Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Photos!!!

                                            Kid's Club at the base!

                                             More Kid's Club

                                              Mark preaching at Central Park in Antigua

                                               Soup Run near the dump in Antigua

                                                   Soup Run near the Antigua Dump

                                                  More Soup Run!

                                       Mark and Carlos preaching at an outreach in Chimaltenango

                                             Mark teaching an evangelism seminar in the City with
                                                Carlos

3 wishes!

Remember when you were a kid and you pretended you had 3 wishes and they would all come true?  What would you wish for?  Money?  Vacations?  3 more wishes???

Some of our supporters through the years have occasionally challenged Mark and I to put a wish list on our newsletters.  We really haven't a lot and I'm not exactly sure why!  We just didn't.  Maybe it's because we are just so appreciative of the fact that people send us money every month and it seems extravagant to ask for more!  But this last newsletter we added 3 things to a wish list that we were needing/wanting. A new laptop--the one we have is extremely overworked and there's just too many people needing to do school and work on it and there aren't enough hours in the day for everyone to get done what needs to be done!  A new camera--ours broke about a year ago and we haven't been able to replace it and haven't been able to take any photos.  And a kitchen aid stand up mixer--I do a TON of cooking and baking for our family and others and even though it isn't truly a need it is something that would make my life a lot easier!

A week after we put it out someone wrote to us that they felt God leading them to give us all 3!!!  Praise God!  We are so thankful and we are truly enjoying the blessings!  Our new camera is amazing!  It is more than we could have ever expected.  I am LOVING my new mixer--I call her Julia since Julia Child is one of my cooking heroes.  And we are getting our new computer in about a week or so. 

The lesson in all of this is that God is faithful!  He is faithful with our needs and He is faithful with our wishes.  He wants to bless us!  What are your wishes?

Give Us This Day...

It's interesting to me how we can learn the Lord's Prayer as a kid and not really know what it means until we grow up and live out a life of faith. 

I remember praying "Give us this day our daily bread..." and thinking as a kid how much I like bread and that it's just so cool that God gives us bread every day!  YAY God!!!  It wasn't until we moved here on the mission field that I truly understood what that phrase meant. 

When we lived in the US and things got tight we went out and got an extra job.  Sometimes it was a less than glamorous job--but it got us through the tight spots.  We struggled a little but could truly make things happen when we needed to.  Thank you God for providing jobs and the opportunity to work and provide for our needs.  He was giving us our daily bread. 

Moving to Guatemala where we can't just go out and get a job (we don't have the right visa for that) if things get tight has really opened my eyes to what this means in our lives.  Sometimes God provides daily--not ahead of time.

I have the American mentality that a savings account and a bit of a cushion is a good thing and a desirable thing to have.  It's irresponsible not to have some extra little bit put away in case of an emergency.  I have been under a lot of self-condemnation because that doesn't happen for us!  It's been a tough thing for me to see.  I often wonder why I can't save.  Then I think about it a little and realize this:  maybe God wants to provide DAILY. 

We get our offering and it seems to be more than enough and I think "NOW we can put some away."  Only to find that our car needs hundreds of dollars of more work than we realized or there's a medical situation to deal with or one of our homeless people needs some meds or one of our guys in rehab needs shampoo and eye glasses or our electric bill was figured wrong and now we have to make up the difference!  This is a part of daily life here in Guatemala.  Sometimes we can't plan ahead--and just when we think we have it's all gone!

I find it interesting that it's taken me this long to realize that daily means day by day.  We may not be able to plan for tomorrow we just have to take God's provision as it comes--daily.  This is faith!  This is where the rubber meets the road.  This is where we trust that He is our daily provider as we are faithful with what He provides.

So now when I pray "Give us this day our daily bread..." I smile because I realize now what it means to actually live completely and totally dependent on God for every. single. day.  Not easy--but always worth it.

Friday, October 7, 2011

It's been How Long?

I couldn't believe when I looked on here that it had been since June the last time I wrote something!  Time flies when you're having fun!

So what has our family been up to?  Well here's a little run down:

Alicia:  She spent the summer at Chico YWAM doing their summer program.  It was a great experience for her and she has decided to go back in the fall to do her DTS before she heads off to college to pursue a degree in nursing.  She is currently enjoying Guatemala and finishing her senior year.  She is also working hard on translating a Spanish book on values used in the school system here from Spanish to English to be used in African schools.

Bailey:  She is working hard on her sophomore year of high school and enjoying music and art.  She wants to go to Chico YWAM next summer to do the same program Alicia did this past summer.  She just turned 15 and is already talking about the time when Mark will teach her driving!!

Christopher:  He is now in 8th grade and attending youth group and having fun with his friends.  He is still really gifted at all things technical and I am constantly amazed at what he knows how to do.  It blows my mind!  He has been teaching at our church's kids classes on Sunday mornings helping to translate.

