelling up and she was loosing the ability to speak and move her arms and legs. I know...you're probably thinking what a break for the husband but this was more serious so we can't go there. I did mention that though while in the ER and got a smile from Brandi. I know....but we'll keep going with the story. Despite all that was happening the church insisted on coming to our house and celebrating with us because they had already rented a bus, prepared the food, and bought a cake. And these people do not have money and work to make it day to day. So we couldn't say no even though we were overwhelmed and thought it best not to. But look what a good time we had with them! They fed us some delicious food and an amazing cake! They were not anything overwhelming but very relaxing and encouraging to us all! We had the best time laughing and listening to words of encouragement from all of them. The kids were playing with the other kids from the church...I don't remember seeing Uriah the whole time because the ladies from the church were passing him around and adoring him the whole time! And Uriah loves it!! We only had to get the oxygen tank out once for Brandi and after two more tranquilizers, she was good. HAHA Just joking!! Brandi sat and enjoyed the company and was encouraged! I KNOW that what we thought was too much and overwhelming God had already lined it up to be ready to encourage us and strengthen us before we even knew we were going to need it!! God is so good!! So we are very thankful for our friends and church family from Salfate and really don't know how it would have ended up if they had not come and loved on us! There you go...

Daniel

Youth Group in August

Well my brother-in-law, Casey Jay McBay, (and yes...he is a guy, name can confuse you) came this past week with some folks from his youth group from St. James United Methodist Church. We had the best time with them. And a little surprise showed up with them...my mother-in-law. I know a lot of y'all are thinking...oh man! That was probably rough! Mother-in-law! But Kathy and I are different. We got the best relationship. She looks up to me so much and admires me! Hahaha But it really was a great surprise! Brandi was holding Uriah at the time she saw Kathy when we got home from the airport and screamed so loud that it scared Uriah, and he cried for a while. And Maw Maw had a wonderful time with the grand kids.

Family that received the floor

The guys in the group ended up putting on two roofs and laid a concrete tile floor. They bought and put on a roof on the house of a church leader who comes to our seminars. The girls also helped with this roof. The house owner was very grateful and fed the group lunch, which was huge for someone who only eats eggs, beans, and tortillas! The other house with the floor was with Pastor Carlos and the church on the rock. This was definitely a God story with this floor. The family at this house has a child that has a skin condition. If he gets bit by an insect, it always gets infected and causes problems. Well now that they were able to replace the dirt floor with a concrete tile floor, the bugs will not be in the house now. The family shared how God provided a solution to this problem when the group came and put the floor down for them. The girls came one day and helped get the grout down in the tiles. This family also sacrificed a lot by giving a delicious lunch to the group. The guys also worked along with Josh Byrd in putting on a roof for a family in the same village with Pastor Carlos. This family had a cardboard box/nylon roof over their kitchen area outside the house that leaked badly. Josh's ministry paid to get the materials for the roof and Casey's group added a little financial help also and the physical labor to put it on for the family.

Kids playing with their toys at the hospital

Brandi and the girls in the group visited two schools and an orphanage, playing games and singing songs with the kids. They also did a short Bible story with the kids. The kids loved it and danced and played hard with the girls. The guys were also able to go to the orphanage with the girls. The girls also visited the government hospital two times here in Chiquimula to pray and give toys to the babies and kids. They split into groups to have the opportunity to pray for everyone there. Each person was able to pray for the babies and kids.

praying and giving toys

Dance time at San Juan school

Nancy and Ashley - thank you Ashley for coming!!

Because the group was also family, we took a day to spend time together and went to a pool and to see a movie here in Chiquimula. We had cake to celebrate our birthdays and was able to sit around and play cards and talk. It was very refreshing to spend time with friends and family. Ashley Grissom left us with this group also. She had been here since May 29 with Luke's group. We really miss her and enjoyed having her stay with us! But I can tell you one thing...I ain't use to or ready to have a teenage daughter!! All the boys coming to see her and staying out late and having to go pick her up! I was hit with that reality too fast. The dating age of Mary Kathleen just went from 30 to 40 years old!! Boys!! I'll take care of them all one way or another!

