On The Road Again

For six months we lived in the green house with a garage at our disposal.  The only time a car was ever parked there was one time when a leader from another YWAM base came to visit.and needed a place to put her truck for a night.  Other than that, the garage was used as a place to hang a hammock where it wouldn't get wet in the rain. 

Almost every evening Dave took Zane in the garage and they would pray for God to give us a vehicle to fill the garage.  We had felt prompted by the Lord to give away our old car before coming to Guatemala, and although it was inconvenient to have to rely on public transit we never felt right about looking for a car to buy.  Chicken busses are an adventure, but fairly reliable and cheap to travel on, so it usually wasn't a huge deal to live car-free.

I only started to wonder what we were going to do if we didn't get a vehicle once we decided to move to the lake.  Because we will still be part of our YWAM base and will be going back and forth from the lake every 6-8 weeks, it was ominous to imagine the four-five hour trek by bus every time we needed to come to the base.  We continued to pray for a vehicle and held to the belief God would replace the car we gave to Him in California.    

About three months ago some of our coworkers announced that they felt called to go to Japan, and began the difficult process of uprooting their family who has lived in Guatemala for almost ten years so that they could follow God to the other side of the world.  They had two SUVs, so eventually we sent them an email asking for how much they'd be selling them.  They sent back, "we've prayed about it, and we've decided we would like to give you one of them."  

As soon as I had read the message, I burst into tears (as I do when anything really wonderful happens) and ran to tell David the exciting news.  God had found us a new vehicle!  

Fast forward to today: we went and met with a lawyer to transfer the papers into our name.  Tomorrow we are heading up to Lake Atitlán to continue the search for our new home.  God figured the timing of getting our new truck down to the last- and perfect- minute.  Impeccable.  

To be honest, I had almost given up that God was going to answer that prayer, and had almost decided that maybe he would just provide money to buy a car instead of giving us one for free... But He had a surprise waiting just around the corner.

Isn't He amazing?!

Family Camp... well, sort of

   Dave was scheduled to be home for two weeks before he left again for Outreach with the DTS students.  I was looking forward to spending time with him and feeling a little annoyed that we would have to share the base with two different teams during those precious days as a family.  Regardless of how I felt though, the first team arrived and settled in for five days of ministry.
 
      I immediately was convicted of my selfishness as we got to know the first group.  They were students of a YWAM training course and had come with hearts wide open to love on Guatemala.  They were cheerful and willing workers, putting all their energy into every ministry they were involved in.  They uplifted us in our Christianity, parenting of Z, and work that we are doing.  I enjoyed having their team here and could see God using their efforts every day.

     The first team overlapped with the second, and for one night we didn't have a single empty bed in the whole base.  In fact, one of our staff moved out of her room so we could put more people in there, and we put some of the boys on the floor!  The next morning we said goodbye to beloved team one and greeted team two.
 
     They were a large group, 21 people in all, including four leaders, from a youth group in Delaware.  The very first day I was impressed when a couple of the teens sat on the ground outside our room and played Playmobil with Z for over an hour.  I got to chatting with one of the leaders, a mom of one of the teens, and we hit it off right away.  I felt revived to see them interacting with Z and be able to relax and have a conversation with another mom.  I began to realize that God had sent us exactly what we needed, even if my heart had been resistant to receive them.

     Over the next week I felt life poured back into me in a way I haven't felt in an extremely long time.  The team embraced us like one of their own, and Z was the team pet.  They constantly played with him or carried him around.  The girls were doting and affectionate, letting him sit on their laps when they watched movies in the sala, or playing endless hours of Playmobil and trains with him.  The boys were equally as friendly towards him, playing tag, teaching him to hit a baseball, and goofing off with him at every possible opportunity.  I felt rejuvenated and appreciated by the team, and even broke my "I don't play games" rule almost every day to enjoy round upon round of Jungle Speed at the lunch table.

    Thursday morning our family went into town to do some errands, and came back stressed.  Dave and I weren't communicating well, and although neither of us voiced it, we both were wishing that we could just go on a date and have a nice time with each other instead of spending our family time quarreling.  A knock came on the door and two of the girls invited us to come downstairs because their team wanted to talk to us.  We followed them down and found the whole group sitting around the table, smiling.
 
     "We've decided to send you on a date," Matt, their leader, said.  "We'd like to babysit Z for you and we've even taken an offering to cover your meal."  (Paraphrased, sorry, Matt, I'm sure you said it in a cooler way than that.)

