First Day Back

It was good night rest but.  I cant help to think about the 9 homless children that are laying thier head down on their bed with no clothing, no food, no sanitary items.  I am not worthy to have the things that I have.  I am not worthy to go home to a family when there are 28 children in this orphanage that their parents abandoned them.  It is not right. I am a babbling idiot.  My heart is full of Gods love for people but yet there is an emptiness inside me as if I have lost my family.  The truth is I wanted to turn back once I hit customs in Houston.  America is so full of hate it broke my heart coming back...  The people and especially the kids of Guatemala will always have a special place in my heart...  What an impact that was made for the kingdom of God!  The bible says These things I command you, that ye love one another.  John 15:17.   Imagine the impact if everyone would take the time to love someone else.  God is the only one that can provide that Love and if you dont have the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart then you are lacking something that you cannot give.  If you are not saved and you dont have the assurance that if you were to die today and spend eternity in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, the bible says that you are separated from him and will spend an eternity in hell.  God does not want you to go to hell.  He loves you and sent his Son to this earth and died on the Cross sinless. so we could have a path to Heaven through Him.

Its The End... Or Is It?

So we are leaving for home with less clothing that when we came with.  Today we found out that the orphans had not clothes no food.  Which explained why every time at lunch the kids were so hungary.  We all pooled together and gave money and our own clothing to be given to the orphanage.The impact on these childrens lives will last for all of eternity!   Not only that it impacted the families of those children.  I gave a stickerbook to both Jeanette and Luis at the closing and had Kevin one of the translators put a message on the back that says I love you and will be praying for you. We handed out the clean heart Gospel Tract and Jeanette proceded to write something on the slate and handed it to me.  The translator then said it said I love you too and will be praying for you also. 

I feel like I have lost my entire family.  Here it is midnight and it is now Saturday.  We will soon be checking out of our rooms and will be on our way back.  My life and what I encountered this past week will never be the same and it will take many months to translate all that has happened over the past week.  A lot of tears have been shed today.  Tears of joy, tears of sadness.  Cannot wait to share with others what God has shown me.  My compassion for people has been elevated far more that I have ever knew.

God even allowed me to minister to a Christian family last night as well.  More to come.


See you soon!

Last Day

I cannot believe all the things that I have experience in these past 6 days. God calls me to a city that is over 3000 miles to wake me up.  Which explains why God has been hammering me with waking up all this week.  I am now paying for Gods will in my family since I commited to full time ministry   on Ocober 23rd of this year.  My emotions and the experiences will always be ingrained in my heart and mind for the rest of my life.  Its not about me its about His kingdom and His glory.  This will be the hardest day of my life as I have a close relationship with each child in my group and at 1200pm today will be saying my goodbyes and tears are going to be flowing like rivers...

Drained...

Words cannot explain what happened today.  I had the opportunity to lead two people to Christ and after the second one I could not witness any more.  I was done.  I found a spot in the area and just sobbed.  God used me in an incredible way today that completely broke.  I spewed my emotions to my translator Gabriel and how much God has changed the way I view people.  Gabriel turns around and tells me its not about us! 

The second person that God put in my path was a mother of a child and I witnessed to her for 20+ minutes.  And she stated she didnt want to recieve Christ because her brother was killed as a youth pastor and I continued to talk to her and she then wanted to recieve him.  As we bowed our head she began to sob and I followed.  Crying like a little baby.   This experience impacted me so much I gave her a hug with her child.
God then moved me to children around the movie.  I sat right in front of the movie and the next thing I know I have about 15 children of various ages around me and loved on them.  One of which was cold even with there jacket on and I motioned her to come and sit close so she moved back and I wrapped my arms around her and she sat there the whole time.  After the movie and preaching 8 of those children prayed to recieve Christ.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow.  I know I am going to be a absoluted wreck.  I have two families now. 

I Will Miss My Kids.

