My Outreach Testimony - Dave

My testimony from outreach comes out of the village of San Miguel Escobar, 10 minutes from Antigua.  Our team was called by God to go to Guatemala on outreach, and week four is when we arrived in the beautiful area of the Panchoy Valley.  It was to be another day of evangelism in the San Miguel Escobar/Ciudad Vieja area.  Mike (our leader), Stian, and I headed up a guys team and started out.  We started up towards the volcano and met a couple of different people that we had the opportunity to talk to and pray with.  After that we ran into some kids playing and talked to them for a couple of minutes.  We then headed back to where the main Catholic church for San Miguel Escobar was and watched as some men played some futbol.  We decided that it was time to keep walking and so we started off again.  As we were walking, a boy passed us, turned around, passed us again, and did this three times before Stian started witnessing to him.  After a while, Stian ran out of things to say and I got a chance to talk to him.  His name was Eddy and had ten brothers and sisters.  He was eighteen, but had been out of school for a few years already and had a painting job.  I asked him if he enjoyed it or if he had dreams beyond that.  By this point I had lost Stian and Mike to a couple of clowns that had walked by and started doing an act, in the middle of the road.  Eddy had said his dream was to be a cook.  Well I love to cook, so I got to share my life as a cook to where I am now and even though being a cook is difficult that it was a dream worth pursuing.  I walked with him for about half an hour, to his friend's house and then I went my own way. 

As I was walking back down the hill to the road I came in on, I noticed a lady carrying a table, while her husband had his daughter on his back and pushing his son in a wheelchair.  Seeing as it was a heavy table I asked the woman if they lived close and if she needed help carrying the table.  She gladly accepted the help and we started home.  Turns out they lived all the way back past the YWAM base; so I trekked about 30-40 minutes with this fifty pound table on my head.  I got to talk with the woman about her life.  She had two sons with her previous partner and now had these two children with her current partner.  Their family didn't go to church anymore because of previous negative experiences and often her husband would work and she'd have to take care of her two children.  I found it admirable that this man was still with this family, though one child was in a wheelchair.  Not too often do you find men stick around when the children have disabilities here in Guatemala.  To put names to faces, the woman is Ana, the man is Luis, their son is Miguel, and their daughter is Damiris.  Miguel is four and Damiris is two.  We returned to their house and I put the table in place.  It turns out they live with Luis' mother Seville, in a typical Guatemalan cement house with tin roofing.  As I put the table down I got to share with them about God's love, Christ's birth (as it was three days before Christmas), Christ's death and ressurection, and just a few testimonies from my life of God's faithfulness and unconditional love.  I got to pray for their family and I could just feel the Holy Spirit's presence come over their house.  I said I'd return with some people from our group to pray for Miguel, who had been wheelchair bound since birth.  Something with his neck and brain paralyzes him from actually having the strength to walk.

So I did return as I said with about ten of the people from the team.  We prayed for Miguel and his complete healing.  I know that Miguel is strong, bright, intelligent, and has such joy; God has an incredible future in store for this boy.  From this point our team took it upon ourselves to fast and pray each lunch for Miguel; so the following few days there'd be two or three of us fasting lunch and interceding for Miguel during this time.  The Lord didn't only increase my love for this family, but also Lillian and Stian:s love for them as well.  When we returned a few days later, the three of us got to pray for Miguel again.  We also got to read him stories from the children's Bible; he loves the pictures and bright colours and Ana was intrigued by the content in the stories and Lillian got to have an incredible time pouring into Ana's life.  There may not be a complete physical healing of Miguel, but I could start to see the transformation in the family and I believe there was a lot of emotional healing going on.  Some things I admire about this family is their love for each other; Luis hasn't left Miguel, but continues to support his family, no matter the cost; Ana brings Miguel to Guatemala City (an hour away) on the chicken bus to do physiotherapy, twice a week.  We knew of Hermano Pedro which is a hospital for wheelchaired children and ask why she didn't go there; her response was that there you had to just drop your kids off and you don't stay with them, and she was not going to abandon her child to an asylum.  I witnessed the loving heart of a mother and father.  We left them with more prayer, some rice, and some beans.   A few days later we returned again.  This was Shawn and Z's chance to be introduced to the family that has been so close to my heart.  Z had always been napping before, so Shawn had to stay back; they didn't actually believe I was married.  The next time we showed up, we knew it was Miguel's fourth birthday.  Some of the team gathered gifts of things they no longer used: clothes, toy cars, etc..  Lillian, Stian, Z, Shawn, and I returned with these gifts, a pinata, a cake and threw him a birthday party.  The whole family was ecstatic and even the grandma got in a turn hitting the pinata. Ana had said how blessed they were to have us come for Miguel's birthday, as he has never received gifts like that before.  We were then on our way to the lake and when we got back from the lake we were going to the beach soon thereafter, so we had only a couple days left in Antigua.  Shawn and I knew we were continuing on in Guatemala, but Stian and Lillian would soon return to Norway, so we went to visit them for the Lauvas' last visit.