     Then he handed us enough money for a very nice dinner.  I almost started crying right in front of them, I was so happy and thankful.  In the evening Dave and I got dressed up and went out for a delicious, peaceful meal together.  We enjoyed having time together, literally stress-free; we knew Z was happy and well cared-for, we knew the food was paid for, and we knew that this wonderful group of people really wanted us to have a romantic date.  It was probably the best evening we've had together all year... and then when we got home we got to play games with the team!

    Sometimes it surprises me what God does for me.  He saw that I was feeling discouraged and worn-out, so he sent ambassadors of joy in the form of two amazing teams.  Being part of the Outreach, and having Dave be the leader of the DTS has been a stressful process for me, and living at the base has been a challenge as well.  I didn't want to share the base with any "strangers", but God sent them here, knowing that I needed them.  Obviously He brought them here to help other people too, but those people can write their stories on their own blogs.  Ha, ha.  :)

     In these past two weeks Dave has loved playing games and doing ministry with the teams, Z was entertained and cherished, and I was befriended and encouraged.  It's been like family camp around here!

A family photo before we left for our date

The obligatory "on our date" selfie.  :)

  

     

         

Z snuggling with Kelsey while they watch Mulan 

Playing Jungle Speed with the team leaders and Turner 

Z and Kate

Z and Turner... Homeschoolers unite!  

  Dinner time with everyone!

Everyone learning about intercession before we had a great prayer time!

 Z and Noah 

Dakota and Z just loungin' 

Tim teaching Z to play baseball 

Connor and Z playing baseball.  

The End of the Road (Puerta Abajo)

Juan teaching some of the kids how to make things out of recycled pop cans 

Puerta Abajo

Brayan and Dave at the school 

All of the students teaching songs during kid's club

Time to colour!

Little kids song/game time

Puppet show!

Juan presenting the gospel using a giant "EvangeCube"

Hosting an evangelistic movie night at one of the churches- seven people accepted Jesus!  

Z and some friends eating lunch.

Amarilis was the only student for the literacy program, and she only showed up for one day of class.  We were prepared for ten students, but we will just have to save our supplies and try again somewhere else.  

Brayan's impromptu morning music group, with Z and Francisco.  

     On the way to Puerta Abajo we had to bring both of the base vans to get all the gear up there.  We had big plans for ministry that week, including a literacy class, movie nights, kids club, and Bible distribution (door to door prayer and encouragement ministry).  We also had to bring in all our own food and cooking utensils, and bedding.  It was like a big camping trip, and we weren't packing light!
     We stayed in two small houses that share a yard, and had a kitchen with stove to use, as well as a dining room table that we could all fit at to eat meals.  Not a bad set-up.  The shower in one of the houses even had a widow-maker shower, so we could have warm water.  The houses were right down the hill from the school where we held the kids club too, so it was a easy to carry supplies up there for each afternoon.  Dave made all the meals and we never had to worry about left-overs because there was always a group of kids hanging around outside to see if we'd give them something.

    Literacy class was a no-go, due to the fact that none of the women showed up.  We invited them personally, and sent other people to tell them about it, but no one had the time for it.  I wasn't too upset about it though because as it turned out Z got quite sick on the fourth day, and after spending the day cleaning up his puke until we had no more clean clothes or towels, I decided that we'd had enough Outreach and it was time for Mom and Z to be done. (He recovered completely within 6 hours of arriving home.)

    Everyone else carried on though, and saw great victories as they went door-to-door and visited people in their homes and prayed for them.  Dave's group saw a woman's knee instantly healed of pain caused by diabetes, and both groups were used to the Spirit to minister to people's hearts and show them the love that God has for them.  Puerta Abajo has a deeply-rooted poverty mentality, and one of the challenges was encouraging people to look to God for their help instead of just asking the "rich white people" to give them hand-outs.  The two teams visited almost every home in the entire community (over 100), and gave away about 50 Bibles into homes that didn't have one.

    The kids club was also a big success, and was attended by around fifty kids every day, along with many of their mothers.  The gospel was preached, Bible songs learned, and everyone participated in the fun games and activities.  Many of the children don't receive a lot of attention at home, and they drank up every moment of time the team gave them.  If the sun was up, so were the kids, ready and waiting to hang out with the team!

    Our students facilitated a church service, and also hosted an evangelistic movie night.  After the movie Brayan presented the gospel and six children came forward to accept Jesus.  When many of the people had left another man came forward and said that he also wanted to re-dedicate his life to God after many years of bitterness because of a dispute between himself and the pastor of his church.  He was reconciled with the pastor, and tearfully submitted himself to the Lord in front of everyone.

     The team arrived back to the base for a good night of sleep and a chance to wash laundry before they headed out for El Salvador on Sunday morning.  They will be gone for two weeks, but Dave did not go with them for this portion, because he can't leave the country... our residency paperwork is now pending approval at the immigration office!!!

