Annands Antigua Adventures

Photos!!!

2011-11-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-11-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

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.

It's been How Long?

2011-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

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

2011-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Update!!!!

2011-06-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2011-05-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

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.

How's the kids?

2011-05-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

We get this question a lot because, they grow so fast!

Alicia

She is now 16 and finishing up her junior year of high school. She speaks pretty fluent Spanish and does a lot of translating for teams. She is participating on the drama team that Mark put together that participates in school ministry as well as street ministry. Alicia will be spending the summer in Chico, CA participating in the 24-7 program at YWAM Chico. This program is like a mini-dts that teaches leadership and service. She's excited to venture out on her own for 8 weeks! We aren't as excited for her to be gone, but, really happy that this opportunity has presented itself for her. Her future plans include some college online next year and then in 2013 she plans on moving in with her grandparents and attend nursing school in Brainerd. After school, she wants to return to Guatemala to work with villages that don't have a lot of medical care. She is also trying to coordinate a mission trip for our youth group here in Antigua to go to San Andres Quiche to minister to needs there.

Bailey

Bailey is 14 and finishing her freshman year of high school. She speaks really good Spanish and also participates in the drama team ministering in schools and on the street. She loves music and art and is very gifted in drawing. She has been taking piano and excelling at it! She hopes to participate in the youth worship team later this summer after a few more weeks of lessons. She will be spending the summer working with the different teams that will be arriving to work with YWAM Antigua this summer as well as helping to get ready for the DTS students who arrive in July.

Christopher

Christopher has just turned 13 and is finishing up 7th grade. He is taller than I am and he is still growing--too fast in my opinion! He speaks excellent Spanish and also has been helping with translating with teams and also for Mark in the park. He is busy with computers and friends and we are so thankful that he has a gift for computer technology and has fixed things here many times! He LOVES spending time with his friends and playing computer games and just hanging out. He just started attending our church's youth group and it's been fun to see him be part of what God is doing in our youth. He will be helping with sound and video editing for our ministry this summer and with the teams that are coming.

So that's it! They are growing fast and it's fun to see God work in their lives. Thanks so much for all the support and prayer we receive for our family--it's such a blessing!

--Dayle

George!

2011-05-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

There is a man named George (Jorge) who has been coming to street church and we have been speaking to for a few months now. He speaks perfect English and tells everyone he's from Hollywood, CA. He has lead a rough life.

Mark has talked with George very strongly about his need for Jesus and George kept saying "Someday, I'm just not ready now." But, he kept coming to street church and talking with us. He's has a lot of anger inside and is constantly getting into fights.

Last Sunday night when Mark asked if people would like prayer, George came forward and said, "I'm ready now, Mark." Mark looked at him and said, "I've been waiting for you for a long time!" George received Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior.

Please continue to pray for George! He has a long way to go with his addictions and his anger. We are hoping to start working with him towards rehab.

--Dayle

What's Up with Street Ministry?

2011-05-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is something I get a lot of questions about!

It's been so busy!!! During the month of April and into May the local homeless shelter shuts down and many of the people who sleep there on a regular basis are on the street. Needless to say, we've been crazy busy with soup run and gone through over 50 cups of soup every night that we do it. It's been great because we are building relationships with these people. It's important for them to see us on a regular basis so that they are able to build trust with us.

We currently have 4 of our street people in rehab! Jaimie and William are in Teen Challenge. Mark just visited them this week and took William to a doctor's appointment. William is doing well and still in the beginning stages of his rehab program. Jaimie is in the middle of it and is struggling a bit. Please pray for him. This is a difficult time when things are being dealt with deep inside of them and it's easy for Satan to come in and make them feel "picked on". Miguel and Ana are in a different program and are nearing the end of their time there in the next few months. We met with them this week and they are looking to join us with the street ministry we do here. There are a few things to consider with this so pray for wisdom for us!

In the past we've talked a lot about Charlie who was at Hogar de la Roca. He has chosen to leave rehab after 7 months in the program. We have run into him in the streets and he is drinking again. We are concerned about what will happen to his health for returning to alcohol after his rehab. Please pray for Charlie. He did tell us that he wants to return to rehab, but, didn't show up for some of the things we set up for him to do in order to return.

It's been a wonderful thing to minister to these people. We are so blessed to be able to do what we do! We have also started meeting every Sunday evening with them to do a "street church". We do worship and preaching and prayer with them. They have responded so well to it and we are seeing some definite results in their hearts! Keep praying that this continues to turn into discipleship of their lives and many more are set free from the bonds of alcohol and drug abuse.

--Dayle

Holy Week!

2011-05-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've been able to update! It's been crazy busy--but that's all good, right?

We had a great Holy Week--the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. It was busy with preparing for outreach on Holy Thursday. We had our church's youth group helping with the outreach and had a tremendous time with dramas and preaching right up until it started to rain. Hard. This was interesting since it wasn't rainy season and usually doesn't rain that time of year.

But these teens wouldn't stop. They went out anyway and just started talking with people and praying with people and handing out tracts. They were inspirational. So many people got to hear the gospel that night and we were out until 6:30 am. I can't wait until next year!!!

Good Friday evening is completely crowded in Antigua and Mark went out with a small team of people to do some street ministry. It was so fruitful that he was out until after midnight again! Saturday night he was out again until really late. It was a wonderfully fruitful time of ministry and the gospel was preached to crowds of people who had spent a lot of time that day thinking about what Jesus had done for them so many years ago. What a blessing!

Another answer to prayer--we are always needing tracts. It's been something that has been a real trick with getting them ordered and then shipped to someone who is coming down all at the same time that we need them. God is so good! Another missionary couple that we are friends with down here were talking with their chiropracters in California while they were home over Christmas and these doctors have a passion for evangelism. They also LOVE the Living Waters tracts that Mark uses! They wrote to him and asked him to make up a wish list of tracts that he uses. They ordered over 52 pounds of tracts, videos, and literature for us to use!!!!!!! They also paid for an extra suitcase for someone coming down to bring them to us. All in time for Holy Week! We are so grateful! Mark had all the tracts he could use and still has some to use. They also want to be kept up-to-date when he needs more. What a HUGE blessing!

Thank you all for your prayers during Holy Week. So many wonderful things happened!

--Dayle

Answered Prayer

2011-03-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at our sidebar on this blog and realized that one of the prayer requests we put on there (over a year ago) was for new opportunities in the schools. We have been praying and believing for opportunities to go into the schools here to share the love of Jesus to the students.

In the last 2 months this has been starting to happen! Mark and the girls have been working with a group of missionary teens here to start a drama team to work on dramas and a program for public schools. This is a group of about 9 or 10 teens.

Since they've started this team they have ministered in at least 3 school programs! One was in a part of the City where the school called and asked for help because things in the school are bad and they need a change!

God is so good! If we prepare for rain, it will pour!

When you Least Expect it...

2011-03-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering for over a week how to post this story. It's been something that happened when we weren't expecting it and it's not exactly encouraging. I like to post really great and positive things that happen here in our beautiful home, but, sometimes it just isn't great or positive. This is one of those times.

Last week (Tuesday) we had a busy day as a family in the City running errands and getting some things done we needed to do. After we finally got home (about 3:30 or so) we all sat down for a quiet evening and a family time with maybe a movie or something. We were all tired.

About 6:00 or so someone started knocking frantically on our door. We went to the door and it was our neighbor telling us that they needed us in the house across from us because one of the young men who was living there had hung himself and there was a woman and a baby in there and the woman was bleeding terribly. Mark ran over there quickly to help out. In the room was the man, the woman was lying on the floor and her baby (about 9-10 months old) was lying next to her. He saw that the woman was still alive but not able to respond to anything and the baby was fine as far as he could tell. Alicia went in to see if she could help the baby and to bring medical gloves to her dad. Mark stayed with the woman until help could come.

The medics got here and went right in to help and came out with the baby, who by this time was screaming, and handed her to me. We got towels and blankets for her (they had to cut off her clothes because she was covered in blood and they needed to see if she was hurt) and tried to calm her. My neighbor came to help and Bailey and I ran to the nearby pharmacy to get a bottle, baby shampoo, and diapers. We came home and asked if it was possible to give her a bath and were told yes. They wanted to know if there was some wound they couldn't see in her hair or something--she was covered in blood and it was dried on.

By the time the whole thing was finished, about 4 hours later, we were still in total shock. What happened? Why did this happen? It was a very emotional evening for our family and our kids were a little bit shaken up. It was a tough night for sleeping.

We have since found out that the young man was very depressed, he was in an attempted robbery about 9 months ago (someone attempted to rob him while he was working) and was shot. As a result, he was paralyzed from the waist down. I can understand his depression. It would be hard to deal with that when you are as young as he was and face your entire life in that situation. The woman was his ex-girlfriend and the baby was his. He was angry about the failure of the relationship.

It made me realize that whenever I have seen him around he seemed, on the outside, to be doing okay. I mean, he didn't seem as angry or depressed as he obviously was. Could I have reached out to my neighbor more? Would it have mattered? I don't know. I can't beat myself up about what is past, but, I can change the future. It makes me more determined to be compassionate, open to the Holy Spirit leading me to speak to people, open to really taking time to find out about people and reach out to them.

It's so easy to go about my busy day and life and not really take the time. How many people do we know who could use encouragement? And, really, how hard is it to encourage someone?

This young man had people in his life helping him and encouraging him and working with him. People who loved him. He was unable to receive it. It's important to not only be givers but receivers. We have to allow people to give encouragement to us and love on us. It's just as important as being someone who helps and encourages others. Maybe more.

In an update--the young woman died this past Saturday. She lived for 3 days after the attack. The baby is fine and living with her mom's family in the City. Please pray for her.

Sad and happy.