Last night I was thinking about my kids and my family at home.  I must say I am torn between them both.  Both I love very very much and yet both are separated by several thousand miles of space.  Last night I posted that I was out of emotion but then it hit me in the face.  I will not be seeing these kids again after Friday!!!   I have never cried this hard before in my life!  Even as I sit here this morning tears are rolling down my face!  God has split my heart wide open!  God has definately opened me up and gave me His eyes towards people!!  There is such an overwelming sence of Love that floods my heart!  This trip will always be a cornerstone in my life.One that will always remind me of how huge Gods love is for people!  I miss you guys back at home!  I truely wish that you were experiencing all the emotions and excitement with this trip!!  If I would have know ahead of time that this was going to happen to me I would still do it!  There is nothing more that I would love to do FULL TIME is ministry!  I dont want my desires.  I want HIS! 

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

1 Peter 3:8-18 (KJV)

Another Fruitful Day!

Te Hecha Menos! The Lord continues to work in my life in many different ways. This morning’s VBS was crazy hair day and there were many silly hair styles. I wore my wig from Halloween and the kids thought it was hilarious. God showed me that even having communication problem that God can still use it. I continue to minister to these 8 year old children and in fact 2 of them received Christ today after going over the path of salvation with the Evange-Cube. One of my kids that is learning English told me today that she loved me in my language. As the week grows short I definitely know that the valley is coming here in two days. I am all emotioned out and I don’t think I can cry another tear. Leaving Guatemala after spending my week serving and doing Gods work is going to be very emotional and very draining. I don’t believe that Friday I will be able to hold it together. Friday is the last time I will see my kids and I will not be able to see them until who knows when. I truly wish I had enough money that I could visit here more often for Nelson. I know that God will provide a way if it is His will.. This evening in evangelism The first person I hit was a Jehovah Witness and she was 48 and trying to suck all the time out of me and my translators. In fact God sent me to nothing but kids! There is so much I have left out because I want to save some of the testimonies to share directly with everyone and my family.




I never want this week to end… I could do this every day seven days a week and never get tired. I have some Spanish cds at home that I will most definitely complete I hope in the next year or six months from now.



People are getting better from the sickness and I believe that was done through the many prayers from First Bible Baptist. We love you guys and hope and pray that everyone there is doing ok!



In Christ.

I believe we will never be the same again!

Every person on this team has been impacted by Gods power in some way. I cannot speak for everyone but from tonight's get together Many hearts have been cracked open, wide open. Today I took the opportunity to jump in the inflatable with my eleven 8 year olds (lost one gained two). I was worn out and my kids loved it!!! I had a blast. I took the opportunity to learn the spanish phrase "I miss you" (te hecho menos). I used it this morning and it brought smiles to the kids and they gave hugs. I ran in to a guideons bible member and he handed me 30 spanish bibles. I then passed those bibles on to my kids and signed them. I have been learning a lot about these kids and their names and creating a relationship with these kids. I have also found out that there are nine children in our VBS group that are homeless to include Jeanette and Louis. After the VBS was over and we were cleaning up I was broken and crying. I had one of the interpraters who is 15 years old walk up to me and ask me if I wanted to pray for Jeanette. That was just one more thing to add to my emotional super highway. I dropped to my knees right there pouring my heart out for these children.

God has put a lot of people in my life from other states and even countries here. They will always have a special place in my heart. If I was single I would not be returning home.

I have a new prayer request and that request is that my heart for people is not destroyed when I return that the valley never comes and that my desire for people never dies.

Its not about me......

The Enemy Attacks But God Prevails!

First of all thak for the prayers for no rain. It only sprinkled and the sun was out part of the time as well. God does answer prayer! What an absolutely AWESOME time I had with VBS. 130 kids. I was assigned the 8 year old kids. So precious, so sweet it wasn’t even 5 minutes and one of the children (Jeanette) clinged to me and loved on me the whole time. Jeanette had a pressure bandage on her head covering severe burns on her mouth. She melted my heart! Then there was Louise. He enjoyed being around me and followed me around where ever I sat. During the latter part of the day we were doing the lesson and I had both Jeanette on the right and Louise on the left and had my arms around them both. When the teachers asked for prayer I specifically requested prayer for Jeanette. We prayed together still holding those children in my arms. Jeanette had her head on my leg as we were praying. Then throughout the day sat with them and helped them to read their memory verse in English.