    With our involvement in the Outreach basically complete (except for DTS graduation in a few weeks), our hearts are being drawn towards our soon-to-be home at the lake.  We have started packing the room, and with the boxes piling up, it is becoming very real that we are actually moving!  We are very excited to finally be doing what we have prayed about for the past year, and we know God is about to do even bigger things in our life and work here in Guatemala!

 

Outreach 2.0

   First off, let me show off some of the amazing work our students have been doing... I'm really proud of them.

Brayan explaining the gospel to these kids who were all accepting Christ in front of 200 of their classmates!  

Brayan and Dave went on a "treasure hunt" and found these guys swimming.  Five of them accepted Christ.  

Courtney and Francesca sharing the Good News with some children at a daycare.

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!  

JUCUM Lago

Lake Atitlan:  Our soon-to-be new home 

Some of you have known that this announcement was coming for a long time.  We talked to many of our friends and supporters while we were in Canada over Christmas about our dream of doing ministry at Lake Atitlan.  The lake is about three hours from our base here in Antigua, and we have been up there a few times in our year and a half as staff with YWAM.  

The lake is beautiful, and is surrounded by a plethora of small towns with populations ranging from a couple hundred, to over 15,000 people.  There a few ministries working in the bigger towns, and churches where local pastors reach out to the community.  Atitlan is a deeply spiritual place, pulsing with Mayan animism and superstition, as well as being the home of many peoples in search of a higher power.  Witchcraft, Buddhist meditation and yoga are also widely practiced in the lakefront towns.  The Mormon church has a visible presence, and as well the battle for souls rages on in "non-spiritual settings", such as bars, nightclubs, and brothels.   

  YWAM has never had a permanent presence there, and we began to talk about the possibility of being the ones to get something started last year.  We approached our director and asked him if we could move immediately, but he wisely turned us down.  He suggested we spend more time praying about it to discern God's will for our ministry in Guatemala.  

So we started a prayer meeting and met with a few other staff members from the base every Tuesday to pray for the lake.  We felt called to go, and by the time we went back to Canada for Christmas it seemed certain that we'd be moved by the next summer.  We told many of you about our vision of starting a base there and we received a lot of positive feedback.  

The plane touched down in Guatemala on January 1, 2015 and we were back at home, but somehow it seemed that six weeks away had changed everything.  The plans to "start a base" had fallen apart for the other staff members involved, and also my (Shawn) heart had completely lost the vision somehow.  We felt confused and a little scared, to suddenly be back in Guatemala where we felt so sure we are called to be, yet feel divided on our vision, since Dave still wanted to move to the lake.  Nevertheless, we decided to lay the "base at the lake" down, and wait for God to show us something else.  We agreed we wouldn't move anywhere until we had a unified vision.    

We tried to make other plans.  We looked into other areas of Guatemala.  We talked about just renting a place in Antigua and forgetting the notion of pioneering a new ministry had ever entered our minds.  There was no peace.  We both knew God was trying to talk to us, but we weren't taking the time to really listen.  Finally, on a Monday afternoon, we took two hours and asked God what He wanted us to do.  The conversation was pretty straight-forward.  

Me:  "Okay, God, what do you want to talk about."  

God:  "I want to talk about the lake..." 

Dave was praying in the City, because he was there with the Discipleship Training School students for a week of classes.  I called him after the two hours of prayer and asked him what he received from the Lord.  He and I started laughing when realized that God had told us the exact same things, yet we hadn't even been together.  We had literally gone into that prayer time with a list of questions we wanted to ask the Lord, and He hadn't wanted to talk about any of it.  He just wanted to share His excitement about the lake. 

We approached our director again, and submitted a proposal for the ministry we thought we could do.  YWAM Antigua has wanted to start a Discipleship Training School for Indigenous Guatemalan students, so we thought that could be a way for us to get set-up at Atitlan.  We submitted our plan to start a DTS.  We were again denied.  It was decided that it was more cost-effective to host the Indigenous DTS here at the Antigua base instead of starting is up in a new location.  

But, the conversation didn't end there.  We expressed to our director how strongly we feel God calling us there and our desire to remain under the covering of YWAM.  We shared with him our respect for his leadership, and thanked him for slowing us down in our enthusiasm so we could spend a year praying.  He smiled, then he told us that as much as he would miss us here in Antigua, but he wanted us to follow the Lord.  He gave us his blessing to move to lake Atitlan and start a permanent ministry site of YWAM Antigua- without the pressure of starting a DTS!  

