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Posted in On the Field by Katie Devaney on 12/12/2011
After three and a half incredible months in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, our time has come to an end. What a blessed journey it has been. My life will never be the same.
Before this trip if you had told me how hard it was going to be, I most likely would not have come...but praise God I had no idea, because I am so thankful for God’s work in my life. My life will never be the same. God truly transformed my life and my love for Him has blossomed into something so beautiful.
The Christian journey is not always easy, but it is so rewarding. If God’s calling you to something, be obedient. Even when things sound hard, God will bless you. I have learned this first hand. My time here in Guatemala was hard, but I would not take a single day back. God used each moment here to open my eyes. I feel a new richness for life and I will never be the same.
Each ministry taught me something different. Our ministries included: prostitute ministry, children’s hospital, orphanage, elderly home, special needs school, working with local churches, garbage dumps, prayer walks, evangelism in the markets, and ask the Lord days. What a blessing it was to have such a hand in so many different lives.
My theme verse for this trip was Philippians 4:12-13. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty of in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Though I have been away from my family and friends for several months now, I have learned that no matter where I am in this world my home is in the Lord and He will never leave me or forsake me. His love for me is unconditional. He will never change the way He feels about me. I am His beloved and He is mine. He is my everything. I want the world to know of His goodness and love. I want to make known among the nations of His great love! Even if everything I have is taken away, I still will have God, who is all I need!
This is our last day in Antigua, Guatemala. God spoke something in my heart last night to do on this final day. Homeless people cover the streets, and poverty is everywhere. Instead of passing them by as most people do, I wanted them to experience a taste of God’s love. God blessed me to bless others. So Kathy, Jordan, Pastor Ronnie, and I used the last of our money and bought thirty sandwiches and drinks to feed those in need. We placed John 3:16 in the bags, and prayed God would show us people to bless. What an incredible day it was! The first man we gave food to, teared up and praised God for us. He was so humble and thankful. Another man we came across was going through the garbage searching for food. He had not eaten in eight days. We got to feed hungry children, and families who had nothing. Antigua was to bless us after serving 3 and half months and do as we pleased...but I was so blessed today. Even though we left Puerto Barrios, God showed me that I can missions anywhere.
(This is Juan. We were blessed and got the opportunity to pour into his life today. Please keep him and the people of Guatemala in your prayers. They are in desperate need for the love of the Lord.)
Thanks to all who have prayed and encouraged me throughout this journey. What a blessing it has been to serve the Lord in Central America. My life will never be the same! May God pour out His aboundance in each of your lives.
Dios Te Bendiga!
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Posted in On the Field by Kathy Jacobs on 12/11/2011
It’s hard for me to grasp the concept that my time in Puerto Barrios is done, at least for a little while. I won’t be holding orphans, teaching them how to walk, and playing with Dalia every Monday. I won’t be at the Children’s Hospital every Tuesday coloring with sick kids and talking with concerned parents. I won’t be talking to prostitutes or walking through garbage dumps every week anymore.
Some things I’m happy are coming to an end- cold showers, constantly sweating, power outages, water shortages, rice and beans, pila washing, and language barriers. But then there are those things, like Pastor Roni, the kids at the hospital and orphanage, my neighbors, and my team, who make all those discomforts seem insignificant.
One of the many things I will take away from this experience is motivation, motivation to continue my education and become a medical missionary. It upsets me when I look at the statistics at the hospital and see that kids are dying from easily preventable diseases. It infuriates me when I see some of the conditions patients are put into and how untrained some of the doctors are here. From misdiagnosing a Staph infection as bug bites to giving the incorrect dosage of medicine, the past few months has shown me how much of a need there is for competent and trained doctors.
