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| Brayan explaining the gospel to these kids who were all accepting Christ in front of 200 of their classmates! |
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| Brayan and Dave went on a "treasure hunt" and found these guys swimming. Five of them accepted Christ. |
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| Courtney and Francesca sharing the Good News with some children at a daycare. |
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| Brayan and Franny teaching about identity in Christ to another group of school children. |
In the past two weeks, our Discipleship
Training School students have seen close to 50 people accept Christ through
their ministry and evangelism. So far,
every time they preach, at least two to eighteen people become Christians. God is moving and active in the hearts of the
people at Lake Atitlan! The students are
working well together, and all taking leadership initiative to plan children’s
programs, worship times, and preach and share their testimonies in
churches. They have all kept up good
attitudes and worked willingly for the Lord.
Z and I
tagged along for these past weeks as a way to minimize our time away from Dave,
and also to get to know the lake towns a little better, since very soon we will
be living up there! We participated in a
few of the planned outreach activities, but mostly spent our time doing our own
thing. We explored different towns, went
swimming at the lake and at a public pool we found (score!), and spent time
chatting with a lot of people from all different walks of life. The lake is going to be a completely new
challenge for our family, but also seems to be a good place to raise a family
in many ways.
Dave is one
of the main leaders for the DTS and so he was very busy with the team. We went house-hunting on his days off, but
were unsuccessful. We looked at eight
houses, and each of them had something seriously wrong. The most promising of the batch was a large
two-story house with a yard and a roof kitchen which had windows opening to a
gorgeous lake-view. I would have signed
the rental agreement right then and there, but then we noticed the ceiling of
the upstairs bedrooms- covered in black mold and water damage. Ooh,
maybe not.
The second
week we stayed with a pastor named Antonio and his wife, Kata. We stayed with them during our DTS Outreach
in January, 2014, so it was comforting for me to go to a place I knew. (I’m not much for travelling and staying in
people’s homes, so the past two weeks have been exhausting for me in that
way.) They welcomed us with open arms, and
made us all feel at home. Dave and
Pastor Antonio really connected, and every day Dave came back from ministry
with some new plan he and Antonio had cooked up together for our future at the
lake. It was encouraging to see Dave so
excited, and confirmed to me that we are on the right track.
Pastor
Antonio was nine years old when the Lord called him into service. A light literally shone from heaven onto him,
and Antonio’s father said, “I think you are going to be a pastor.” His father believed that this was from God,
and so he started hiking into the mountains around the lake with his son to
show him all the villages that had yet to receive Christ. Antonio’s father could not read or write, but
he had Antonio read the Bible out-loud and then he would explain it to his
son. Over the past 40 years Pastor
Antonio has planted a few churches, including the one in San Pablo where our
DTS was helping him.
He has
also founded a small Christian school, where the teachers work for a small
donation at the end of the year, and he works for free. He also has a radio program twice a week
where he teaches the Bible. Our team had
the opportunity to go on the radio and sing, preach, and do some promoting of
YWAM Antigua’s next DTS in August.
Pastor Antonio is a very hard working pastor, but I was touched when I
even saw him taking the time to teach our students after mealtimes back at his
house. His wife was very kind to me
personally as well, and encouraged me in my mothering and faith.
Their
family blessed our team, and I know they will continue to be a part of our life
when we move up to the lake. We have
plans to work with them in their many ministries, and may even live with them
for a few months when we first move up there.
Yesterday
morning the team took a boat across the lake to a small city called Panajachel. They will be there for the week, staying at a
Christian seminary. Z and I grabbed a
shuttle and came back home for a week of rest.
As I said, I’m not a traveler, so the past two weeks have been hard on
me. I am excited though that the next
time I go to Lake Atitlan, it will be to make a new home for ourselves! Please join with us in praying for the DTS students, they are doing a great job and God is blessing their work!