 What a last visit it was; we graciously got welcomed into their home again and just began to talk with Ana and Seville again.  We asked if Luis would be home from work soon, so Stian and Lillian could say goodbye.  Ana said that Luis wasn't able to go to work today because of a fever.  She then went into greater detail about how Luis has actually been sick for the past four years, but they don't talk about it much because of his condition.  It turned out Luis has a tumor on an undisclosed part of his body.  Eventually it could turn into cancer, if not taken care of.  The tumor causes him days of pain, to the point of not walking, and he gets fevers as well.  He is the money-maker of the family so if he doesn't go to work his family doesn't make any money.  The Guatemalan public hospitals don't have time for the operation for another six months at least and even then who knows?  They say the private hospitals take care of you better and right away, but it costs 10000Q ($1250) and then there would be the recovery time where nobody is working.  They are already very tight for money, living day to day, so this amount of money is nowhere near possible for them.  As I heard this, I felt hopeless for them; so much healing needed for this family: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I felt like we've prayed so much for this family, and then another problem arises.  As Lillian and Stian said their emotional goodbyes, I knew it wasn't our last time visiting this family.  As we walked away, we discussed the only option beyond God's miraculous touch, the money.  We felt that $2000, though it seems like a lot to Guatemalans, isn't too much for the North American/European.  We felt burdened that this was our money to raise, to pay for this operation.  After all it was the least we could do for this family who drew so dear to our hearts; I weep as I write and think about them; they were so hospitable, loving, caring, grateful, patient (especially with our Spanish), and so kind.  God's love through us has been imparted to them and having built this relationship with this family has given us a different perspective on Guatemalans and just grown our heart for these people.

So you'd think this is a blog post about needing to fundraise $2000 for this family in Guatemala, but no, this is only half the testimony (long, I know, sorry).  So we travelled back to Chico, California for our debriefing time.  We had base intercession on the Friday morning that we were there, just to give a few testimonies about our time in the countries that we had outreach to.  Wouldn't you know it, the guy who hates public speaking, yes me, has to give one of our testimonies.  I went last, with the picture up on the screen of the family and shared the testimony that I just shared here about our cherished friendship and about the way God divinely orchestrated the relationship between Miguel's family and ours.  I mentioned something about how we were going to look into ways to get these finances to Luis to pay for his operation and recovery.  Little did I know, the Holy Spirit was already at work.  Afterwards I was approached and a generous and loving couple told me they'd give $1000 and they'd find a way to raise the rest.  Less then 24 hours later they found me again and said they had $2100 and that it is on its way to Guatemala.  I was at a loss for words; this family who means so much to us and within minutes every last dollar is paid for.  They said that the minute I started sharing my testimony they knew God was speaking to them.  It is rare to see such a father in this Latin American culture stick around when you have a child with special needs and they could see this man's integrity through the words I spoke of him.  My gratitude for these generous givers is undescribable.  God is so good; He is always faithful; His love for all nations is unconditional.  So the money is due to arrive tomorrow; I will get to deliver the good news to Luis that his operation and recovery is covered, and walk alongside him as we pay the costs through the generosity of others.  Please continue to pray for this family.  Pray that they would all come to intimately and personally know their Heavenly Father and complete transformation of this household; pray for the surgery on Luis (more information coming as I get more information); pray for Miguel's miraculous healing; pray for this family.

All I have to say is thank YOU.  Thank you all for your support, in prayer, in finances, in love and encouragement, as our family pursues our dreams.

A blogpost by Dave

Expecting

We are officially expecting.  But, no, I'm not pregnant.  We are expecting though... multiples.  Maybe even 10!  We have been accepted as (soon-to-be) house parents at Village of Hope.  