Before coming on this trip, the thought of medical missions sounded appealing but the thought of living in a foreign country for longer than a month didn’t. I wanted to have the American Dream: a husband, some kids, a house, and a stable job. I figured I could go on a medical mission trip once or twice a year for a couple weeks and that would be enough. That may be what God has planned for my life, but because of this trip if that is not what His will is, I will be ok. In fact, I will be more than ok. I will be happy because I know that He has something bigger and better planned for my life. I realized that there is nothing I would rather do than what God wants me to do. That means that if He wants me to pack up my bags and move to Central America and work there, I will. If He wants me to stay in the States and work in an undeserved community, I will do that. And if He doesn’t want me to become a doctor, I will be obedient to His call. And that is something that I couldn’t say with confidence three months ago.
God has used the people of Puerto Barrios to teach me humility, patience, and contentment. He has changed my outlook on life. In the last three months, He challenged me when I needed to be challenged and strengthened me when I needed to be strengthened. He gave me comfort when I needed comfort and taught me patience when I needed to learn. He showed me how good He is and how He always wants what’s best for me. He showed me that His plans are far greater than anything that I could come up with.
“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.’”
-Jeremiah 29:11-13
God has blessed me with great supporters. Thank you so much for your reading my blogs, sending me encouraging emails, and praying for me. I love you so much!
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Posted in On the Field by Jordan Denniston on 12/8/2011
“We know that if the life we live here on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house in heaven that isn’t made by human hands. In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven. After we have put it on, we won’t be naked. While we are in this tent, we sigh. Then eternal life will put an end to our mortal existence. God has prepared us for this and given us his Spirit to guarantee it.”
These past three and a half months have been the craziest, hardest, most amazing, life changing months of my life. We’ve worked with orphans, the children’s hospital, prostitute, the elderly, and people who live and work at the garbage dump. We’ve dealt with parasites, bed bugs, lice, stomach viruses, and virtually any other illness you can think of. It’s been three and a half months of learning to live in a community of 22 people that couldn’t be more different from each other. Learning to serve and love and walk alongside each other through our different struggles that popped up multiple times each day.
Through it all, God has been teaching me more and more about home. The homes we create here on this earth are like a tent…temporary, unsatisfying, and uncomfortable. People will let us down, even those we won’t expect to. Human plans will fall through. Sickness and death are certain, and we have to fight against our flesh that wants to lead us to sin every single day.
So while we are here on this earth, God beckons us to find our home in Him. His resting place is one of peace, joy, love. When we dwell within Him, our lives will be so radically changed!! When we are with Him, there is freedom and there is LIFE!!!!
And we’ve watched people find this life, both in the people we minister to and to ourselves. The most recently example wour in our last night of ministry. Bar Popeye became our favorite bar, not just because of the women that worked there’d but because of the sense we all had that God had his hand over that place. We brought one of the ladies a bible, and her daughter has been reading it. Last time we were there, she told us that she is always reading her bible now, and wants God to help her understand it so she can show it to her mom. A light has been lit, and we pray that it is continues to burn.
God, may this light never be extinguished. Let the work you have done here be a foundation for others to build upon in the future. Continue to give life and hope to the people of Puerto Barrios and Santo Tomas, freeing them from the darkness and witchcraft and legalism that ensnares them. You are such a good, good Father with a good, good heart. Thank you for loving these people more than they could ever imagine, and for loving us the same way. Help them to see your light. Help them to find life.
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Posted in General Posts by Glenalyn Hunt on 12/5/2011
 Dear Maria Clara,
In a few weeks you probably won't remember me anymore, but I'll never forget you. I still remember the first time I saw you. Pastor Rony said they had babies in a nursery and I snuck off quickly to find me one. From the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you were "My One." The one person I wanted to love on each week, to pour into and pray for, to cuddle with and snuggle and let you know you are loved.
Granted, you were six months old when I met you, and now you're eight months. You still don't really walk or talk, but you snuggle really well and fit in my arms just perfectly.
My team even says we look alike...if I were 8 months old and Guatemalan, I guess.
I was told you came here to the orphanage when you were four days old, and your ears were already pierced. I wonder if you already had baby acne then too. You pick at your scabs, just like me, and your skin is prone to irritation, also like me.