 We will be moving this July, along with one or two of the other staff members from our base, and have plans to spend the first few months in focused prayer and integrating into the community... and maybe learning a bit of one of the Mayan dialects to help us when we do ministry in the really small villages.  At this point we are thinking that evangelism will be the focus of our site, including kids ministry and street evangelism.  We feel that God wants us to spend some time walking the area and praying for different towns to prepare the way for the Holy Spirit.  The demons have had a hold on the lake for a very long time, and we will not be able to minister effectively without the Spirit breaking down the strongholds ahead of us.  

  We are so excited to see this door opening!  JUCUM Lago is a GO!!!!  

(YWAM Lake, in English)

We went on a scouting trip this weekend to start looking for a house 

Z throwing rocks into the lake on a cloudy morning 

We will probably live near the foot of the right volcano.  

Some farm land on the shore of the lake 

Snack time after a long day of house hunting and exploring

   

Fruit

 Dave's tomato plants have begun to produce fruit, and as the sun warms thier green skin they are slowly turning red.  It's nice to see something happen after all the time and diligent care we have given these little plants.  Yesterday I saw fruit in two other areas as well, both in our son and literacy class.  

Every Friday morning we have intercession and worship time, which is a time for all the staff, both those those who live on-base and everyone who lives here to all get together and pray together, then spend time singing worship songs together.  It's one of my favorite parts about being part of this YWAM family.  Yesterday we all took names out of a hat and spent our intercession time praying for that specific person and writing down words of encouragement for them.  Z was sitting with one of the staff girls, Claire, and they were working together to write down some Bible verses for another staff guy.  When they were done they brought it to him, then Claire when to pray for someone else.  I looked over just in time to see Z take the guy's hand and say, "come with me, I have to pray for you."  Then Z prayed for him, all by himself, without no one telling him to.  I started crying, I was so overwhelmed to see my son's confidence in praying for others. 

The second fruit of the day was given to me through a boy named Miguel, who is a 12 year old that attends literacy class.  His mother brought him to is two months ago because he had been kicked out of school by his teacher.  Miguel cried every day at school, and even for the first few classed at our school his mom had to stay with him because he was so anxious and would cry.  His teacher had declared him to have special needs and told his mother he was impossible to teach.  Eloisa and I have enjoyed having him in the class regardless, and he has gained the confidence to attend class alone and joke around with the other students.  Then yesterday, after two months of classes under the care of two patient teachers... 

Miguel read me a book!!!  

It was an easy reader about a bird that flies south for the winter.  He started out slowly, but in the course of just that one book he started to have an easier time recognizing words and was reading quicker.  I praised him when he finished reading the book, and he beamed at me.  I could see his confidence skyrocket trough the ceiling.  He can read!  

I looked up from reading with Miguel and suddenly realized that three of the girls where all reading books for the first time too!  Again, my eyes stung with tears... These kids will have a completely different future now, they can read and pursue  whatever else they want to do with their lives!  

We will be giving these kids Bibles to take home and practice reading.  The gospel is going into homes where it has never been accessible before, and we have been teaching these students about Jesus every class.  I will be leaving on Outreach with the DTS students from the base in a couple weeks, so I won't see this class graduate... But the seed has produced fruit, and that fruit won't stop here!  Praise God!  

We don't always get to see fruit from the work that we do.... But I thank God for those moments of breakthrough.  Watching God change lives never gets old!  

Literacy Class is Going Mobile!

   Our class of Discipleship Training School students is in the past four weeks of classes!  Dave is off in Guatemala City with the students from our DTS and the DTS class from the city base.  They are doing a week called Plumbline, which is a week of inner-healing and finding freedom in the Holy Spirit.  During our Plumbline week at our DTS in 2013, our marriage was transformed and I found a depth of intimacy with God that I had never experience before.  I am excited to see all the God will do through is week!  Please be praying for all the students.  

    The Outreach phase for this DTS will be held in here in Central America.  We have decided that Z and I will be going with Dave and the team for part of the Outreach that will happen here in Guatemala. We will be spending a week in a small town where we have done ministry many times, and they have requested that we teach literacy.  Z and I have spent the week organizing all the supplies and getting homework books prepared for the students.  We will be working in conjunction with a ministry there and they will be announcing to the women that we have space for ten students.  I am amazed at how prepared I feel to teach literacy, after teaching it for almost a year now!  😊

    We have wanted to take the literacy class to this little town for a long time, so we are feeling like this is a dream soon-to-be-fulfilled for us.  Please be praying for us to have ten, dedicated students that we can teach to read and write so that the Bible can go into their homes and they can share it with their children.  God is doing so much in our student's lives and will continue to work through the Outreach and our new mobile literacy class!!!  📝📒