2011-01-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning when Mark and I went to the street to check on our people, we found Mauel de Jesus, one of the men we had been checking on and concerned about, dead. Mark went and got the first responders while I sat with his girlfriend, Sonja, and comforted her. It was sad. We waited for them to come and investigate and then went to the morgue with one of the guys to find out what can be done about burial.

That night, Mark, Carlos (a good friend of ours), Alicia, Bailey, and I went to where they stay and had a memorial service for him. I made food and Mark and Carlos shared from the Bible Ps. 23. We prayed with 8 people to receive Christ! Then Carlos played music and led them in worship and praise while we prayed with others and did the medical things we've been doing for them.

They asked Mark and Carlos to come back and do Bible Study with them, so they are starting to plan once a week or so to go back and do praise and worship with them as well as Bible study.

Please pray as we begin this new phase of street church (something we've been wanting to do for a while!) that God would lead us. Also, pray for Sonja as she mourns Manuel's death.

Teen Challenge

2011-01-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

Last Monday, we brought another man to a great Christian rehab in Guatemala City. Jaimie went into Teen Challenge and we are so thankful that he is taking the opportunity to grab hold of God's freedom for his life! Keep him in prayers!

Charlie, the man we brought to another Christian rehab in November, is doing amazing! We are so proud of him and his determination to stick with it even when it gets tough. He is growing in his relationship with the Lord and understanding freedom from alcohol and drugs.

Keep both Jaimie and Charlie in your prayers.

Where do I begin?

2011-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

I'm in awe of all the things that have been happening lately. It seems that all we have to do is talk about a dream or an idea and before we know it, it's reality. We haven't even had to pray before it's already answered! It's like God can't wait!!!

The first thing is our bus. Back in November Mark and I were talking about how great it would be if someday we could buy a minibus and renovate it into something to use for our homeless ministry and street evangelism. We talked about being able to cook on it, having a place for medical work (something that has come up a lot recently in our homeless ministry), and Mark even joked that it wouldn't be complete without a screen to show Christian movies like the Jesus film! We also wanted plenty of room to bring sound equipment and a place to store Christian literature to give away.

Just 2 weeks ago, we brought it home! We are in shock still!!!!

We started thinking about what to do to make it more streamlined for what we needed (neither of us are very mechanically inclined) and that we should start praying for someone to help us out with that when our friend Rusty Johnson showed up! Rusty just spent time last year gutting an RV and renovating it for he and his wife to use for traveling and ministry. He was looking for a project and we were looking for someone with skills to help us with it all! God is so awesome!!!

Next, we were talking about how we needed to get some medical supplies when someone from our church asked us if we ever needed medical supplies. I said we did and they gave us 3 boxes of left over supplies from a missions team! And wouldn't you know, it had just about everything we had listed as potential needs for the bus!

Then we were talking about how we needed to have someone look at our engine and do some body work on it. We have a potential trip coming up and Mark wanted to make sure all was in good condition. Mark was talking with a guy at church yesterday about it all to see if he knew someone who could help. Here's the funny part: HE'S WORKED ON THIS BUS BEFORE! He knows everything about it! He remembers all they've done to it in the last year and is able to get it all going well.

How great is God? He answers before we even ask!

"God has sent you to me"

2011-01-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

These are the words we heard from Victoria while Alicia was helping to clean her wound on her leg.

We first met Victoria about 6 months ago. I don't think I've ever met a more bitter and angry person. She told us that she didn't believe in God since her husband, mother, and sister all died within a few months of each other. She has been living on the streets, drinking rubbing alcohol for a while. She's so hardened.

We kept running into Victoria and even sang "Happy Birthday" to her on her birthday a few weeks ago while we were delivering soup. She smiled! It was good to see.

Victoria fell and hurt her leg badly about 2 weeks ago. She went to the hospital and got some stitches put in, but, she has been fighting a horrible infection for that long. Her leg was in bad shape. We've been going 2 times a day to the area where she lives (basically a dirt pile) to clean it, bandage it, and give her antibiotics. While we've been doing that, we've been seeing her soften. She greets us with a smile. She tells us thank you.

One evening while Alicia was cleaning it and putting on a new bandage, she said to Alicia, "I know now that God is real because He has sent you to me to take care of me." It made us all choke up to hear her say that. It was such a big step!

Mark and I went today to talk with her son--who is a doctor--to find out if he can make sure that there isn't more that needs to be done with her leg. She wants to get off the street and deal with her alcoholism. We told him that there is a program for her, but, she needs to be willing to do it for one year. He's going to talk with her today. Pray that she takes advantage of it!

The Way Things Often Work

2011-01-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

One thing you can count on is that you can't really count on anything happening the way you would expect it to! In the last few weeks we have seen this truth lived out in our lives in a way we would never have expected.

Many of you remember that in November of 2009 we started a ministry to the homeless in Antigua and called it "Soup Run". It was kind of born out of frustration a little--I'm just being honest. We had been noticing a LOT of people in the streets just passed out drunk. It was frustrating to try to help them and have absolutely nothing work. We tried even buying them food from a tienda (store) and had seen at least one of them return the food for the money. So, we decided that if we made something and brought it to them they wouldn't be able to return it. We could also start to build relationships with these people and try to minister to their needs.

How could we know that this would become something so big in our lives? It never started out that way.

We have been doing soup run now for over a year and we feed roughly 50 people a week with it. It's also become a medical situation because of many injuries and sicknesses that the homeless suffer. We've been dispensing antibiotics (if they have a doctor's prescription), tylenol for pain, bandaging wounds, cleaning sores, and trying to fight off infection in many instances.

All of this has helped us to build relationships with these people. This morning, while we were cleaning some wounds and replacing bandages, they told us that they pray for us and our family every morning. They also spend time every morning reading the New Testament we were able to bring them and discussing it before they head off for their day. Many of them work--surprising, but, true. They don't make enough to afford a house or apartment, so they live on the street.

We've talked about Charlie in the past. He is doing well, living in rehab and getting his life straightened out. There is another man, Kuka, who wants to go to rehab and we will be taking him to Teen Challenge on Monday. These are lives who are coming off the streets and learning to walk in faith and allowing God to heal them. It's exciting to see.

Tomorrow, we are picking up the ministry bus that will help us to be more effective and serve more people. It's a mini bus that has been renovated into a functioning clinic with room for a small kitchen area to make food and a movie screen to show Christian videos. We were blessed by friends with the money to purchase the bus, insure it, and money to keep it running for one year! God is so good!

We have the opportunity to use this bus in other areas around our valley to minister to more homeless and needy people. There is so much need! We will be needing support to keep it stocked with the equipment we need to meet those needs--medical supplies, food, clothing, material needs, evangelistic materials (bibles, tracts, videos...).

Will you pray about partnering with us?

My Week in Haiti

2010-12-11T15:55:00.001-08:00

   God is moving in the devastated country of Haiti! I just returned from a week-long trip there to assist our YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) as they were finishing their 2 month outreach in that country. I didn’t visit the areas that were most affected by the earthquake nearly a year ago. Instead, while I was there our team focused our attention on the souls of the people who have been kept in darkness by the lack of truth, Catholicism and voodoo. We were located just to the east of Port au Prince.
   On my first night there we did an open-air service to the light of one florescent bulb. Our DTS students did a couple of dramas and then we projected an abbreviated version of the Jesus film, about an hour long, onto a white sheet while the Haitians stood and watched the life of the Savior unfold in their own Creole language. We worked with a local pastor named Jacques, who translated for our team. Before I arrived our group helped him to start a new church that met outdoors next to an above-ground tomb. I preached there on a Sunday Morning and at a different church in the evening. The message in my heart was about identity and telling the Haitian believers that they can do great things for God. At Jacques’ new church they strung up some tarps to block the sun and put some boards across some cement blocks for seats.
   We were hosted by a ministry called Reach Haiti. The leaders, Mike & Andrea Brewer have an orphanage where we spent time playing with the kids who climbed on me like I was jungle gym! One little girl named Lovely made me a bracelet of yarn and beads. Another little girl had just been rescued a year ago from nearly starving to death. We also did some kids ministry outside of the orphanage, a kids program with music and a Bible story acted out by our students and some Haitian kids.
   On one evening we decided to do a program in what looked like a garbage dump! We started with some dramas and then I preached about how God’s Light overpowers the darkness. A group of people prayed afterwards to receive the gift of eternal life. Then we showed the Jesus film again. We had no problem attracting a crowd wherever we set up to do our program. It was good to see our students preaching and sharing the gospel in different situations. They did a great job.
   One morning Mike asked our base leader Bruce and I if we wanted to teach at a Bible school that morning. So maybe an hour later I was scrambling through my notes looking for a message to share. I ended up teaching on the need for evangelism. I shared about how, like Jonah, if we run from the call of God to preach the gospel we will be swallowed by a “fish”. If we don’t become fishers of men, then the culture we were supposed to reach will swallow us up and digest us until we become part of that culture- dead and religious.
   The DTS team returned to Guatemala a day or so before I did. When I was at the airport waiting for my flight back to Guatemala I got to share the gospel with a man. Then I gave him gospel tract, not intending to ask him then and there to make a decision for Christ. But a few minutes later he brought up the fact that he was ready to give his life to Jesus! So we prayed together. I may never see him again in this life, but I’m thankful for the privilege of pointing him to the Lord. And I’m also grateful for the short time I had in Haiti.
   When I got home I hit the ground running as our YWAM base just received a team from Montana that is doing their 2 month outreach here in Guatemala. And the story goes on…

Hitting the Streets--an update

2010-11-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

We have been privileged for the past year (one year this week) to do a ministry called "Soup Run". Basically, I (Dayle) make a huge pot of some kind of soup (usually chicken and rice) and we put it into the back of our car with some cups, hot tortillas, and water and drive around Antigua. When we find someone sleeping on the street, in the dump, or under some kind of shelter we stop and offer them soup and food. We pray with them, offer them a jacket if we happen to have some that night (it does get pretty cold when you're over 5,000 ft. up), and sometimes just listen to their story. They all have one.

