One of my favorite things to do!

Those who know me best know that I love to cook and spend time in my kitchen. It's a relaxing thing to me and experimenting with food is a blast! I love living in a country where I can get beautiful, fresh, and even unusual herbs, fruits, and veggies for my family and can cook with wonderful ingredients. It makes life good! Here's the result of one of my Saturday morning market trips--minus the meat!

What now?!

So we've been going to the streets now since the end of November to hand out food to the homeless people in Anitgua and it's been a huge blessing! I make a big pot of soup (whatever kind I want and have ingredients for that day) and we buy some bread and drive around and give out a cup of soup and a piece of bread when we see someone sleeping on the street. We've been praying with these guys (mostly guys) and ministering the gospel to them regularly. We know them now. We've become a part of their lives and they ours. God is good.

Last week we decided to see about going behind the market area here in Antigua and feeding the group of people that sleep there too. We've avoided that spot before because it's really dark there and we aren't sure who's there and what's happening. We've driven by many times, saw silouhettes of people in the dark, but, didn't stop. Last week a police officer helped us out by staying with us while we handed food. We also parked the car so that the headlights shone on the spot where they are sleeping so that we can see better. There were about 13 people there. It was sad. They sleep on old dirty mattresses and under really dirty blankets. Right now it's nice because it's dry season--I don't want to think about rainy season for these people.

Last night we went behind there again and then to the dump area directly attatched to the market. I couldn't believe it. We left with soup enough for about 25 people and packets of roasted vegetables for 18 people and banana cake for about 30 people. By the time we were done at those two locations we only had enough food to feed some of our regular guys on Santa Lucia (about 7) and we had to totally skip going to the recollecion area where we usually can feed up to about 15 guys.

Now What??????

Mark and I are praying about going out on 2 nights a week. One night for the people behind the market and the dump area and one night for our regular street guys. This is going to be a lot more work as well as a lot more food! It's going to take some faith to feed these people. Please pray with us!

Malnutrition Center Report from Bailey

There are about sixty to seventy kids there in all. Around 25 babies, and the rest are little kids. There are only three people working with the babies, and four or five working with the little kids. Some of the babies there look younger than they really are. Me and Alicia and two of our friends thought that one of the babies was six months old, but she was really two years old. All four of us were there when a little girl named Maria got there. Her mom stayed for a long time to see what they would do with her. She was about four years old, and was tall and skinny. She kept her little blanket around her all the time, and didn’t give any sort of facial expression, but every once in a while, she would look up at her mom and would cry a little. Her hands and feet were blown up like tennis balls, and she could barley move her fingers, and couldn’t walk. Because she couldn’t walk, she went in with the babies. When we went there again, about two weeks later, her hand and feet had gone down to a normal size, and she was able to walk a little! Alicia worked with her on that, and whenever she walked for a little ways, she would look up at Alicia and smile like she was proud of herself! She is now in the older girls and is almost ready to leave!

Mission Trip Report from Alicia

A year ago, I went to San Andres (a place in northern Guatemala, up by Mexico) with a team from Minnesota to be their translator. The team was going there to build a church for a pastor and his family who lives there. While we were there, we were able to do a small vbs for some of the kids who live in the area, and I was the translator for that. We got quite a bit of the church built while we were there, but it was finished after we went back home.
In November, the woman (Dot Schmidt) who led the team last year came to our house to drop off some things from my grandparents. She had come back to Guatemala for the dedication of the church that was now finished. When she came to our house, she asked me if I would go with her to San Andres again to be her translator. I said yes, packed my bags, and left 15 minutes later! This time, it was just us. She didn’t bring a team down.
While we were there, we went to the dedication and did a lot of prayer walking. We were going to do another small vbs, but that didn’t work out. Also, Dot asked me to co-lead a team to San Andres next year to do a vbs and I said I would. I`m pretty excited about that!

Soup Run

Our family has started a weekly ministry of bringing food to people who sleep on the street in Antigua. We’ve also given away blankets and clothing from time to time.
One night I was talking to a guy named Charlie who we found lying on the ground like a dog. I offered him some soup and told him about the church we attend here and he started telling me about a drummer there named Mark, not realizing that it was me! He had met me there before. Then, out-of-the-blue, he asked about Christopher by name. Christopher came over and Charlie asked him to pray for him.
Another time I was talking with a guy named Roger. He was so full of anger and bitterness that he wouldn’t even tell me his name at first or let me pray for him. But after talking to him for a while I saw him visibly begin to soften to the point where he was crying and praying to receive Christ! It was one of the most dramatic changes I’ve ever seen! He never even took our soup! He got a taste of the Bread of Life instead!
Last night we went behind the market area of Antigua and to the dump area behind that to hand out food to people we've seen sleeping there. We took police with us so that it would be safer since it's completely dark there and there are quite a few people living there. We had enough bread for 24 people and by the time we were done there giving each person a cup of soup, a piece of bread, and some cookies made by our friends the Srocks, we had only enough bread and soup for 3 more people! We are getting a bigger pot and thinking about maybe going out 2 nights a week so that we can cover different areas at different nights.
Eventually, we may have pictures of the friends we are making, but we want to be sensitive to their situation and not make them feel like we are there for any other reason but to show them the love of Jesus.

From One Mission Field to Another

In December I took a 2 week mission trip to Ambergris Caye off the coast of Belize along with our YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS). We did a variety of ministries including evangelism, drama and kids ministry. We also did some beach clean-up (yuck!) and cut some brush with machetes from the side of a road as a ministry to the local neighborhood. I got to do some open air preaching next to the beach on one of the days. A few kids prayed with me to accept Christ there and then a bunch of kids nearly mobbed me for some tracts I was handing out. In a poor neighborhood on the island a few of us prayed with a two people named Maggie and Gilbert who wanted to accept Christ (Please pray for their growth in the faith. Gilbert is on the left in the picture, and Maggie is seated in the middle). Our team also did a series of programs in some classrooms at an Anglican school, and it was estimated that 50 students prayed to receive Christ during the 3 days we were there!