We have a similar nose and a smile that changes our whole faces, well... when you feel like smiling. You like to be thrown up in the air, and you like riding my knee as a horse. You are one of the most observant babies I've ever seen, always eager to see what's going on and never wanting to rest or sleep, lest you miss something.
They call you La Gordita, but I just call you my baby. My sweet, precious Guatemalan girl, who I will never forget.
I don't know much more about you, except that the first time you fell asleep in my arms, I knew you trusted me. My team tells me last week when I was sick, you looked around for me, and were not content in anyone else's arms. This week, in our last hour together, you fell asleep again, and I sang sweet songs of the Lord over you.
Sweet baby Maria Clarita, I hope you know you are so so loved. I hope you know your Daddy in heaven loves you and will never leave you. I don't know why your parents gave you up, but I'm glad the orphanage you live in is nice and has lots of nuns who seem to love you especially.
I will miss you more than words can say. If the Guatemalan adoption process weren't so loopy and I were married, I would bring you home with me as soon as I could. At it is, I will never forget you. And neither will your Heavenly papa.
Love you, baby girl.
Glenalyn
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Posted in On the Field by Erika Fahrnbauer on 12/2/2011
Rafael is 96 years old and probably the most beautiful person I have ever met. He is gray headed and covered with sores, lesions, and sunspots all over his skin. He is malnourished, neglected, abused, and sick. His family is dead and he lives in an elderly home where he is ill treated, ignored, and fed a bare minimum- a piece of bread and coffee. He is almost blind and the little he can see is covered with oozing sores on his eyelids. His arms and legs are just bones with a thin layer of skin draped over them. Rafael lies in a bed reeking of urine and stays there day after day unable to walk or sit up. Ants and cockroaches crawl all over his body leaving him with bites and half-eaten, open wounds. He is in a constant state of extreme pain and has worn the same outfit the entire three and a half months I have known him and has nobody that seems to care if he lives or dies.
However, despite these circumstances, Rafael’s toothless smile with rotting gums is the most genuine and happy smile I have ever seen. I have never met someone so ready to praise God in such a state of despair. Rafael reminds me of Job- his wife, children, health, friends, wealth, sight, and everything else was taken from him, yet a “Gracias a Dios” is added on to the end of almost every sentence he utters. How can I ever complain about a little cut or food I don’t like when this man has nothing and can still find reason to praise God? As soon as I walk into his room his face lights up upon hearing my voice and he always remembers my name. Rafael has taught me so much over the past three and a half months. I have sat by his bed for hours listening to his stories of Mexico, his travels, Bible stories, and all the amazing things God has done in his life. I cling to his every word because I know this is a man that walks with God. I can almost feel God sitting on the bed with us. Rafael reminds me to give thanks in every situation and to seek the glory of God through the pain. The older his body gets, the more beautiful his heart grows. Just like a fine wine, Rafael ripens with age and I hope to be like him some day. I hope to praise God through anything and everything despite the circumstances- good or bad. Although Rafael cannot physically see anymore, I know he can see what is most important. Rafael looks at the heart. He sees what God has done in his life and praises Him continuously. I know Rafael will have a place close to God’s heart when he dies, and I know he will always remain in my heart. I will never forget the lessons he has taught me, and just like Rafael, I hope to ripen with age.
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Posted in On the Field by Katie Devaney on 12/1/2011
“A changed life convinces people of Christ’s power.”
“When you face challenges in life, seek to know what God wants you to do, and then do it, confident that he will do his part. You don’t know ahead of time how he will accomplish his will. Trust God and prepare to be surprised by the ways he demonstrates his trustworthiness.”
(study notes in the book of Esther)
Today is day 90 on the mission field. We only have 5 days left of ministry. Then heading back to Antigua for debrief and back to the States on the 12th! This journey has been absolutely incredible! It is hard to believe that it is all coming to an end. God is so good!
This week has been incredible! Here are some pictures...
All the girls at Abby's Quincenara!
Pastor Ronnie!
Our last time at the garbage dump with Katte.
A little boy at the garbage dump with a "Jesus lives in me" shirt. :)
One of the babies at the orphanage. He's getting so big!