Many times we are asked why we don't have pictures of our soup run people. It's understandable that people would want to see what we are doing and how this all works. But, we don't take pictures of this ministry. Why?

We live in a tourist area. Many thousands of foreigners (some here on short-term missions trips) come down here and photograph literally everything. We are used to seeing it. We also are used to seeing them take pictures of what they are doing here (which is good) so they can show it to people back home and keep as memories. All good things!

We don't want our street friends to feel like a "project". They are already ashamed of their situation. They are already as low as a human being can be--sleeping and eating in a dump is lower than low for sure. We don't want to make them feel as though they are being used for some greater gain on our part. I wouldn't want to be photographed in that situation, I don't think you would either. Even though they aren't always aware of what is going on around them (sniffing glue and drinking rubbing alcohol will do that to you) they are sensitive. I have had women apologize to me for the way they smell. They know it's not normal to not bathe regularly. We never want them to feel as though they are on display.

Mark and I are working on a way to maybe start some kind of a sponsorship program and then, with their permission, we will take their photo so you know who you are sponsoring and who you are praying for. We are wanting to be sensitive to their situation. I know you all understand!

We are excited about some great news! Charlie is a man we met early on in soup run. He was adopted to the US when he was a baby and grew up there but returned several years ago to Guatemala. He wound up on the streets of Antigua. The first time I remember meeting Charlie, Mark and Christopher were trying to move him from the street to the homeless shelter and he was so drunk that he couldn't do it without a lot of help!

2 weeks ago we ran into him in the market where Mark and I were buying jackets for the street people. He looked at us and said that he was ready to change his life. He knew he couldn't do it on his own and needed help. He was addicted to alcohol (at that time he was drinking 3-4 bottles of rubbing alcohol about 6 times a day) and needed help.

Mark and I took him into the City the next day where he willingly entered "Hogar de la Roca" Youth Challenge. When we left him, we weren't sure what was going to happen, but, we prayed that God would be with him. The next morning Mark received a phone call from the center saying to pray for Charlie because he was really having a hard time coming off of the alcohol. They had never seen worse. He was hallucinating and had 2 seizures. This was on a Friday. By Monday they were thinking he needed to go to the hospital because they weren't sure if it was just the alcohol or also a mental issue because he was so bad. They were going to give him one more night. We prayed. We had a lot of people pray.

The next morning, Mark called and was told that he had a relatively peaceful night and that he was doing considerably better. The following Sunday, we attended the service at the center and saw Charlie. We couldn't believe it! We almost didn't recognize him, he looked so good. So peaceful and at rest within himself.

He's doing so well, but, he has a long road ahead. Please pray for Charlie. He has a whole year ahead of him. We are excited to see what God has for him!

Here's Charlie's story: http://guatemalaresponse.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-11-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2010-12-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=5

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin? What am I thankful for? Here's a little list of what I praise God for in my life!

1. Grace and mercy

2. My wonderful family and friends

3. The fact that God knows what's best for us and brought us to Guatemala.

4. The privilege of serving the street people that we meet.

There they are. Generic, but, simple and to the point.

--Dayle

Anniversary!

2010-11-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

5 years ago today we arrived, bag and baggage, at the Guatemala City airport intending to stay for one year. It was the first time the kids had been on an airplane. It was the first time I seriously questioned whether or not God really knew what He was doing. I remember feeling so overwhelmed it was like I was in a daze. All I kept thinking was, "One year, Dayle, you can do it for one year." And that made me feel so comforted.

I didn't expect to ever feel like I was at home here in Guatemala. I kept thinking of Minnesota as home. I kept holding on to the fact that I was only here for one year so I didn't need to get attached. I didn't need to really learn the language. I didn't need to figure out the open air market. It was all too much, so I didn't think about it.

Until God showed us that we were here until He moved us. Whenever that would be.

So I started looking at places to live and found the home we have been in for 4 1/2 years. I started making an effort to learn Spanish. I started to make a big effort to learn how to shop the open air market for my family. I started to not get so nervous about my kids when they would get sick (we live here, parasites are sometimes part of the fun!). And I found myself slowly loving what I had been given.

I'm so thankful that God knows so much better than I what exactly I need for my life. I'm so thankful that He sees my desires before I even know them myself! How could I know that in just 5 short years Guatemala would feel so much like home that the thought of leaving, even for a short time, makes me just stressed out! The thought of not doing soup run or seeing my friends at church or the kids at the base or the DTS students who come and go would make me so sad? The thought of waking up and not seeing the beautiful valley we live in surrounded by the gorgeous and majestic volcanoes is unthinkable to me now.

How could I know that I would compare the market with the grocery stores back in MN and the market would win?! I never guessed that throwing the toilet paper in the garbage next to the toilet instead of flushing it would become so second nature to me and normal that on the few occasions that we do visit the US and can flush, we forget! And, I love driving here in a passive-agressive sort of way! I love my street Spanish! And the thought of not kicking off the Christmas season with the burning of the devil and then walking to Central Park to see all the Christmas lights is unthinkable.

At this point, Christopher has lived most of his growing up years here. Bailey's memories of MN are good, but, her memories of Guatemala are shaping her. Alicia wants to make this her home. What kind of people will this experience make them? I can't wait to find out.

I love Minnesota and it will always be "home". But, I'm grateful that there is place in our hearts for more than one "home". I'm thankful that Guatemala has become home to us and the people here are like family.

Who knew?

--Dayle

Updates on all our Stuff!

2010-10-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

It has been one crazy time in Casa de Annand! We have enjoyed the DTS (discipleship training school) students being here since the end of July. 4 of those students were from the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala. Spanish was actually their second language since their families are indigenous. They were awesome! We also had 3 students from the USA who were a blessing to us and our kids--our kids miss them now that they are all in Haiti on outreach! It was a lot of fun to have them over for dinners, game nights, movies, whatever. We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with people like that. Truly a blessing for our family.

There have also been some changes as far as our home schooling journey goes. As many of you know, it's been a lot of years of praying for friends for our kids. We had some friends, many who lived far enough away that we couldn't get there on a regular basis for one reason or another. It's been a lonely time sometimes! But, this past spring several new families moved into our area with kids our kids' ages! So awesome! Since they are all homeschoolers as well, we decided to start a learning co-op. So now, on Thursdays, we do art, music, and science at our co-op in our church building here in Antigua. We have 12 families and about 23 kids! It's just a huge amount of fun and a great ministry to missionary kids and their families.

Since then, we've had movie nights, dinners, parties for the kids in the co-op to get together outside of Thursdays. Also, our church now has a youth group and we are so thankful! So many opportunities opened up in the past few months for our kids to have friends and activities that are so important!

We are so thankful to be living in Antigua doing what we do. Even though there are a lot of daily challenges, we wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

New things that are coming up is Mark's potential trip to Haiti to meet up with our students while they are on outreach. We are hoping to raise another $1300 to help pay for the trip. Please pray! We need to have the money raised in the next few weeks as he is hoping to be gone by Thanksgiving for 2 weeks of ministry and outreach into Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It's not a cheap trip!

We also are still plugging away at raising money for our car. We want to get it completely paid off by the end of December. We don't know what we'd do without our vehicle, it's become really important because of soup run, and so many other ministries that we do. It's also going to hopefully allow Mark and a team of other guys to do more outreaches into outlying communities coming up next year. More on that later!

Soup run is going well. We continue to go out once a week and hand out food to between 30-40 people on the streets of Antigua. During that time, we can also pray with them and minister to them. Through this ministry we met Jason, a 16-year-old boy who lives on the street and is addicted to glue. We have found a place that is willing to take him despite is addiction and help to rehabilitate him--Teen Challenge in Guatemala City. Jason and Mark visited last week and after filling out all the paper work and touring the facility, Jason got scared and decided not to go in. Mark had to bring him back to Antigua and drop him off on the streets again. Please pray that Jason stays safe until he gets the help he needs.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We couldn't continue to do what we do in Guatemala if it wasn't for the faithfulness of all who believe in what we are doing and support us! You are a blessing to us!

Rescue Mission

2010-10-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

It was one of the most inspiring news stories I’ve ever seen: 33 miners from Chile were recently rescued after being buried alive for over 2 months nearly ½ mile underground! During the first 17 days of their nightmare they had no communication with the outside world and they had almost nothing to eat. A team of people finally discovered them and then worked to get them supplies and drill a hole to rescue them. Rescue workers were sent down to the miners and all 33 were pulled up one-by-one in an escape pod barely big enough for them to stand in. The rescued miners were embraced by friends and family and surrounded by a crowd of cheering people. Finally, the rescue workers were brought up as well. There are some things about this story that parallel our experience as Christians:

1) We were also rescued from a dark pit.
We were lost in our darkness until the light of the Gospel came to us.

2) Now we are the first-responders sent to rescue those who are still in the darkness.
We are the only preachers God has.
Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
without a preacher?”

3) There was only one way for the miners to be rescued- through a very narrow passage. For us there is only one narrow way to salvation also, through Jesus Christ.
Mat 7:14 “…strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it.”
Joh 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

4) Those being rescued couldn’t do anything to save themselves. All they could do was get into the pod and trust it to carry them to the surface. All we can do is trust Jesus to raise us up from darkness to light. We can’t do any work to contribute to our own salvation.

5) The rescuers worked as a team, each having their part to play. Each of us in the
church have a part to play in the rescue of lost souls. Some preach, some provide
support to the preachers, but all need to consciously work toward the same goal. Ultimately it’s
only Jesus who saves people. But he chooses to use us to preach the good news to others so that
they can accept or reject His salvation. We don’t save anyone. We “rescue” people by pointing
them to the only way of being rescued.