Bible time at the orphanage

Now...back to the group. We want to thank each one of you in the group for coming and helping the people in Guatemala and spending time with us! It means a lot to us that you gave so much and had such an awesome attitude and heart while here! Brandi did surprisingly good when we took them back to the airport. She only cried a little and seemed fine afterwards. But it was only a front!! I had to put her to sleep the next morning after I caught her sneaking out of the house with the kids, plane tickets in hand! She's ok though ...she was only unconscious for a few minutes and it was to only calm her down. After I got back from dropping Levi off at school I was able to untie her from the bed and let her walk around again. LOL! Cracking myself up! But don't kid yourself! You never know...but anyways! Thank y'all and keep us in your prayers!! God bless!!!

Daniel

Working along side with other groups

We had the privilege of working with a youth group from a Baptist church in Florida who was here with Sarita. We went with them to a school here in Chiquimula and helped with presenting a little Bible study, games, and music to the school. There were almost 400 students at the school!! We played some songs with them. One of the songs has dance moves with it that is for exercise or a drill in the military. The group did some dramas and more songs. Then a guy from the group spoke on the love and renewal we receive from the blood of Jesus. It was very fun and exciting to be able to minister to and play with so many kids!! They then went to Sarita's ministry and performed the same program with the group for those kids. Nancy and Ashley went with them to help with that program. Although it was only one day, we had a great time with the group and hope to be able to work with them again.
We also had a group from Josh and Jessica Byrd's ministry come and stay at our house July 19-23. They did a lot of construction, painting, and evangelizing. I was able to go with them one day and do some construction on the kitchen area at Sarita's ministry, and then later we all went with them to an orphanage in Camotan to help the group present their program to the kids in the orphanage. Then on Sunday morning we went with one of our dear friends at the church on the rock to invite the people to the church service that night were the group did some dramas and the leader preached. Brandi and one of the youth lead worship on a keyboard that the group bought for the church! The church was FULL of people!! The group did awesome in their dramas and the leader delivered a great evangelical message to the church. There was also an artist in the group. She was able to paint a mural on the wall while the service was going on at night! It looked great! There is someone in the church that can paint as well so the group left the paint to finish with more murals and scriptures on the walls. I was very excited for the pastor and the church with their keyboard and beautiful pictures on the walls! Praise the Lord and thank you New Bethel Baptist youth group and Josh and Jessica for blessing the church on the rock! God is good!!!

Daniel

Pastor Seminar in July

When you invite Mark Adams to do a seminar you know you are going to have a good time! This is the guy my mom doesn't like dad being with because he is a bad influence on HIM! Pretty bad huh?! But we had a great time and so did all the pastors! The seminar was on July 5-7. There were 14 pastors this time and one of them was a first time pastor. Mark taught on "The Calling of a Pastor." This was a very personal and intimate topic. Many pastors shared personal stories and experiences of hard times and testings in their calling and their service as pastor. It was very interesting to hear their recounts of when they were called to be pastors. One of them had a dream while off working that two men came to his house and when he came home they told him they had to talk to him. Then they started telling him that God sent them to tell them He was calling him to preach. Then when he got home he saw the exact same two men that were in his dream waiting for him at his house. He told them that he already had seen them and knew why they were there. The men were confused and asked how that could be because they had never seen him before. He told them about the dream and they confirmed the calling with the word that God sent them to tell him. That's really awesome!! Another told a story about the difficulties of being a pastor where there is no means of financial support in the villages. At one time in their lives they had absolutely nothing to eat and were getting worried, but they kept their eyes on God and knew He was faithful. That night after not eating and crying from worry they woke up the next morning to find a huge pile of corn in the corner of their house. There are some really large ants here in Guatemala that had moved into their house that night and carried over 50 lbs of corn to the house. They were able to cook the corn and eat for a while. Wow!
Mark also shared with them about the responsibilities of being a pastor. Many of them were very attentive and making comments during this session. From what I could see and observe, the pastors were very pleased and encouraged throughout the seminar! There were many comments and expressions of thanks to Mark for coming and teaching them and refocusing them in their calling and responsibilities. Praise the Lord, we did not have any stand up and say that now they know they had not been called by God and were going to stop serving in the church as pastor. Hahaha. I actually had that in the back of my mind! But after hearing their testimonies of how they were called, it was very obvious that God has His hand and calling on them. Thank you for your prayers for the seminar! Please continue to pray for them as they grow and understand more about their calling and responsibilities.
Mark also was able to go to the church on the rock in Salfate and preach at the Sunday night service. Pastor Carlos invited Mark to deliver the message that night. Mark taught on the love we as Christians should show to all the people we come in contact with, even when it is the hardest person to love. He went through many examples of how it is difficult to love some folks and how we miss out on the opportunity to show God's love to others. Many had that look of conviction on their face and were very determined to be that church of love for the community at the close of the service.
Brandi, Nancy, and Ashley cooked the food this time for the pastors at the seminar!! That took a lot of work and time! I was very impressed at how awesome everything tasted and it was all on time! Brandi said they made almost 600 tortillas for the pastors!!! That is a ton of tortillas! And they were still wanting more tortillas! Hahaha But for many of the pastors, this is the only time they get really good food that has, for example, meat with it and vegetables. Normally they eat tortillas and beans and, if they have a little more money, rice. So praise God that they ate good and were very pleased with the girls cooking.