The Tienda Marlita family threw us a surprise party!
God is so good! My love for Him continues to grow stronger each day. What a blessing it has been to serve Him here in Puerto Barrios.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." Philippians 4:4-5
Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement! Dios Te Bendiga!
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Posted in General Posts by Kathy Jacobs on 12/1/2011
This Sunday is my mom’s birthday, and I want to share a story for her. A few weeks into the trip, our team went to an elderly lady’s house and talked and prayed with her. I told my mom about her and every couple of weeks, my mom for some reason asked about her. I didn’t really know what to tell her because since that day, I hadn’t seen or talked to the lady. A few weeks ago during ATL (ask the Lord what He wants you to do), Joel, Taylor, Emily and I went to the elderly lady’s house to visit her. She was very happy to see us and welcomed us into her house. She told us that her son recently fell and as a result, had a neck injury. We prayed for him and then later prayed for her. We talked, read a passage in the Bible, and sang some Christmas carols.
The lady’s living conditions are not very good and she doesn’t have much money. Her house needs some fixing up, but I don’t have the skills to do that. I wanted to bless her, but I didn’t know how I could. After praying about it, I remembered my mom and how much she was asking about this lady. I knew my mom’s birthday was coming up and I knew that I didn’t have a present for her. But I also knew that my selfless mom would rather give than receive, so that is what I decided to do. With the money that I would have spent on a present, I went to the market and the mall and bought a basket full of food and goodies for the lady.
Emily and I went to the lady’s house last week and gave her the basket which we told her was a present for her from God. Tears filled her eyes when we told her it was for her. She kept saying “thank you so much” and “God is so good.” She later went on to tell us that she was having a lot of health problems. Her whole body was aching and the medication that she needed the pharmacy didn’t have yet. She asked us if we could pray for her. We sat down, laid hands on her, and prayed for her. When we finished, streams of tears came rolling down her face. We gave her hugs and then continued talking.
A couple minutes later, she went outside and came back with a basket. Then she started putting the things we had given her into her basket. When we told her that the basket was for her too, she got the biggest smile on her face. Then she pointed to the Christmas platter in the basket and said, “for me too?” We responded with “yes, it’s all for you!” She was so happy and it was so good to see her smile!
Then she cooked lunch for us. We had soup, tortillas, and rice, and it was delicious! We talked a little longer and then left, telling her that we would come back and visit her.
These are the people I am going to miss. This is why it is going to be hard to leave. An elderly lady who feeds us before herself, little girls who meet me at the park every week and greet us with huge hugs, kids at the orphanage who love you like family, Pastor Roni who treats us like his children, patients at the hospital whose parents don’t visit them, and the tienda owners who threw us a party this past week because they wanted to bless us... These are the people that have made Guatemala home to me the last three months.
Pastor Roni
My favorite girls in Guatemala
At the party our neighbors who own the tienda (store) threw us
Jose Manuel... He's getting so big!
Abel at the Hospital
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Posted in General Posts by Jennifer McLain on 12/1/2011
I know what you’re thinking: “What is a ‘tienda’?” Tiendas are a dime-a-dozen around Guatemala (Our joke is that there is a tienda every three doors). They are little convenience stores that sell sodas, chips, laundry soap, and other odds-and-ends.
Now, you are probably asking: “Who is Marlita?” Yeah…We still have no idea either.
Specifically, Tienda Marlita is the tienda that is directly across the street from our house. We have become regulars there and have become friends with the Guzman Morales family whom owns it (none of which are named Marlita). They are all very kind; Sandra (the current manager/owner/mom of the family) always calls us “mi amor” (my love), she is very sweet.
Well, last night my team was out at our bar/prostitute ministry when Pastor Roni got a call from our contact saying that we could come home now. When I heard that, I thought, “Wow…Did we really just get permission to go home? That’s weird.”