 (You may recognize that name from my past post about Aldea de Esperanza... yeah, it's totally the same place.  My little reference about Z wanting to live there "forever" was totally a hint to the reading public that we were thinking about living there.  haha... )

    Village of Hope has the funds raised to build the next two homes (duplex), so we will be the parents in one of those homes.  House 3, they'll call us.  We will probably be able to move in by July, and at that point we will begin to receive referrals for children, and could at any time have another child placed in our home.  We will be legally in the role of foster parents, but because Guatemala does not have an international adoption program, it is unlikely that the children will be taken away from us.  Also, VOH deals primarily with special needs children, and it is especially unlikely for these children to be adopted into Guatemalan homes.  Our home will be wheel-chair accessible, and we could have a child or two in wheelchairs who become part of our family.  Only the Lord knows who He will bring to our home, but we have requested that we would have only younger children placed with us, because we are still quite young ourselves. 

    We graduate from our DTS in exactly one week, and will be spending this last week at the beach debriefing and spending some final days together as a team.  Dave is planning to return to the States with the team and pick up our stuff/diplomas, while I stay in Guatemala and start house-hunting.  I am so excited to have our own place again!  It is sad to say goodbye to our team, but I am being left behind in a country that I love.  When Dave gets back to Guatemala we will hopefully be ready to move into our house, and we can get started on Spanish school to become more fluent, as well as begin volunteering in the afternoon at VOH. 

    This whole journey has been amazing to me.  God took us from Quadra Island, Canada, where we were drowning in the pain of infertility, and He healed our hearts enough to take that leap of faith and leave it all for California.  We grew so much in California, and some amazing restoration happened in our marriage and my family.  The Lord continued to whisper in my heart that He had my children, that He was ready and waiting to give them to me.  I received visions of my children, and my heart longed to be with them.  God intercepted us, and sent us to Guatemala, where I have now found VOH!
   
     My small group in California did a little project during our last meeting where we were supposed to write down what we expected of God during our Outreach.  I wrote:  "I want to find my children."  The Lord has been faithful to me, and has answered my prayer.  I am about to become the mother of children who are very broken.  They might have huge issues that I need a lot of help to care for them properly.  I might regret this decision some days.  But I am also going to have the chance to hold them when they cry, to cook them pancakes on Saturday mornings, to throw their birthday parties, and to help them grow into the men and women that God intended them to be.  I want to show them the love of Father God, who doesn't give up on anyone, no matter how broken.  I want to be their mother. 
 
     I came on this outreach expecting great things from God.  And now I am expecting to welcome (some of) my children into my home within the next year.  My dream has come true... I have found my children.  Praise the Lord.

(God has prompted me to read through Isaiah over the past months, and I have read Isaiah 49 almost every day.  It's almost ironic how perfect it is for my life.)

   "They will bring your sons in their arms, and carry your daughters on their shoulders.  Kings will be your foster fathers, and queens your nursing mothers... then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed."  -Isaiah 49: 22-23

Our first Christmas in Guatemala

The view we saw while on a walk near the base

Sunset from the roof of the base

Traditional Guatemalan Christmas dinner:  Tamales (these were chicken and potato, but usually they are made with corn flour), bread, and ponche (made with a bunch of fruit and cinnamon)

A few of us went out for Thai food on Christmas eve... pretty good, considering we're nowhere near Thailand.

A bi-lingual Christmas eve service

Kyla up late preparing treats for Christmas day

Z pretty excited about his Christmas "stocking"

Everyone (except me) around the Christmas breakfast table

Dave's famous cinnamon rolls for breakfast

One of the kids by the Christmas tree... secret Santa time!

the team gathered in the sala for present time!

Z very pleased with his new guitar

Family photo, including the boys in matching Guatemala futbol jerseys

Kyla showing off our appetizer lunch buffet

Spending the afternoon as a team

    Our team went all out to make Christmas a fun and memorable time.  Most of us were away from our families for the very first time over a holiday, so we didn't want to spend the day feeling homesick.  We had gifts at the breakfast table, then spent time calling our families to say hello.  Right after that we had a gift exchange and sang some Christmas carols in the sala (living room).  I even sang the Christmas story from Bible memory.  (Homeschool highfive!) 
   The afternoon was fun for all with naps, more calls to family, card games, and Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas in Spanish for the little kids!  Some of the guys braved the chicken bus and brought home pizza for supper, and then once the kids were in bed we had dessert and watched Elf.  It was a wonderful Christmas day, and I felt so bonded to my team family. 