Praise God for His working in the lives of these pastors!! I have already seen and heard a difference in their lives and churches since they started coming and learning more from the seminars! God is soo good and faithful!! And thank you to the pastors who come and teach and the churches that send them! It would be very, very difficult without them!! And thank you to those who support us to make these seminars possible for the pastors!! God bless!!!  Daniel

Youth Seminar in June

We had our first youth seminar on June 23 and 24. They came on a Saturday morning and most left Sunday afternoon and the others left Monday morning. We had such an awesome time with them. We had 19 youth come from five different churches and areas. We had seven different teaching sessions. These were the youth who want to become leaders and teachers in their church. We had several different speakers who all did a wonderful job! Ashley Grissom from Alabama, who is staying with us right now for three months, taught on the importance of the Bible, Brandi and I taught on prayer, another young guy from our church, Bryan, taught on worship, Lester, also from our church, taught on Faith, Nancy Perez taught on evangelism, Josh Byrd, our missionary friend here in Chiquimula, taught on Obedience, and I spoke lastly on Success through obedience. Melanie Batchelor, who is also from Alabama staying with us for a month, did all the games with the youth between the sessions. We had another friend from our church, Julio, come and translate for Ashley. Julio and Brandi also lead worship with the youth throughout the day. On Saturday night we took the youth to our church in Chuiqumula to the youth service so they could be with other youth and have a good time with them. For some of the youth this was the first time leaving their village so that was really neat for them to go somewhere new and join in with other youth worshiping God.
Well I had too much fun with them! I hate it for the other pastors here because now all I want to do are more youth seminars! It was like I fit in perfect with the kids! I can't figure out why?? HA! They begged us to fill up the above ground concrete pool in our back yard so they could swim...so of course we did and they were able to swim the last day for a couple of hours before they had to leave. I joined them in playing what was suppose to be volleyball and was on the girls team...we girls rocked!!! I would start laughing and jumping up and down yelling like a girl when we got points and gave everybody high fives. They all died laughing and thought I was even more weird than before! But I was having a great time! I spoke to them while taking them back to the bus to go home and they all shared with me the things they learned and how they were going to go back to their villages more prepared and ready to grow deeper and closer to God. Hearing their person view and what each one learned was really encouraging for us...knowing that they actually listened and learned a little something! Brandi and the girls actually cooked the breakfast and supper for them. So they worked really hard getting them fed and full. We are so grateful to God for allowing us to have our first youth seminar and for the seminar going so great! We are very thankful to our supporters who help us have these seminars through their financial support and prayers! After paying to get them here and back home, feeding them, and providing a place to stay, we spend around $250 to $300. So without y'alls help we could not do this. Please keep these youth in your prayers and also pray that we will have the opportunity to have another youth seminar before the year is up! We are having a pastors seminar the first weekend in July so please pray for us and the pastors as we learn more about the calling and responsibilities of pastors. We love y'all very much and are very excited about what God is doing in the ministry and our family!! God bless!!

Ashley and Julio teaching on the importance of the Bible

Daniel teaching on Prayer

Bryan teaching on Worship

Games

Nancy teaching on Evangelism 

Lester teaching on Faith

Josh teaching on Obedience

Worship

Games

Notes

Games (Daniel and Josh having more fun than the youth)

Each youth shared what they learned