As our van pulled up in front of our house, we hear firecrackers be set off very close to the van. The sound of firecrackers is a daily occurrence in Guatemala, so we didn’t think anything of it except their proximity. I wish I could have seen our faces as we jumped out of the van as we see our good ol’ Tienda Marlita transformed from this:(
(this is my friend and teammate Emily Richardson sitting outside our favorite hangout.)
To this:
 Our Tienda Family contacted out hosts and said they wanted to bless us and make us all dinner to say thank you and to give us a nice send off since we are leaving Puerto Barrios next week. Wow! Feeding all 22 of us is NOT an easy task and we were told that this family does not have a lot of money so this was a very beautiful gesture. (Not to mention, there was hot chocolate. It’s actually been cold here the last couple of days and so spirits were high just on that gift alone.)
Today we got a better view as so just how special that dinner was. Paul, our contact, told us that that family has never done anything like this for any other missionary team. He said that the closest thing they have ever come to doing anything like this was cooking a previous team a meal and selling it to them for very cheap. AND we are the largest team they have ever had here so it was definitely a sacrifice for this family.
Somewhere along the line, through our patronage and exchange of pleasantries and miscommunications, apparently we have made an impression on the Guzman Morales family. Through this God has shown me that you affect people even when you don’t realize you are and that every opportunity you are given is an opportunity to minister and to shine Christ’s light.
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Posted in Reflection by Glenalyn Hunt on 11/30/2011
We have a crisis in our country. (The US, not Guatemala, though I’m sure it’s a problem here too). I am not referring to the budget crisis or the economic crisis or the crisis of Demi and Ashton no longer being together. It’s not the war on drugs or the war on poverty or the war for better education. No, it’s something deeper, arguably at the root of all of these.
It’s a crisis of honor.
I recently read Culture of Honor by Danny Silk. It revolutionized the way I look at leadership, particularly in the Christian setting. Every person is made in the image of God, and every Christian has the Spirit of God living inside of them, so when we honor others we are ACTUALLY honoring God, and when we dishonor others, we are dishonoring God.
I know we’ve always said “Do unto others as you would have done unto you,” but really, this implies “Do unto others as you would do to GOD.”
So if we call each other names, if we defile our leaders, if we defile each other, we are actually doing it to God.
In our culture, though, defilement is second nature. Our media defiles our politicians at every turn. The left to the right, the right to the left, and the moderates just sit and watch both sides burn. We defile our celebrities—people we supposedly admire—every time we read the gossip in STAR or watch TZM. We tell one celebrity she’s too skinny and another she’s too fat. He’s too old, he’s too feminine, he’s too whatever.
We constantly criticize ourselves and those around us. Our bosses, our parents, our kids, our leaders, even our pastors. In our country where everyone is entitled to an opinion, everyone has one and will share it loudly, even if it tears other people down.
There’s a general lack of grace and honor with anyone put in a position of authority. Our country values equality so intensely that we just can’t wait to get everyone back on the same playing field, even if they were put in a place of authority by God. Obviously when assuming a leadership role, one should be prepared to be held to a high standard, but we aren’t perfect.
Failure is common; grace is not.
I’ve come to the conclusion we as Americans must be nearly impossible to lead. We probably look a lot like the Israelites in the desert with Moses, complaining about the manna and the water from a rock. God’s supernatural provision isn’t enough for the people who want everything.
There’s a verse in Hebrews about having confidence in your leaders and submitting to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. This is so their work will be a joy, not a burden, because if it’s a burden then it’s no benefit to you.
I’d say we generally don’t put a lot of confidence in our leadership. There’s a lot of fear in America that leaders tend to play into.
I used to think leadership, to a certain level, was about control. That’s how most of the world views it anyways. But it’s not. If we honor those we are leading and those we are following, if we empower those ahead of us to lead and those below us to go higher than we ever could, then it’s not about control, but about self-control.
It’s about empowering your people, not about controlling them. That’s the best kind of leadership. Unfortunately, it requires a heckuvalot of grace on both sides, which is a struggle. It requires people willing to be proactive and take responsibility for their own actions, something I’d say is a challenge for a lot of us—to readily accept our part in the mess and be willing to do something to make it better, instead of sitting in an ivory tower or a TV studio or a living room, railing on about all the problems but doing nothing for the solutions.