Soup Run

We have been working with the homeless doing soup run for almost 2 years now.  This year it has really grown and we have also been blessed with a few teams who have gone out with us.  Previously we paid for the soup and food that we brought to people and recently we have been blessed with a LOT of dried soup mixes with veggies and beans.  It's been such a blessing since we are regularly feeding about 50 people!  We are looking forward to working with more churches in another city nearby to start doing some soup runs there as well.

Evangelism/Street Ministry

We've been busy getting the bus ready to use and have even used it a few times to show movies and do outreaches.  The most recent one was in September with our Discipleship Training School students in Chimaltenango.  We were there all day doing children's ministry and evangelism near the central square.  We were able to partner with a church there and pray with many people.  We are hoping to take the bus out more once rainy season ends!

Mark still does street ministry every Saturday night and has had great talks and times of prayer with people in Central Park in Antigua.  He is continuing to go out and bring others with him to share the gospel.

Discipleship Training School

On July 24th of this year we began our DTS with 12 students from Canada the US and Curacao.  It has been a busy time!!!  Mark is working with the 3 guys and I am working with 3 of the girls.  We've been doing one-on-ones and small groups as well as coordinating activities for the weekends.  It's been a lot of fun!  They leave for 5 weeks in Haiti and then return to Guatemala towards the middle of November to do their last 3 weeks in different locations here.  Mark may be joining them for the last 3 weeks of outreach but he will remain at home to work on outreach here and a team that will be arriving in November.

Prayer Requests

--Please pray for the 6 people that are in their rehab programs that God will work in them.
--Pray for our family to be able to have some time off for a little relaxation in the next few months.  It's been
   2 years since our trip to the US and even though we can't return there we would like to take some time off
   here in Guatemala.
--Please continue to pray for our street people that God would continue to move in their lives.
--Pray for continued financial support for us to do the work we have here in Guatemala.

--Dayle

Saturday, June 25, 2011

So...here's what happened this week!

Usually when our kids go to camp I have a week to myself and Mark gets a little bit of a break as well.  Not this year!!!!  It was one of our busier weeks, doing good things, but, busy.

We had a team from South Korea here this week doing street ministry, children's ministry, and soup run with us.  It was interesting because they didn't speak any Spanish and only a few on the team spoke a little bit of English--so translation was a tad tricky--but, they did wonderful!  They were able to communicate through drama, song, and dance.  They were able to pray with people in their language and bless our base with watching them play with the children.  It's so great to see how God can use different kinds of communication to convey His love!

This week was a busy street ministry week.  Tuesday night we took the Korean team out for soup run and fed over 50 people soup and tortillas.  Mark took a different team from Kansas here working with another ministry out for street evangelism that same night.  Wednesday night we did "Feed the Hungry" at our church for the 3rd and last Wednesday night (for this time anyway) and brought people in from the homeless shelter and streets for dinner at our church.  We fed almost 95 people that night and everyone left with a New Testament as well!  Thursday night we took the Kansas team out for Soup Run and fed about 50 people again.

All of that plus meetings with our YWAM team, a pastor from another city near us, and planning for and organizing Parent's Day at camp for Friday.  This was a busy week! 

One thing I know, as I work with the street people and addicts, I'm so grateful for God's power in the lives of those who are in rehab overcoming their addictions.  It's a long road and they are struggling--please pray for them!  Jaimie is in Teen Challenge. Ana and Miguel are in a rehab affiliated with a church in San Lucas.  Charlie is in Hogar de la Roca.  There are those who are working toward going to rehab: William and Victoria.  Please pray that God helps them to walk in the direction of their freedom.

It's been raining a lot in Antigua and it's been raining hard.  This is a difficult time for those who live on the streets.  We are so grateful that we have been able to visit them more than usual.  We are also glad when we can give them a fresh change of clothes that are dry and clean.  We are hoping to stock up on men's clothing and warmer clothes for them.  Also, it would be a blessing to them to be able to buy plastic tarps for some of them to use.  Please pray that we are able to do that. 

Also, we are praying for several of them who are sick right now--the weather is tough on their bodies.  Dora, Carlos, Chmarco, and Ana have been battling sickness. 

Pray for us as we continue to minister to the needs of the extremely poor and addicted people here in Antigua.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Update!!!!

Sometimes things are just INSANE!!!  You know how it is, you start the week thinking you have your schedule under control, and then the week begins and you realize it's just a crazy time.  Ministry has never been better--we are just so excited about all the opportunities heading our way.  The bus will be busy with outreaches, our homeless ministry is going well with good relationships being built, street church is a blessing to us and the street people, we are working with other missionaries and their teams to do street ministry and soup run.  Whew!