The enemy has been fighting us all evening today. I sowed seed after seed but it was as if there was no response for decision. We got booted out of a neighborhood within less than an hour. Moved to a more open neighborhood and were running in to witches, Jehovah Witnesses and others. The first person I approached responded with a works response but no matter how much I pleaded with this person (George) he did not want to get saved because he wanted to head to church and bring a friend with him. That happened right before we got booted out. We moved to the other neighborhood and the first person I hit there says “I don’t believe in the bible” It threw me off. But I continued to witness. Mitch had the opportunity to lead 3 young people to the Lord at the last little part. And they are pursuing discipleahip as well.

More to come!

The Emotional Rollercoaster

If I would write everything that happend today to me, it would be a small novell. I have fallen in love with the people of Guatemala and from this point forward they will always have a special place in my heart. Where to start. Woke up this morning at 5:45am after a 4 hour sleep and was ready to go had a wonderful authentic breakfast and tried fried plantains and absolutely loved them. Black beans with cream and home made tortillas that are much lighter that those from the US. They are made out of corn here. After breakfast We ran in to a policeman that had an UZI machine gun strapped to his body. Rob got permission to get a picture of him and Van proceeded to share the Gospel with him and he got saved. You should have been there to see the countenance change and a smile of being saved. I was glad I was wearing my sun glasses becuase I was crying like a little baby over his decission. Church was awesome! The music sang was God Of This City, I Can Only Imagine, and more, playing back all the things that have been happening in the past several weeks until now tears flowing like rivers down my face praising the Lord with a heart felt attitude. After that there was about 30 minutes or so of fellowship as I took the opportunity to meet the people of the church and hand stickers out to the kids and using optical illusions on them that totally captivated them.

Then there was Lunch and God gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel and lead a lost soul to the Lord and at the end I told him to take that Gospel tract and share it with someone else and tell them what had just happened. I went and sat down and he had walked away finished lunch and Victor returned with a buddy and he had given him the tract and Jim Lewis then proceded to lead him buddy to Christ. Then they asked for more of the tracts so they could pass them on to more of their friends. Another tract was handed out to another individual and Bob had the opportunity to lead them to Christ. The sad thing was he was a father of 4 and he was homeless with his kids. It broke my heart!!!

There are many more thigs that have happened in today it will have to wait to be told there in person.

God is answering prayer. As I have requested I wanted to get God's eyes and He is answering it! I cant help to think about that were lead to the Lord how the Gospel message is spreading like wildfire from one person to the next.

Today Nelson wanted to see a goal of 5 families discipled. From what I understand there were 4 families.

Until next time.

In the darkness holding up the Light!

Touch Down 2:25PM

Guatemala! I am still beside myself and cannot believe I am here! Praise the Lord EVERYTHING made it here and we had not one issue with luggage or customs! As we were approaching the landing I was able to see out the window and all the architecture. I wish you could have seen the buildings. The houses were so close together you could reach out and shake your nieghbors hand. Everything is old and run down but beautiful. Our first night was great God worked in a lot of peoples lives here and Jim Lewis lead someone to the Lord for the first time ever. I myself had the opportunity to council an 84 year old lady that made a confession after viewing the Jesus Film. Mitch has been the recording guru from the time we left KC to now and as I type this they are downloading all the video footage. Wife you would not like the bus rides it was very very close and crowded. Luggage packed to the ceiling and every single seat on the vehicle filled. On the way to the Evangelism site. Bryon was packed in with a bunch of youth in the back of a pickup then Randy jumps in on top of Bryon and looks like he was sitting on Bryons lap. A lot of pictures were taken. I was with Gene Johnson and Crystal Sanchez and our interpriter was an 18 year old named Gabriel who was saved at 6 years old and is now trying to start a business creating Laptop covers/bags for laptops. The nieghborhood we were in was in a richer part of the nieghborhood but it was all walled up so you cant approach the homes front door. Most of the people we talked to spoke english, and very good at that, but they chose to speak in their native toungue.

God has fired me up and I would rather go out and share the gospel with everyone I come in contact. In fact I have been making every effort to hand out Gospel tracts to everyone I run in to. If sleep was an option I would not be sleeping! We had Pizza Hut for dinner tonight because of how late it was and we gathered around in the Lobby to share what God had showed us and prayed for several of those that were encountered.
I was able to hand out a few stickers to some kids and share the Gospel with their parents.