We can all see the problems, and we can all readily assess blame and responsibility to the “guilty” parties. We all know how to complain. I think the trick is do we know how to stop complaining?
I didn’t. I didn’t realize how much I struggled with complaining until leading. Even as a leader, it is tempting to place blame elsewhere, especially when it all seems to get thrown at you.
I just think about the examples of leadership I’ve had growing up. Not so much in my own family or anything, but in the government, in the media, in the church, and it doesn’t surprise me why it’s a struggle. Why leaders are plenty but good leaders are few. It is a nearly impossible task, and it is definitely impossible to do perfectly, though that’s what we tend to expect from our leaders. If they’re not perfect, replace them. We have elections every 2-6 years to do just that.
When people disappoint us, our instinct is to ditch them. Our friends, our family, our relationships, our politicians, our employees. When we are not happy, we keep seeking a new happy ending. Instead of having grace and trying to work things out, we just move on. So there are trails of broken hearts and broken lives running rampant in rabbit trails all around us, on this pursuit of “happiness.”
The pursuit and cultivation of honor is really hard. It’s much easier to keep going the way we’ve always gone, to pursue our own happy and criticize everything else that’s in the way, to place blame everywhere else and play the victim.
But we aren’t victims. We are people of love, and honor, and grace. We live in a country with an amazing legacy. Obviously we are not perfect and we’ve made way more mistakes than I’d care to recount, but there’s something special about the original core of the American spirit. A country that started something totally new and somehow has kept it going for nearly 250 years. There were bumps and hiccups, but it’s been worth it.
In this time, we can choose. We can choose to live in fear and criticism and blame and escapism, or we can choose to be a people of honor and grace, with our leaders, our family, our friends, and our government.
It’ll be hard, but it’ll be good.
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Posted in General Posts by Jennifer McLain on 11/23/2011
So, they tell me that Thanksgiving is in a couple of days. I find this very hard to believe because there is no snow on the ground…In all reality, I’m in shorts and sweating and it’s not quite 8 AM. However, that does not mean we are not in the Thanksgiving mood around here! We are bringing Thanksgiving to Guatemala this year. My awesome teammate Sarah has devised the plan of hosting Thanksgiving and we have invited many of our friends we have made while being here (There are going to be 50 (mas or menos) people there)!
So on that same note, I have decided to dedicate this blog to listing just some of what I am thankful for.
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I am thankful for my awesome leaders (and friends), Julian and Glenalyn. They have been such encouragers to me and really challenge me. Individually they have taught me so much and I’m SO blessed to have them in my life. Julian is constantly challenging me with Biblical theology and Glenalyn has taught me a lot about finding my confidence in the Lord. Praise God for awesome leaders!
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I am thankful for Pastor Roni. We work with him on a daily basis and he has such a heart for us. Pastor Roni is the most servant-hearted person I have ever met. He drives us everywhere we go and gives up so much of his time to serve us. Here is a typical conversation I have with Pastor: “Pastor, thank you. You’re the best.” “No, Jesus is the best.” Then I will say, “Okay. Jesus and then Pastor Roni.” And then he just agrees. =P
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I am thankful for our ministry at the orphanage. Here I am with two of mi amigos mejor (best friends) David (age 2) and Rudy (age 6). It is always my favorite day when we get to go visit them and love on the kids. God has taught me so much through them and it will be very hard for me to say goodbye to them.
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I’m thankful for our panel van! Even though it has been very hard to pack 22+ people into the “limousine,” I’m thankful we have it, it gets us from point A to point B, and that it’s not more crowded than it already is! =D (Also, check out Jullian’s hair as compared to in picture numero uno)
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I’m thankful for all of God’s beauty that I have been able to see here in Guatemala. Every time I take a minute to look at the clouds, I am always astonished by how beautiful they are and how amazing God and His creation is.
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