6) Each saved miner was celebrated.
Luk 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.”

7) The rescuers needed to be rescued too. As a believer, we too face dark times. Sometimes it’s because of disobedience (like Jonah running from the call of God to preach). Sometimes the darkness comes as a test while we are actually obeying the Lord. Either way, we need to trust our lives to the same Jesus Christ that the sinner does. Maybe God gives us dark times to help us remember the hopelessness of people without Jesus.

We’re here on a rescue mission!
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
It only makes sense that we would have the same mission as our Master. Have you been
seeking those who need to be rescued from the darkness? There are MORE than 33
trapped people waiting for you this time!

-Mark

Family Stuff!

2010-09-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here we are in September and all I can say is, "Where did the summer go?" All those wonderful plans we had--what happened to those!

Here are some things that happened this summer:

Hurricane Agatha

We have a lot of things on here about our ministry after the hurricane. This has been a bad rainy season! The worst in years. The result has been mudslides, washed out roads and bridges, injuries, and even death. Please pray for Guatemala as they dig out of it all.

Alicia turned 16! We had an '80s birthday party for her and it was so much fun!

Alicia's party

I just doesn't seem possible! But, she's 16 and in about a year and a half, she'll be graduating from high school and heading out on her own. Pray for her parents!!!!! Pray for God's direction for Alicia and that she would clearly hear His voice.

Then there was the usual--Alicia had surgery, Christopher broke his arm, immigration stuff--God was faithful in every situation and we are so blessed!

Now, something new! Anyone who knows me, knows how passionate I am about our kids! I love our kids! I love teaching them and watching them grow and learn. They have been blessed recently with great missionary friends who are the same ages as them and are also being homeschooled. So great and a huge answer to prayer for us! In response to this, we've started a learning co-op at our church here in Antigua where they learn science, music, art, and mayan weaving. They also get to hang out with friends and build relationships. So important! Here are some pictures of our first day of ministry to missionary kids and moms!

Such a great opportunity! Our kids are blessed and so is our family!

God Wins Again- satan Loses. Ha Ha

2010-07-12T13:43:00.001-07:00

On June 18th and 19th some friends and I went to a small town in Guatemala where I was scheduled to teach an evangelism seminar at a church. Unfortunately, the day we arrived someone from the church died. But the seminar wasn’t cancelled, so we moved forward even though things were a little awkward. The distractions that followed made things even more interesting: A bunch of kids showed up for a kids club before the seminar, and we were asked at the last minute to provide the program- so we came up with something. I expected more teens at the seminar, but it turned out to be a mixed crowd that included kids. Those who showed up didn’t seem very excited about the teaching, but it was hard to tell what they were thinking- were they mourning the one who had just died, was it a cultural shyness, were they bored? To make matters more difficult we had to translate a lot of the seminar into 2 different languages which made the teaching a lot longer than usual- I had to abbreviate things quite a bit. Then the power went out briefly during the teaching and we couldn’t get the sound to work for one of the videos I wanted to show. Because of the funeral and the cultural thing of not starting on time the next days classes were shortened from 5 hours to 3 hours. It was a little discouraging.
But, you see, God always has a winning strategy even though it may include some hardships and setbacks. A group of kids at the kids club prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts. Maybe that was the main reason we were there! A girl at the seminar prayed to get right with God too. Yep- it was worth it all. Also, the pastor’s son seemed excited about the teaching, and I have a feeling that he’s going to really use what he received to do some great things where he’s at. So, sorry satan, you lose. God wins. Again.

Photos of the disaster

2010-06-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Disaster

2010-06-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

There aren't words to describe the amount of destruction that is in Guatemala right now. Many bridges linking remote areas to the rest of Guatemala have been washed out and destroyed making it difficult to get help to people. Many roads have been washed out. There is a giant sinkhole in Guatemala City that swallowed a 3-story building and you can even see the building anywhere in the picture of that hole. There is mud in the village nearby where our base is from the top of the village and covering the highway below--maybe 1/2 mile or so?

Our village is in a lot of need. Boulders, trees, and mud washed through it like a river taking out houses and businesses in it's path. It's an incredible sight. Reports are that there are over 170 people dead, 175,000 people homeless, and many still missing in Guatemala (average numbers since the papers all differ a little).

Mark and I have been busy since Sunday helping where we can. The first big need was water so our base was able to provide 55 gallons of water. There was a need for food for the church that has been made into a shelter for those who have been affected by the storm and our church here provided pounds of rice and beans for them to cook. Mark dug for 2 mornings trying to help get mud out of some of the houses. Mark and I were able to buy food for some families who are in need of it and get it to them. We saw a need for something for the kids to do who are in the shelter, so we've been doing a kid's club in the afternoons for about 70 kids. Then there's just networking other ministries here who can meet the needs with the people in San Miguel who have the needs.

It's been a big week. A few people have asked, "What can we do to help?" I know the first thing people want to do is send stuff down, that's not a good idea! Really, it might not get to us and if it does, we have to pay to get it from the post office--counter productive. What is needed right now is money to buy the things that are needed and to start helping with the rebuilding that is going to be happening.

Please continue to pray for us and for those affected by the storm. We will update as we are able.

Whirlwind Weeks!

2010-05-26T06:12:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy whirlwind in our house lately. I don't know how else to describe it! Not only have we been wrapping up the school year, but, we have had teams and ministry commitments that have kept us hopping. Sometimes it amazes me how hard it is to keep things from spinning out of control! But, it's been a good time in our house lately for many reasons: 1) Looking forward to a little break from the school routine, which we all need. 2) The ministry is really stepping up and doing well. 3) The kids are growing and we're trying to keep the social calendar to a dull roar!

But, one of the biggest changes we had during these 2 weeks was a temporary addition to our family in the form of a little boy named Clinton who was placed with us from the emergency courts here in Antigua from the streets. We met Clinton through our soup ministry around Easter time here. He was living with a group of homeless people in an area of Antigua called "La Polvera" (basically the vacant lot). He did have parents or anyone with him, he was by himself, working when he could in the market selling toothbrushes and toothpaste.

We were concerned about him, understandably, and spent a few weeks trying to find out his story. What concerned us the most was when we found him starting to sniff glue. Glue is a huge issue here in Guatemala (it's a cheap drug), and few people understand the danger. It really is more dangerous than a lot of street drugs. Mark and I knew we had to act quickly. We had a lawyer who attends our church find out about the system for getting a child off the street and started that process.

After sitting with Clinton at the courthouse for 4 hours, we were told by the judge that they had made at least 15-20 phone calls to orphanages in the area and none of them would take him. The choice at that point was to return him to the street until they could find something or taking him home with us. It was a clear choice. At about 1:30 am, we were sitting in the back of a police truck driving back to our house with Clinton.

Now began 2 weeks of total change for a little guy who had been on the street for a while. Taking a hot shower was something fun for him and we couldn't get him out! He just loved the clean feeling. Brushing his teeth regularly was also something he liked. Waking up and knowing he'll have 3 meals and play time with kids was new. Watching kids do school work was interesting to him--he'd never been to school. Just family life in general was a lot of fun for him to experience.

We had just watched the movie "The Blind Side" and I remember the scene where they are having Thanksgiving dinner and they all take their plates into the family room to watch TV and Michael Oher takes his into the dining room and sits there and starts to eat. That happened with us! I remember all of us dishing up our dinner and heading into the living room (we were used to this since we hadn't had a dining room table for a while) and Clinton sat at the dining room table and started eating. We all gathered up our stuff and sat with him and enjoyed sitting around a table together.

So many things we take for granted.

Clinton is now in Casa Shalom, happily living with 5 other boys in a house with his house dad. He's in school, attending church and chapel, getting 3 meals a day, sleeping out of the rain, playing soccer and basketball, working with chickens and having fun. He's happy! We're so blessed to see him be able to make something of himself and have opportunities to grow and learn. God is good!

Odds and Ends

2010-04-27T12:25:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I felt like I had much to say that would require an actual blog. I say a lot, but, it isn't always life-changing, earth-rattling, or even important! But, I have a few things on my mind and heart that I would love to share!

When we first moved to Antigua, I had a lot of difficulties with a few different things. I missed my family and friends, I missed cleanliness (you can't imagine), I missed the orderly way that things are usually done back home, I missed being completely understood when I talked, I missed so much! I wondered if I would ever feel like this was home. God is so good, because He has made this feel as though I'm home. We have a wonderful life here. I love my family, my church, my friends, my home, our ministry, my routine, and learning Spanish and laughing at the mistakes I make. I still miss some things, but, I don't LONG for them as I used to.

I enjoy the market. When I go to the US, it's fun to shop in a big superstore with everything clearly marked (so everyone pays the same!) and organized. It's fun to get around with my big shopping cart in spacious aisles that are free from debris and stacks of boxes. It's fun to find bargains and marvel at how cheap butter, milk, cheese, bread, and meat is compared to Guatemala. It's fun to find ice cream in our favorite flavors and candy we can't get here. But, after a week or two, I find myself longing to bite into a piece of fruit that is actually ripe and ready to eat when I buy it, or buy the freshest of fresh veggies to prepare for my family. I miss the taste of the beef and chicken here (it is different!). I long for "home".

This past week, our family lost someone irrepalceable in our lives, my Unlce Rod. He was someone who poured out his life for others, including us. He mentored my husband and worked with us as we were just starting out into ministry. He performed our wedding. He was there when Alicia was born and didn't at all mind when she threw up in his hair just before he had to do Bible Study on a Wednesday night! He was a wonderful man of God and an example to so many. I'm so grateful that I had him in my life.

It was tough being here when I wanted to be home with my family and comfort my dad and see everyone and celebrate his life. But, then I realized, the best way I could celebrate his life is by staying here and doing what he did. Pouring my life into others. So, in honor of him, that's what I will vow to do. I think about how he's looking down on Guatemala and seeing us right now and I wonder what he thinks? I hope he's blessed to see the fruit of what he poured into us. I hope we are worthy of not only his time, but, the time of so many others who have given so much for us to do what God has called us to do.

