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

Updates on all our Stuff!

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

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!

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!