     Merry (belated) Christmas everyone!  Feliz Navidad!

Aldea de Esperanza

Z and Dad

    For our first week in Antigua, we were invited to help at a children's home called Aldea de Esperanza (Village of Hope).  It is a ministry of Lifesong for Orphans, and the Guatemala location was founded by an American couple named Todd and Amy.  Todd and Amy are an amazing couple who have nine children themselves (both biological and adopted), and moved about two and a half years ago to Guatemala to pursue the calling that God has placed in their hearts. 
    Todd picked us up from the YWAM base, and drove us the 20minutes to the town of San Lucas where the children's home is.  We were all blown away by the beautiful buildings, and
   


The food table for our party.

property.  Todd and Amy's vision is for the children to have families, and to see what a functional Christian family is supposed to look like.  In each home (they have two so far, and are fundraising for the third/fourth), lives a married couple, along with up to ten children.  The fathers have jobs outside of the home, some on the property, and the mothers stay home with the kids.  It's a beautiful set up and the kids seemed very happy and well cared-for.  

Our clowns:  Sneezy, and his brother Sneezy  (Brad and Stian)

Todd and the staff set up a piñata for the kids

Z and I playing in the yard

Dave playing goalie for the futbol game

The sign above the entrance to the dining/meeting room

Our project for the week was to arrange the storage room, where a years-worth of clothing donations have been tucked away.  Every time a new child joins the Village they are outfitted with clothing, blankets, and shoes to call their own.  But since the staff is so busy with other work, no one had much time to sort everything out.  So we spent two days going through boxes of clothing and folding them neatly.  By the time we were done, the huge closet was organized so perfectly that anyone could go in and quickly find the needed articles for the new children. 
   
      The rest of our time was spent with the children.  One day we threw a Christmas party for the kids, and the other day we babysat the kids while all the house-parents and other staff had their Christmas party. 
    One of the guys on our team knows how to do magic (Stian), so he and Brad put together a little clown show and did it for the kids.  The kids all laughed, and were entertained for almost an hour by our silly clowns.  After that we did a craft and took turns hitting the piñata that Todd brought. 

 




  Babysitting day was a lot of fun as well.  The team spent the morning helping with landscaping, while Joy and I babysat all the little kids.  I enjoyed a morning with Zane, and he and I spent most of our time jumping on the trampoline or driving in the push-cars.  In the afternoon, we had a hot-dog barbeque with the kids and then most of them ran outside to play futbol, while I taught a class on bracelet-making for some of the older girls.  It was challenging for me to teach in Spanish, but I was glad to get to practice.  I can't wait until I am truly bi-lingual. 



    The week went extremely well, and I was sad to not be going back to the Village today.  Dave has been busy with maintenance projects around the Antigua base today, while I've watched Z. 

  Before I put him down for a nap he said, "No, mama, I can't sleep here, I have to go to the other place!" 

   I knew he was talking about the Village, so I said, "We can't go there today, Z.  Did you like it there?" 

   Z said,  "Yah, I want to live there forever." 

  I had to laugh, but I was glad he liked it.  Z has been doing so well in Guatemala, as have Dave and I.  This first week in Antigua was wonderful, and I have to admit that I think I am falling (back) in love with this country. 


    Thanks for praying for our family! 


   

Guatemala City and Moving to the Antigua Base

Going to the Christmas Festival in Guatemala City

Guatemalans getting a chance to play in the "snow"  hahahahaha

In front of the main cathedral in Guate City

Z waiting for the van to take us to Antigua

Arriving at the Antigua base

A view from one side of the roof.  Antigua is surrounded by mountains and volcanos