You all are special to us. We couldn't do what we do unless you were faithful to pray and give so that we could be here. It's a wonderful thing to be so blessed with so many incredible people. I hope we are always mindful of that and strive to make it count.

How?

2010-04-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

“…how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14
It’s still good ol’ fashioned preaching that God uses to save souls, so since the beginning of October we have done some evangelistic programs in the streets and in a homeless shelter. A group of friends helped us out as we did dramas to draw crowds and then the preaching. Alicia and Bailey were a part of the outreach dramas and Christopher helped by translating the preaching.
On February 13th a couple of people responded to the altar call at the homeless shelter. Then that evening when we did a program in the street in Antigua about 8 people responded to the altar call. A week later we did a program in the street in San Miguel Escobar. A small group of youth responded to the call for salvation that night. Then a week after that we did a program near the market in Antigua. I talked to the crowd about how Jesus said that we need to eat His flesh and drink His blood. No one responded to that altar call that day, but when Jesus Himself preached that same message in John 6 there seemed to be a negative response as well, so I didn’t feel so bad.
During holy week a group of us went to the streets to preach. About 8 people prayed for salvation that night. My friend Dave got to street preach in Spanish for the first time. He and I got some big crowds with a light-show illusion, and then we would share the gospel.
God has provided opportunities “in season” and “out of season” to preach. On March 5th our family was in Mexico to renew our visas and I had shown an optical illusion to a group from a soccer team who was staying at the hotel we were at. Well, about 12 of them showed up at our door to ask to see another trick. So I showed them one and then preached to them, and some of them prayed there to receive Christ also!

The Whole Man

2010-04-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months we feel that God has been leading us to minister to not only the spiritual needs of people (with evangelism and kids ministry, etc.) but also to their physical needs. The spiritual needs are by far the most critical because they are eternal, but meeting physical needs can open even more doors in people’s hearts to accept the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. We’ve been going out once a week to give soup or sandwiches to homeless and/or poor people in Antigua. In one night we can give away 40 sandwiches or more! One of our favorite spots to give food is behind the market where a group of people sleep out in the open, surrounded by garbage and a bunch of dogs.
Another “whole-man” ministry we were a part of was an evangelistic medical clinic in the community of Pastores on March 8th-12th. Dayle helped to cook meals for the medical workers and the kids and I were part of a drama team that shared the gospel with the people at and around the clinic. During the week of the clinic Alicia and Bailey and Christopher helped with language translation- the girls for the medical team and Christopher for the preaching. The team saw over 1100 patients and we figure that about 100 people prayed to receive Jesus as their savior!
On the first day of the clinic about 300 youth came to the clinic as one big group. They came walking toward the clinic wearing their white shirts- their school uniforms. I told our team that the fields were white to harvest, like Jesus had said in John 4:35. Because the clinic couldn’t handle such a huge crowd they had nothing better to do than to come and see our dramas (if they had come an our or two earlier we wouldn’t have been ready for them). So they watched our program, listened to the preaching and a group of them prayed to ask the Lord for salvation! If you would like to see a video of the clinic outreach go to iglesiadelcaminogt.com and look at the video posted under “Recent Activities”.

2010-03-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

The team saw over 1,100 people in seven different locations during the week-long outreach. About 100 people prayed with the evangelistic team. And many lives were touched and changed. Thanks for all the prayers!

Medical Outreach

2010-03-10T05:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy week! Our church here, Iglesia del Camino, is hosting a team of nursing students from Sacred Heart University to do a medical outreach into a neighboring community--Pastores. We've been helping out as a family to provide evangelism, helping with the kids, translation, cooking, and just helping where we can! It's been a lot of work, but, we are loving it. Here's some photos from the week we're having!

Market ministry

2010-03-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Another Saturday, another outreach!

We took the team out to the market here in Anitgua during an afternoon on market day. After getting permission from the police there to do a drama and for Mark to share the gospel, they did the drama "King of Hearts" and then Mark preached while Christopher translated. Mark doesn't necessarily need a translator, but, he wants Christopher to be comfortable with translating. Christopher does a great job!

One of my favorite things to do!

2010-02-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

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?!

2010-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

Our team in Tikal.

2009-12-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

King of Hearts drama

2009-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Sharing the gospel in the classroom.

2009-12-21T12:35:00.000-08:00

Clearing a path!

2009-12-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Please pray for Gilbert (left) and Maggie (right) who prayed with us to accept Christ.

Island Ministry

2009-12-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a couple of weeks of outreach in Ambergris Caye, an island off the coast of Belize. Our YWAM team was on our outreach phase of the Discipleship Training School, and we were hosted in Belize by another YWAM base. Here are some ministry highlights:

-As we were entering the country an officer asked for some of my gospel tracts to pass out to others!

-As a ministry to the community our team picked up garbage along the beach and cut brush along a couple of roads to make a wider path for bikes and vehicles.

-We did ministry in a very poor neighborhood one day. It looked like a garbage dump, but the people are apparently using the garbage as landfill. A few of us talked to a lady there who was sitting on her porch. Her and her x-husband ended up praying with us to receive Christ!

-Our team did a couple of services at a carpenter shop. The owners are trying to share Jesus with their workers. We got to help by sharing dramas, testimonies and teachings. We also got to do some dramas and testimonies in a couple of churches on the island.

-I got to do some open air preaching along the beach. I used some illusions to draw a crowd and then I shared the gospel with them. A few of the kids who were in the crowd prayed with me to accept Christ. I also got to lead a few men to the Lord on a couple of other days.

-We did a series of programs in different classrooms at an Anglican school. Our base leader thought there may have been about 50 students that prayed with us to accept Christ during those 3 days of classes!

-After our time on the island we stopped to visit the Myan pyramids of Tikal. I was thoroughly unimpressed. I thought about the waste of human potential- piling up a bunch of rocks when they could have been loving Jesus and loving people instead. God, save us from wasting our lives on things that are going to crumble. Help us to build for eterninty!!!

-On the 16th I came home to 4 smiling faces and 2 wagging tails. Yep, life is good.

Time of Refreshing!

2009-09-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a wonderful time of refreshing in Minnesota visiting our friends and family! It was such an amazing time, thanks to all who made it possible for us to really just unwind. You are so special to us, you'll just never know.

We were able to meet 2 new nephews! And, can I just say that the Annands make incredibly beautiful babies?! Really!!!! Congratulations to Mark's sister Robyn and her husband Patrick on their beautiful son, Joshua. We're also so glad to have been there for the birth of Matt and Katie's son, Max. What a blessing for us to be able to connect with new family members!

God is so good! I want to encourage you all to do what we've made a point of doing for our family--take a day to just rest, enjoy your family, and reflect on God's goodness. It's so important, especially now as things become so crazy in our world. We need to stay grounded in the things that are important. Spend some time of refreshing yourself!

What God has done!

2009-06-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

It's so good to sit from time to time and look back on all that has happened. I try to do that in June so I can see the first part of the year and evaluate where we are. Did we get as far as we needed to in school? How are the kids doing? Are we meeting our goals as a family and, if not, what can we do to make room for new goals or to make our goals happen? Are we spending our time and resources wisely?

These are things I think about. Here's a 6-month evaluation:

Ministry since January 1, 2009

We have hosted and planned for several teams.
We have completed our new theme for Kid's Club on the Armor of God and the Fruits of the Spirit.
The girls have been helping teams at a malnutrition center.
We have continued to be active in our church.
Mark has been active in street ministry here in Antigua.
We've taken part in training sessions here in Antigua and Mark has taught at a conference at the Lake.
We've started building relationships with some young men here in hopes of beginning a youth minsitry in Antigua.
We've survived our 4th Semana Santa (Holy Week)! No small feat, I can tell you!

Family stuff

We have more than half completed our school year already! (we school year-round)
The kids have had a lot of opportunities to translate and use their Spanish.
We have been able to spend the beginning of the year seeking God for His direction for our family.
God has provided miraculously for our family and our visa situation.
Our family has been able to bless a couple of Guatemalan families and meet some needs they had.

Goals for the rest of the year.

We are needing a new car. Our car has just died--it was bound to happen! Mark has opportunities to go to rural churches and train the people, but, until we get a new, reliable vehicle, it can't happen. Hopefully we'll have a new one by the end of the year.

We need to finish our school year. Alicia will be in 10th grade! I can't believe it.

We need to take some time off. We need at least a month off to refresh.

We would like to do some more training sessions in evangelism and outreach and do more work with the youth in Antigua.

God is so good! We are feeling like we are right where we need to be and things are happening. We'll keep updating what's been going on as it happens!

Dayle

Small World

2009-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

I’m in Guatemala sitting at the computer that we use to listen to the radio station from back home in Minnesota. Technology has made the world smaller. Imagine being a missionary to Guatemala 50 years ago. You may not have seen your family back home for years at a time, and you may have had to rely on letters to communicate. These days you can leave for the mission field one day and see your family on a video phone the next day. Hop on a plane and you’re back home after a couple of in-flight movies. Right now if I wanted to I could probably share the gospel with someone who’s sitting at his computer in... Germany! Amazing! Through email you can pass out virtual gospel tracts to people in many states at the same time! Maybe God has allowed this technology at this time in history to make it easier for us to get the job done. It makes the call to go into all the world to preach the gospel seem more do-able, doesn’t it?

If You're Watching This, I've been assassinated...

2009-05-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Lately things in Guatemala have gotten a little tense, to say the least! The political situation is not good. It's becoming volatile. Please pray for God's Spirit to fall and revival to begin. Watch this, and you'll know what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC_ODpxMA10

What HAVE we been up to?