Pictures are coming. Videos are coming. Just keep an eye on the facebook page!

God keeps taking me back to Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

I personally dont want this week to ever end. I am so on fire for the people here. I could do this day in and day out.

HERE AM I LORD. SEND ME!

12 hours

Wow hard to believe I will be leaving in about 12 hours for a foriegn country for the first time ever! I know the nervousness is there but God is giving me peace that surpasses all understanding. I am honored and humbled and excited. I doubt that any sleep will come out of this evening. I will be waking up at 4am in the morning and loading the van and leaving promptly at 5am for the airport. We tried to get checked in on line but because of being in a group we have to check in at the airport directly. Satan has been trying everything in his power to attempt to hinder us from doing Gods mission, Gods will. I am sure he is not done yet. Please pray for all of us that the planes have no issues and there is no issues at the connecting flights and passports go well. In addition we are taking a tremendous ammount of extra luggage and pray that all of the items in those bags makes it as well as our own luggage. This will probably be my last entry till tomorrow evening I may be able to get an entry in at the airports.

Till next time.

Faith

One of the main things I believe that God is teaching me here is faith in him. Faith that can move mountains. As Saturday draws near I am finding myself being flooded with fear with anxiety. Not in a bad way but in a good way. I am finding myself consistantly thinking about the people of Guatemala. I am excited and honored to be used of God to share the Gospel to people in a foriegn country and from what I have been told that they are very receptive to. For the first two days there even from the very first day we arrive and check in to the hotel. We will be hitting the streets and nieghborhoods running! Setting up for the Jesus film and preaching the gospel and sharing Christ with anyone who will listen. There is nothing more for this next week I would like to do. In fact I wish it was on a permanent basis. I cannot believe I feel this way and I have not even boarded the plane yet!

This week God has completely put me on my face and I may be doing things working eating and talking to people but inside I am praying God give me your eyes and show me something in this trip that will completely change my life as if I was saved all over again. Change my view on people! Spark a fire in me that will never be quenched. Those of you that are around me have probably noticed day after day how I have changed. I seem to be more quiet and more focused. I seem to humbled more as well.


I pray that these seven days will provide me a clear path and understanding as to what God's plan is for my life. He has me right where he wants me.

I want to share with you one my all time favorite Christian songs called Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath. The lyrics are below and the song follows. Every time you hear this song on the radio I want you to pray for me that I get God's eyes.

Lyrics to Give Me Your Eyes :
Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight

Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath

There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time

Pre Chorus / Chorus

I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you’ve seen the people all along

Chorus

WAKE UP!

What an incredible week it has been spending my quiet time with the Lord. I am now on Genesis 12 and God called Abram to move out of the country. My heart his becoming more and more focused not just on Guatemala but on people. I broke down yesterday as we were breaking out Romans 9 during mens bible study. God hit me with a huge brick and the question popped in to my head. Who am I that I should choose who goes to heaven or who goes to hell? If you are a Christian when was the last time that you asked someone the big question? If you were to die today do you have the assurance that you would spend and eternity in heaven? When was it that you asked that question? Was it today? Yesterday? Last week? Last year? NEVER? If so why have you not asked that question? Was it pride? Fear? Shame or just plain laziness. Romans 13:10 states And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. WAKE UP! We have people dying not only in Guatemala but here in the United States. People are passing through the gates of hell like water flowing over the edge of a cliff. Why? Because we will not do anything about it! People are getting closer and closer to the edge of death every second of every minute with not one person standing in the front of their path saying stop turn back you are heading for hell!

God is waking me up out of my slumber and there is not a second of the day that goes by that I dont think about the souls of people in my life that are headed to a Christless eternity called hell. I wake up with that thought and I lay my head down with that thought.

Two weekends ago right after I gave in to the Lord on my calling. God used the Chaplain in my unit to speak to me on Sunday. It was in Isaiah 6.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Isaiah 6:5-8 (KJV)

God is calling you if you are a Christian. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Your response should be "Here am I; send me!"

2 days and a wakeup and I will be stepping foot on foriegn soil to preach the gospel. I am scared to death and I am excited at the same time. It is an honor and a privledge to do God's work! There is nothing more that I would want to do! Here am I Lord. Send ME!