Where do I begin?

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"

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

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

   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

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

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!

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