2009-05-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's been a long time! But, we've been super busy and haven't been able to get new stuff added! Here's a few things we've been doing:

Bailey and Alicia worked with a team from our church helping to translate for them at a malnutrition center near Antigua.

We did a special Kid's Club where we took the kids on a prayer journey to tangibly teach them what prayer is. We had stations for them to go to with their prayer journals we gave them. We did Praise and Worship, Repentance, Praying for others, Praying for our needs, Thanksgiving, and What is Faith? Mark did the Repentance station. Alicia worked on the Praise and Worship Station. Christopher helped with What is Faith. Bailey worked in the Thanksgiving station. I kept it all rolling! They loved it! We were exhausted! We had about 80 kids that Saturday go through the whole prayer experience.

We also had Semana Santa (Holy Week) in there! This is one of the carpets made of colored sawdust that they make all over the streets of Antigua. They are beautiful! We love to walk around and look at them. Holy Thursday is when it all really starts with alfombras (carpets) and getting ready for the processionals, which are massive with all the costumed people. Mark does street ministry that night because there is so many people out and about. It was a good night and we got home around 5am Friday morning!

Sex and Dating Youth Rally

2009-02-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

Today I had the amazing opportunity to speak at a youth rally of about 350 students on the subject of sex. I also got to share the plan of salvation with them. It seems like a strange mix- sex and salvation, but both originated from the heart of God. One relates to birth and the other to rebirth. My friend Luis translated for me and then he later shared a message about dating. The subject of sex is something that needs to be talked about a lot here. At Central Park in Antigua it’s a common thing to see young people making out for everyone to see. Makes me wonder what they do in private! I pray that today’s rally will be used by God to help bring a revival of purity to this part of Guatemala.

Fish Sandwich

2009-02-18T18:13:00.001-08:00

A while ago I was fasting, and I started craving a fish sandwich. I could almost taste it! Well later as I was reading my Bible I happened to be reading in John 6, and guess what it was about! Jesus multiplying the bread and fish! "No fair!", I thought. Maybe it was God’s sense of humor. But then I thought of how much more valuable a spiritual fish sandwich is than a physical one. Eating a fish sandwich will feed my body, but reading about Jesus making a fish sandwich will feed my spirit! The Bible says that we can’t live on bread alone. We need every one of the words that God speaks. Which food do I hunger for the most? Also, I can multiply food like Jesus did! Every time I share God’s word with someone else I multiply it to those people, and they can get fed spiritually too! So, yes, I finally got the fish sandwich my taste buds craved. And it was sooooo good! But what’s better is knowing the God who feeds body, soul and spirit.

--Mark

Global Warming?

2009-02-18T18:12:00.000-08:00

With all this talk about global warming and climate change I want to offer some thoughts. First of all, I’m not a scientist, so I don’t know for sure if global warming is even true or if it’s really caused by humans at all. But even if it is, there’s a deeper issue. When God made the world it was pronounced "good"(Gen 1:31). Creation fell when SIN entered the world- not when cars or factories were invented (Gen 3:17-18, Gen 6:5-7). So the reason the creation is so messed up is because of our sin in general. Some may say that our "sin" is not taking care of the earth better. But, no, Adam was probably taking care of the garden just fine (Gen 2:15)- until he disobeyed God’s commandment to not eat of the one tree God said not to eat from (Gen 3:6). So the real issue is disobedience to God’s commands. The real problem isn’t my carbon emissions it’s my sinful commissions. Because of our sin there WILL be a global warming one day. God has said he will destroy this earth with fire (2 Peter 3:7, 10) and make a new heavens and new earth (Is 65:17, Rev 21:1). So let’s seek God in this earth and look forward to the better one to come. Go green if you want to, but let’s let the Lord guide our steps, not the counsel of the ungodly (Ps 1:1).

--Mark

New Year Stuff

2009-01-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at 2009. Who'd have thought?

Our family decided to set aside this week to seek God together for this year and what He wants from us. We are watching "Driven By Eternity" by John Bevere this week and discussing it as a family. It's amazing what insights the kids have. I love their perspective on things! If you haven't read the book or seen the teaching, do it. It's really challenging. I love that it blows away things we as Christians always believed but, weren't necessarily Biblically true. I like the challenge.

I'm looking forward to this year. I can't wait to see what God will do with us. It's exciting! What will happen? What will we be doing this time next year? This time last year we were planning on going home for a visit in February, what will next year bring?

Blessings to you all this year. Seek God. Stay faithful!

-Dayle

Full of Surprises!

2008-12-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

On the 23rd of this month we had a surprise breakfast at the café for Dayle’s 40th birthday. I decorated with white balloons instead of black because I wanted to symbolically represent life instead of death. This "over-the hill" business is a lie- Moses didn’t even begin his ministry until he was about 80! Abraham was 100 and Sarah was about 90 when they had Isaac, right? Also this holiday season our Pastor’s family had a surprise- their daughter Amber flew here from the states without telling her parents. Someone else we know also had a surprise visit from her sister a few days ago. On Christmas morning Dayle and I were surprised by the 3 alarms that our kids set in our room- all of which went off at 6AM.! They were up and ready to open presents. One of the cool things about kids is that they help us adults to see things from a fresh child-like perspective again. And speaking of kids and surprises, on Christmas night my twin brother Matt told me that he’s now a dad too! What kinds of surprises are in store for 2009? Whatever they are, they’ll obviously be what we least expect. But it keeps life interesting, doesn’t it? And even if some of the surprises are bad, we’ll be surprised by the comfort of God’s presence in the middle of it all, and someday we’ll be surprised by how God worked it for our good. So brace yourself...

I've been Busy!!!

2008-12-15T08:37:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy few weeks! I cooked Thanksgiving for a LOT of people at the cafe, cooked Thanksgiving for our family (we like the leftovers and there isn't any with the cafe meal!), started school back up with the kids again, had a party for our lit class where we studied Pride and Prejudice, did a party for the Kid's Club at the base, made and decorated a wedding cake for a customer at the cafe, and still found time to decorate, shop, and start our Christmas baking. Whew! I feel like super mom!!!!! (not quite)

Here's some pictures of our recent happenings:

The first is the party for the Kid's Club. The second is the group of girls we had for our "Pride and Prejudice" class we did. This was the party we had. They had to dress up if they could and bring a food made from a recipe of the Regency Period in England (about 1810-1830).

And the third picture is of our kids and the neighbor kids posing in front of the gingerbread house we made. How long do you think that actually lasted? I can tell you that it was less than a week!

You Never Know

2008-12-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

When we were still living in Minnesota I gave a guy a penny with the 10 Commandments stamped on it. It’s a little witnessing tool that I used a lot back then. I saw him later on another day and he showed me that he had made it into a necklace!

A couple of years ago I was witnessing to a Jewish guy, but he didn’t give his heart to the Lord, and I just forgot about the talk and went on with life... until I got an email from him months later telling me he wanted to know more about Christianity!

Then this week in Mexico I got into a cab and the driver remembered me from another time I had been in Mexico. He brought up the fact that I had given him a gospel tract!

You just never know what will happen when you share the gospel with people. I know a story of a man who witnessed to people for 40 years and never heard of one person getting saved through his ministry until right before he died when he heard testimony after testimony of people who he had helped to bring to Jesus. Sometimes we get to see results, but sometimes we don’t. But if we continue to share the gospel no matter what, we may be storing up a lot of surprises for ourselves in heaven!

You Are Invited To Your Own Funeral!

2008-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

On Halloween we had a funeral at Higher Grounds Café in Antigua. A funeral is a service for dead people, and before we know Jesus we’re dead in our sins. Someone had donated a coffin, and we went out to the streets with invitations. At the service I preached in English and Abner, one of our other YWAM staff members, translated into Spanish. I was told afterwards that 14 people responded to the call for salvation. Halloween is all about fear. But the Bible says, "...fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt 10:28). Was Jesus trying to scare people out of hell??? I guess, in a sense, he was. But shouldn’t we come to God out of love and not fear? Well, Proverbs 16:6 says, "...by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." It doesn’t say they depart from evil by hearing about the love of Jesus. Fear has to come first. Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." We have to use the Law to expose a person’s sin. When they are convinced of their sin and then fear the wrath of God, then they can truly appreciate the Savior and fall in love with Him. Love takes over from there as the person realizes that they deserved wrath but they received grace! Paul was able to stand on Mars’ hill and use an altar to an unknown God to declare the true and living God. We can do the same with things like Halloween and coffins too.

The News Girl

2008-11-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

The other day I went to the park with some pictures of the gospel story. I sat down on a bench, and a little 7 year old girl came over selling newspapers. I showed her the pictures, and when she saw the picture of Jesus nailed to the cross she took my hand and "nailed" it up, then the other hand, and then my feet until I was nailed to her make-believe cross while sitting on my bench. A little while later I was with her and her mother and siblings, and I got to share the message with them too. The little girl was carrying the "bad news" and I was carrying the "good news". I think back to when I was her age. What if no one had been there to tell me the good news, and I had grown up without knowing about the things of God. I wouldn’t have ended up in Guatemala telling a seven-year-old girl and her family about Jesus Christ. Who would have taken my place? Maybe no one. But my mom made sure I knew about the Lord when I was young. And that seed is still bearing fruit today!

Family Happenings

2008-10-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on our 3rd anniversary of moving to Antigua, Guatemala and we are amazed at what's happened in such a short time! Not only have we been busy with ministry (see the post below), but, our kids have grown up a lot! They've been busy with all that we do here as well. Here's some highlights!

Alicia

Alicia is now 14 and is really getting involved in what we are doing here in Guatemala. She helps teach a Sunday School class at our church on Sundays, she's working with groups of kids at our Kids Club on Saturday mornings, and she's going to be helping out a team from Minnesota with translation and children's ministry in November (without us, I might add!). She's doing so well at Spanish and is really studying hard so she can translate effectively while she's with the team next month.