Courtyard at the base

Walking in Antigua

Morning prayer time on the roof

Father and son enjoying a sunny morning

Salvations, Sickness, and Seeking the Lord

    Last week we lived in a village called Puerto Abajo.  Imagine any "World Vision" promo video you´ve seen, with the dirty kids, and tiny houses, and desperate need all around.  That was a lot of what it looked like. There were a couple nice houses, a few people who could afford a horse or a small car, but there was a lot of poverty too. 
   I made friends with one, especially desperate, single mom of two boys.  She was only 17, and lived in a house smaller than the little bedroom we had in our little rented house in the village.  Her bathroom was a plastic-bag-enclosed stick structure, and her yard was dirt, with garbage strewn around to serve as toys for her five year old.  When I visited her, she showed me around proudly, making a huge point to show me her small collection of teddy bears, hung neatly from the ceiling.  I couldn´t help but think that those would make for better toys for her son than the dirty hand soap bottles that Z and her son Dav were playing with in the yard. 
   During my visit though, I watched my son, and learned what it meant to be a friend to someone very different than myself.  Z and his friend played wonderfully together, sharing the most treasured pieces of garbage, and laughing and talking to each other in their own languages.  My friend loved seeing our boys play together, so I spent almost an hour with her, trying to understand her rapid Spanish and offering generous comments about the beauty of her bedspread, view from her yard, and her infant son´s napping ability.  She was thrilled, and we spent a while every afternoon chatting with each other from that day on (I even managed to figure out what she was saying most of the time by the end of the week.)
 
   The main reason we were in the village though was to put on a week-long Vacation Bible School for about 200 kids.  A church from Guatemala city were the ones organizing the event, and we were blessed to be able to come alongside them and minister to the kids.  I was the most impacted by talking with the mothers who would stay and watch the older kids, most of them nursing a second or third child.  I was thrilled to see them listening to the story, and hearing the gospel message.  We also had a movie night where we showed the movie "Facing the Giants" in Spanish for the Fathers and other family members in the evening.  A lot of people came to that event as well, and Dave shared his testimony.  As a result, we were able to pray for a girl who has been struggling with multiple miscarriages, and pray for her healing and for a baby for her. 

   We visited a lot of people´s homes, including my friend with her two sons, and during those times of visiting about 6 people came to Christ.  During VBS almost 100 children accepted Christ, and even a few more people accepted because of the movie!  We were thrilled by the amazing openness of these people´s hearts towards the gospel, and their readiness to accept Him as Savior. 

   During our week in Puerto Abajo though, a lot of people on our team got sick, including myself, Dave,  and Z.  So for the past five days we have been battling with travellers sickness, and bringing bags of dirty laundry to the laundry mat every morning.  Last night was the first night that no one in our family was throwing up in the middle of the night in almost five days!  Praise the Lord that we have recovered (mostly) from this sickness that found us.  Thank you to those who have been praying.

    Throughout this whole time in Guatemala (almost three weeks), we have continued to seek the Lord´s will for the future in our life.  We know that the Lord has called us to be parents, and to parent those who do not have parents.  We still do not know what that is going to look like, but we are excited to be going to an orphanage on Friday, and we will be going to a couple orphanages over the next few weeks.  We will be moving from Guatemala city very soon, and going to another city further north.  Please continue to pray for our team, for health, for the Spirit to overflow with joy and love through us for this country and for each other... and pray for our family to have vision and clarity for the future. 

    We saw great success in Puerto Abajo, and we fully expect to see more of that over the next six weeks!  The Lord is great and mighty to save! 

Guatemala (take 3)

Packed and ready to leave Chico!  This is the second time these bags have gone with us, and the third time we've gone!  So exciting!

Kyla and the kids waiting for our flight

Z and Dad hanging out on the airplane

Z snoozing the flight away

Our bedroom at the Guate city base.

Hanging out in the living room in Guate City

Suppertime! 

Z and his buddy in the van as we drive to minister at a daycare... no carseats make for lots of fun

The ladies of the Guatemala team (except for our leader Joy)

the obligatory family selfie

Jake using the pila in Puerto Abajo

trying to convince Z and A to use the inside potty... haha

Our home in Puerto Abajo.  The window on the right was our bedroom.  We lived in here with another family of three, and had about 25-40 people there for every meal and free time.  haha... never a dull moment in the village!

Z all decked out for a cold winter morning...

Morning devotions before we started VBS (you can see the school courtyard in the top right hand corner of the photo)

Playing a game with the kids on the first morning. (Z is in the batman tee on the far side of the circle, with the blue hat)

Some kids eating snack

Walking back to the village after an afternoon in town

Our bedroom in the village

Z going for a hike with Dad

Z and A on a date with their daddies.  Hiking time!

A few of our evening visitors in the main room of our house

A friend, Gabriel, helps Z to ride his bike

Every good missions trip includes lunch at Pollo Compero!

Please continue to pray for our team as we serve in Guatemala City.