With all of that, we add in the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is starting in about a month!  Mark and I will be working more closely with that than we have in past years because we are a little short staffed.  We have 13 students coming which is a huge blessing!!!  Mark will be working with the guys in the group doing one-on-one time with each of them every week, small group, and helping to coordinate the activities for the whole group.  I will be working with about 4 girls doing one-on-ones, small group, and helping Mark coordinate the activities.  We will also be doing some of the meals on Sundays for the group.

With all of that going on we have a few requests!  Here are some things that you all could be praying for:

1.  We absolutely NEED to up our monthly financial support.  There are some major ministry things coming up and we pay for all our ministry with the homeless out of our monthly support.  As our ministry grows, our financial need grows.

2.  Our car, which is essential to our ministry, is in need of some major tlc!  The brakes need fixing and now the starter is going.  Please pray that we can get the work done and that our car lasts!!!  We love our car!

3.  Our kids are really stepping up and helping with a lot of what we do.  Pray for them!  They are figuring out what God has for their futures and making some big decisions.  Pray for us as their parents to guide them.

4.  Continue to pray for those in rehab:  Jaimie, Charlie, Ana, and Miguel.

5.  Pray for William who wants to return to rehab.

6.  We have several others who want to change their life:  Victoria, Carlos, Dora, Ana.  Please pray for them and for opportunities to open up for them.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A strange thing happened on the way to the meeting...

Do you ever feel like God is trying to tell you something.  All at once.  Loudly.

This afternoon has been like that for me.  Within the space of one hour we experienced a strange variety of things that has me going, "Hmmmm..."

On the way to our weekly staff meeting at the YWAM base we saw a jack-knifed semi truck trying to make an impossibly sharp turn from a highway (under construction) to a little side road where all the regular highway traffic is being routed through.  I felt so bad for the driver and felt a little bit of how frustrating it would be to try to manoeuvre through a centuries old, cobble-stoned, city to make deliveries in narrow, quaint little streets.  Antigua is charming until you are a truck driver I'll bet!

So we had to take the long way around through another little town to get to our meeting.  While on the road we were behind a police truck with 2 officers in it just minding our own business until a large can was thrown out the window of the police truck.  Right away I said to Mark, "Did you see that?  They just littered!"  Why that was so surprising I still don't know!  Then the second can was thrown out.  That's when I noticed that they weren't just any cans, they were the large 20 oz. Gallo beer cans!  So they were drinking and driving, on duty, and littering.  "Hmmmm..."

Right about then my phone went off that I have a text message.  Now, I usually don't check texts because, frankly, it's usually just ads for the company we have our phones with.  But, for some reason I checked this one. It said that I had a court date.  Tomorrow.  For the Q4,000 (about $500) debt I haven't paid.  The text was complete with case numbers and everything.  I said to Mark, "What debt?  We don't owe anyone that kind of money!  What do you think this is?"  When we got to the base we showed our director and he said not to answer it or even call the number because it's an extortion.  ????????  Yeah, an extortion text message.

Then, while we were in the meeting I heard a truck trying to get through the street and heard a crash.  Not good.  Mark went outside and saw that the driver had hit our car with his truck and put a decent dent in it.  For real.  Not even kidding.  I went out to look at what had happened and there was the driver trying to get away!  I stopped him and our director helped me out while Mark was moving our car to assess the damage more accurately.  The driver immediately started blaming US because we had parked on the street.  Now, there's nowhere else to park at the base.  There's only the street.  WE had parked on the street and that's why he hit us and it's our fault.  Our director made him get out of the truck and I said to him that it's not our fault it's his fault and he said that here in Guatemala it is the parked car that is blamed for these types of accidents!  Again--????????

Our director immediately got on the phone to the police, and miraculously, that changed his tune.  All of a sudden, he was all apologetic and wanted to know what he could do to make it right.  We took his information and left it at that for now.  The damage doesn't effect the performance of the car only the look--so it's not too bad.  But, we do feel he needs to take responsibility for his actions so we're thinking of how to do that without causing his family hardship by demanding money.  And in case you're wondering, the police never did show up. 

So what do you think God is trying to teach us?  Is He trying to tell us that justice is His and we can't look at man's idea of justice to work for us?  Is He trying to tell us that He is in control and we need to rely on Him?

I don't know.  But, I do know that God is good, and just, and He is in control.  So, I'm not going to worry too much about it all.  I'm going to continue to pray for our beautiful home country of Guatemala.  I'm going to pray that HIS justice reigns here and thank Him for his grace and mercy that keeps us working here.  I'm going to believe that He loves this country more than we do and that we can be instruments of His will here in Guatemala.  I'm thankful that we are able to do what He's asked us to do.  And tonight I'm going to bring soup to homeless people and addicts and be thankful for the things that keep MY life here normal for me.