Bailey

Bailey is now 12 and very busy with her horseback riding, her school work, and helping out in the ministry. She has a job working at the stables where she rides to earn lessons. Here's some pictures of her!

Christopher

Christopher is now 10 and also busy with school, friends, and ministry help. He helps out in his Sunday School class when they need someone to translate at times, and he also helps us with Kids Club.

Update of Happenings!!!

2008-10-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

New Stuff!!!!

Well, it's been super busy!! Not a surprise, but, a little overwhelming! We've been trying to get all our ducks in a row for our big outreaches planned for the last 2 weekends of this month. It's going to be good, but, it will be super busy. Pray for us as we get it all together.

Evangelism Seminar

Our first big event is the bi-lingual evangelism seminar that Mark will be running on October 25th. We will be holding it at the YWAM cafe here in Antigua for pastors, missionaries, Guatemalans, gringos, and anyone who wants to learn how to be effective in sharing their faith with others. It will be a good training. They will walk away with resources, encouragement, and, hopefully, a fire to share God with the lost. We still have a lot of things to prepare: handouts, teachings, translation of the materials, gift bags, food, and still some advertising. Right now we have about 18 people pre-registered, we are thankful!

Please pray for us as we finish up the details and pray for Mark and his translators, Abner and Alejandra, as they teach for that day.

You are invited to your own funeral!

October 31st is the Day of the Dead here in Guatemala. It is celebrated by going to the cemetary and decorating the graves of family members with flowers, food, music, and flying kites supposedly to "capture" the spirits of your ancestors. We will be doing an outreach that night in Antigua where we are inviting people to come to a funeral for themselves.

It will begin with a parade of a coffin from Central Park through the streets to the cafe. Once in the cafe there will be a presentation of the gospel about how we need to be dead to sin in order to be alive in Christ. We are praying that this will be a tremendous outreach into the lives of the Guatemalans who at this time of the year are already thinking about eternity, death, and what that all means for them.

Please pray that we can pull it all together and that the Holy Spirit draws people to Him. We need wisdom on how to approach this and how to make it happen. Mark will be preaching that night, so please pray for an annointing on him while he does so.

New Family Member

I mentioned earlier how we will be getting a new puppy for Bailey from a friend who has to move back to the US. Well, we got her on Wednesday and here's a picutre! Her name is Lola. She is one year old and very sweet. She is just the right kind of puppy for Bailey because she loves to be cuddled, held, and babied! We already love her!

What else has been happening?

We had a movie night at the base recently and showed the movie "The Cross and the Switchblade" in Spanish (El Cruz y el Punal). There was about 100 people that showed up and enjoyed the movie, popcorn, and juice. Many responded to the altar call afterward! Here are some pictures of that event!

Celebrate Recovery

2008-10-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 25th I spoke at our church’s "Celebrate Recovery" program for people battling addictions. I basically shared the gospel and gave an invitaion to receive Christ who has the power to free us.

A man can, for example, try to conquer his own addiction to alcohol (and maybe with some success), but without Christ he’ll just go to hell as a "recovering alcoholic". There may be many recovering alcoholics in hell who have asked Jesus to be their "higher power" to help them get over their alcohoilism. But they never trusted Him as their Lord to deal with the bigger problem called "sin".

The meeting went great and at least one of the men indicated their desire to give their life to Jesus. I told the group that even as Christians we struggle with sin, but the difference is that with Jesus we have the power of the Holy Spirit, and without Him we only have our own willpower. Praise God that he doesn’t leave us to ourselves when we come to Him. He comes to take over and change us from the inside out.

--Mark

Kid's Club Start Up!!!!

2008-09-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

It's so exciting! We started Kid's Club up again this past Saturday morning. We will be meeting at least 3 Saturdays a month until the Christmas holidays and restart again in November. We had about 65 kids! It was great. We showed the Veggie Tales movie of Gideon in Spanish. We were able to do a coloring page and then we fed them ham and cheese sandwiches and orange juice with straws (you'll have to watch the movie to understand why the straws!). Next week we will start our series on the Fruits of the Spirit. Please pray that God will bless these times and that the children will start to see their worth in Jesus. They really are so poor and it's hard for some of them. We feed them because it's so important for them to have a healthy meal.

Here's some pictures!

What do the kids do?

2008-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

What do they do? Well, pretty much what they did in America only not as easily!

We homeschool. They get up by 7 am, do chores, and then start school by 8:30. We do school all morning and eat lunch together at about noon or so (depending on our morning!). Sometimes in the afternoon we have some school work to finish. We also will go to Higher Grounds, our YWAM cafe in Antigua, to do some work or just hang out with people, or, on Wednesdays, we have classes at our house for other missionary kids who are homeschooled. Mark teaches the boys a Bible class and I am teaching a literature class on Pride and Prejudice.

Alicia babysits a lot! She loves that because she's earning her own money. She also will be starting back to Spanish school 4 hours a week soon. She finished 2 years of high school Spanish in one year last year. She translates for people and teaches a Sunday School class in our church on Sundays for girls ages 6-12. She teaches in English and Spanish. She will be doing a missions trip coming up in November with a group from MN where she will translate for them and help head up their children's ministry in a village about 3 hours from our house.

Bailey rides horses! That's what she does. She loves it!!!! We have been blessed with a supporter who has paid for her lessons once a week for about 2 years now. Her instructor came to us and asked if she could come a second day a week to learn dressage and more jumping. She offered Bailey a job at the stables one hour a week to groom horses and clean tack in exchange for one more hour of lessons. Bailey was so excited! Not only can she ride more, but, she's earning it herself. She loves that. She jumps these horses over really incredible jumps. She's learning show jumping and will be starting competitions soon here in Guatemala and eventually in other Central American countries.

Christopher is a typical boy. He's probably the best of all of us at Spanish and uses it all the time. He loves to help out with his class in church and also will translate for the teacher for the boys who don't understand Spanish or if the teacher is English, for those who don't undertand English. He likes to help us out at Kid's Club and at home. He has a lot of friends here, which is nothing new since he's so social!

That's about it, except the sleepovers, parties, summer camp, play dates, school field trips, etc. So, it's really not much different as life in the US!

What is it like in Guatemala?

2008-09-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

If you’ve never been to Guatemala it may be difficult to imagine life in this place called the "Land of Eternal Spring". You may have a picture in your mind painted by the Survivor TV show or by a nightly news story. But there is a lot about Guatemala that you may not know. You can go to the capital (about an hour away from us) and visit the I-max theater and then go to dinner at Chilis’ and walk around a mall that looks like something from the U.S. Or you can go to a village and see people living on dirt floors. The extremes here are more noticeable.

Here are some Guatemala statistics by someone named Sue Patterson:

Half of the Guatemalan girls have a child by the time they are 19.
97% of Guatemala's surface waters are contaminated.
57% of Guatemalans now survive on less than $2/day.
More than one child in 10 does not live to be 5 years old.
50% of Guatemalan kids attend school, and only 1% of those will go on to high school.

Here are some stats from International Justice Mission in Guatemala:

There are 22 languages spoken in Guatemala.
The UN ranked Guatemala 4th highest country in the world for income disparity.
It’s the 3rd worst in the world for child malnutrition.
.5% (thats "point 5%) of all criminal cases in Guatemala reach a verdict.
In one year 800 police officers in Guatemala were fired due to corruption.

Yes, there is a lot of need in Guatemala, but there are a lot of good things too. The people are friendly and very open to the gospel. The scenery is amazing, and the fresh fruits and vegetables are wonderful! We’re blessed to live in Antigua, a small town packed with about 70 Spanish schools! If you boiled Antigua down to one square block, it would probably have a language school, a restaurant, a pharmacy, a hotel, a tienda, a coffee shop and a Catholic church.

Antigua is a beautiful city, but beauty is relative. In the states, if a wall is crumbling you fix it, but here crumbling walls look like art. When you’re walking down the cobblestone streets you may see a man urinating in public or a drunk man passed-out on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. But the tourists in this unique part of the country come to see the ruins surrounded by 3 volcanoes.

At our house, even though we live in a nice part of Guatemala, we don’t drink the tap water, and we can’t flush our toilet paper, but the weather is always like spring. Our house is simple, but beautiful and comfortable.

We’re blessed to be working here with YWAM, ministering to Guatemalans as well as tourists and students. In some ways Guatemala seems like a black hole of ministry- like the more you do, the more there is to do. But there’s a reason that God has us here for now. We’re learning so much, and we’re being stretched. Our kids are getting a cross-cultural experience that will add so much to their education and worldview. This place- the good and the bad- has changed our lives, and no matter how long we stay here or where we go from here Guatemala will always be a special part of our lives.

--Mark

New stuff Happenin'

2008-09-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Since there isn't going to be a DTS this fall because we didn't have enough students, we are going to be doing some new things! We're excited because a lot of these things are things we've done in the past, but, because we've been so busy with teams, students, cafe, etc., there just wasn't time.

Here's some new stuff we will be doing:

Kid's Club: We will be starting up Kid's Club again on Saturday mornings starting this Saturday. We are so excited about it because it's a great chance to build relationships with the families around the base. It's going to be a lot of work, but, we are going to be doing it as a family so it will be fun as well!

Saturday Training Seminars: Mark will be teaching an Evangelism seminar again in October. We hope to do about 4 of these seminars a year for Guatemalans and missionaries here in Guatemala. We are hoping to provide an outreach for those who want to come that evening to put into practice what they've learned.

Halloween Outreach: We will be doing a funeral! We love this outreach! We already have a coffin we can use and the staff is excited about using the opportunity to reach out to those who will be on the streets. We will do a program and have a concert. This is Day of the Dead here, so it's fitting!

Christmas Party for the families at the base: We want to do a Christmas party for those families around the base. We are hoping to provide them with gifts and have a party at the base for them to attend with food, games, and a pinata!

Team outreaches: We will also be hosting teams from all over to come and help us with construction, outreach, and ministry.

Homeschool outreach: We are having a homeschool class on Wednesday afternoons at our house for missionary kids and our kids. Mark is teaching a Bible class and I am teaching literature class for girls on Pride and Prejudice. It's an opportunity to provide a service for missionary families.

Higher Grounds: We will be starting a Friday night thing at Higher Grounds for young people to come and enjoy music, food, and fun. Mark will still be doing Soul Patrol outreach at the Parque Central, but, this is another opportunity for evangelism.

These are just a few things that will be happening here in Antigua! Sounds like we'll be busy!!!!! Please pray for us as we begin to really pour into these ministries that will be happening here.

--Dayle

You may not believe this...

2008-09-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

We know that about 3000 people died in the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States.

But did you know that, according to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, there are 3,304 babies aborted every day in the United States.
http://www.mccl.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=400&srcid=183

So, on average, we have a 3000 person tragedy every day in the United States!

Also, according to National Right to Life, there have been 48,589,993 abortions in the U.S. since 1973. http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.html

If the 3000 people who died on 9/11 were equal to 1 inch, then the number of babies who have been murdered in our country since 1973 is about 450 yards (from end zone to end zone on a football field 4 ½ times)!

I don’t want to minimize the horror of what happened on 9/11. But we also need to be honest about the fact that we’re killing our own people. Is God going to let 48 million babies be killed without bringing severe judgment? Let’ pray...

God, Bless America with a spirit of repentance.
God, Bless America with mercy for our national sins.
God, Bless America with protection from our enemies.
God, Bless America with a desire to honor You once again.

-Mark

Good Sex!

2008-09-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to teach a 2-part class on sexual abstinence in 4 schools here in Guatemala. My friend Luis Castillo, who teaches regularly on morals and values in these schools translated the classes into Spanish and added some of his own teaching as well.

I began by telling the students that God invented sex. In fact, the first command that we know of to the first man and woman was to go have sex! Genesis 1:27-28 "...male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..." But I was quick to add that sex is a gift specifically for marriage.

I talked about the emotional risks of opening that gift before marriage and the difference between love and infatuation. But, even better, we were able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with so many students! And many of them indicated a desire to ask the Lord for a new, pure heart!

During the Q&A times that we were able to have in some of the classes the students were asked to write out anonymous questions. Some of them are listed below:

Is it good to have sex as a minor?
How can you love without God in your heart?
I’ve already had sex with my partner. Can I enter the Kingdom of God?
If we have relations several times with one person before marriage and one marries that person, is that also a sin?
Is it bad to masturbate?
Is it adultery if two people use contraceptives and have sex?
What is love?

You can tell by the questions that there is a huge need for teaching in this area! Please pray that the idea of sexual purity will be reinforced in the lives of the students we spoke to. Sex is too good to let the devil mess with it. God only creates good things, so we can give God the credit for good sex!

--Mark

How they have grown!

2008-09-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Look at them! They've grown so fast I can't believe it. Alicia just had her 14th birthday yesterday. Bailey has her 12th at the end of this month, and Christopher will be 11 next May. Where has the time gone?

They are doing well here. They will be busy with us helping out with Kids Club at the base coming up in September and every Saturday after. They are learning Spanish and trying really hard to get their schoolwork done early enough every day to be able to play outside.

We are so proud!

This is our dog and cat. The dog is Shadow and the cat is Mish. We will be getting another dog, a little terrier at the end of the month named Lola.

We are getting another animal because, basically, Shadow belongs to Christopher (or Mark, depending on who you're talking to) and Mish belongs to Alicia. So, as you can see, there's a child not matched with a pet. Hence, Lola will be joining our family to give Bailey a little friend!

Shadow came to us because he was being abused and we bought him from the family who was abusing him. We were going to find him a home, but, he fit so well with us, he became part of our family. Mish was given to the kids when we were in El Salvador renewing our visas. The family we stayed with loved the kids and gave them Mish when we left their home. Lola belongs to a friend who will be leaving to go to the States and needs a home for her.

Mish and Shadow have very distinct personalities. Shadow is all dog, very playful, happy, affectionate, loyal, and sweet. Mish is all cat, proud, used to his own way, cuddly when he wants to be, and, believe it or not, sweet! We don't know about Lola, but, we'll let you know as soon as we figure her out!

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

2008-08-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever done anything so difficult that while you were doing it your heart was pounding, your head was spinning, and you had to remind yourself to breathe on a regular basis? I've been there. Regularly! Leaving everything that I love--family, friends, home, familiar culture, language, church--to bring ourselves to the mission field of Guatemala has felt like that. Right now, it feels like that. Trusting God so completely that you've left yourself no other choice, feels like that sometimes.

But, God is good. He knows what we need. He knows what character He wants to build in us. He understands our hearts. He knows our innermost thoughts. He sees our fear. Nothing is new to Him. Nothing surprises Him. Never does He say, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming? How will I handle that?" Or, "Well, I've never seen this before. What do I do now?" No. He is able. He is sufficient. He is completely perfect in all His ways.

This is what I have to know. This is what I need to move from my head, where I can spout all the beautiful platitudes of Christianity with the best of them, to my heart, where the rubber meets the road so to speak. The only way this happens is through circumstances where I find myself in no other place but to trust Him. I don't have a choice. This is where I am. This is where I've been on a regular basis lately.

So, here it is. Today, I'm trusting God with my family, my life, my heart, and to provide in so many ways just like He's promised. That's how it has to be. I trust him for today, this time, this hour, this minute whatever I have to do to get to that point that I don't worry so much.

To quote Beth Moore:

God is who He says He is.
God can do what He says He can do.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
God's word is alive and active in me.

Let's see how this works.

--Dayle

Where are we?

2008-08-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

We are in Antigua just a little bit to the left and up a bit from the big star marking Guatemala City. We are about 5,000 ft. up in the mountains surrounded by beautiful mountains and hills. One of the mountains called Fuego is an active volcano that erupts regularly. We can see it clearly from our house!

Some Pictures of Mark doing Outreach

2008-08-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

The above pictures are of street ministry in the market of Antigua and of Mark doing an evangelism teaching for a team that was here this summer.

Here we go Again!

2008-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we've tried a lot of other sites for this type of thing, but, for one reason or another, they don't work for us. We are just too computer illiterate I guess! Sad, but, too true. So, since we've figured this site out without very little pain and suffering, we will be keeping this up as our official blog. Now, if I can just figure out how to change that on our homepage, we'd be good to go! Our homepage will still be Annand Adventures, this is our blog.

What's been Happening?
I'm glad you asked! We've been really busy doing a TON of stuff. Here's a short re-cap!

1. Mark has been really busy teaching abstinence using the Bible in the schools here in Antigua and one school in Guatemala City. It's been such a blessing and an open door we've been praying for for so long. It's been a great opportunity. At one point, he lost his voice and I stepped in and subbed for him. It was interesting! I'm glad he's the one doing it.

2. Higher Grounds Coffee House has been super busy! That's a blessing to our base. We've been running to keep up with it all! It's been an opportunity to minister to people who are here to study Spanish or to volunteer, or to minister here in Guatemala. It's a haven for them. A chance for them to network and find support. The services have been going really well. This past Saturday, we hosted "The Call" prayer event for America. It was a 12-hour event in which we teamed with Janet Moutray (a missionary with an emphasis on prayer) and the World Race team that is serving for a month here in Antigua. It was well attended throughout the day and well organized. We even had the live feed from Washington DC for the whole day.

3. We've had a lot of teams come through the base. Mark was busy preparing their outreach opportunities and taking them to their various activities. It's a blessing to have them come because it's such a cool thing to see how God uses them while they are here as well as helping us out at the base. They were such good teams with servant's hearts. They worked in orphanages, schools, churches, base VBS, cleaning Higher Grounds, doing street ministry, prayer ministry, Thursday night services, construction, feeding program, youth ministry, market ministry, and I'm sure other ministries I'm not remembering. Busy!!!!!!!

4. Street ministry has been going well. Mark still goes out almost every Friday night for Soul Patrol. He goes into the park and talks with people and prays with them if they would like him to. He's had some great talks and his Spanish is coming along so that now he can share the gospel in Spanish and English.

5. Mark has taken a short break from Spanish classes and will be starting up again in the Fall. He only has a couple more levels to go before he has completed the entire course at the school he's been attending. He will be starting up again, hopefully, 3 days a week.

6. The kids have been busy with school and various activities. It's been fun to see them start to fit into their different abilities and talents and start using them for God. Alicia has a gift for picking up languages and has been using it to teach a bi-lingual class for girls ages 6-12 in our church, Iglesia del Camino. She also has helped to translate for a team recently and will also be traveling in November with a team from Minnesota to translate for them and help head up their children's ministry. Bailey is doing great at the piano and horseback riding. She has been working at the stables one afternoon a week to earn another day of riding lessons. She is also doing great at playing the piano and learning so much by ear. She's reading music well, and is working toward playing for worship someday. Christopher went with us to the prayer day for America at the coffee house. After prayer, he was moved to continue praying for our country and has been asking a lot of questions about the upcoming presidential races for the purpose of prayer.

7. I've been just trying to keep it all together. It's been busy trying to keep up with it all and then also homeschooling all 3. Can you say, Challenge? But, I've been also taking time to attend a Friday morning women's Bible Study at our church with women from all different types of ministries and backgrounds. Right now we are doing the Beth Moore study "Believing God" which has been a super study and very challenging to my faith. I need this time each week, it's a chance to get to know other women and have a little adult conversation!!!!

I hope you got a little glimpse of what we've been doing the last several months. It's been busy, but, God is so good! He's faithful to provide all we need.