CHANGE of PLAN

Today, Hermano Jesus's daughter got married.  We were all ready to go, dressed, nails painted, hair done, and ten minutes to go.  Daniel, the guard, quickly came in the building and asked for Justin.  Justin rounded the corner and Daniel spilled out, "There is a fire really close and we need to move the vehicles."  Moving the vehicles means moving a van that hasn't moved in 7 months (of which a mechanic team is coming in 5 days to fix).  Ugh, good thing I grew up on the farm!

Four vehicles were pulled around (one with a flat tire) and we walked back to the chicken co-op and the fire was blazing and crackling.  I ran up and changed out of my dress, yeah you read that right . . . I was wearing a dress.  Then returned to the front lines and started fighting the blaze with 3 nannies and the guard.  Even though it has rained a few times already within the past two weeks, the pine needles on the ground, mixed with the leaves, added some impressive fuel to the fire.  We believe someone was making carbon (wood coal type substance to be used to start campfires later) and the fire got out of control.  As we write this tonight, the smoke is still going as more fires are popping up.  The flames were licking the fence.  Needless to say we did not take pictures of the biggest flames.

The six of us only had two garden hoses and a few buckets to do the fighting.  After about 30 minutes Estuardo came along with a neighbor and two other guards.  The "fire" department was called, which only consisted of two guys in fireman garb and a pick up truck.  One hoped the fence, the other just walked around and was debating about calling the water tanker (which was about 45 minutes away).  After even more neighbors came, and a few phone calls for people to pray, the large portions near the base were contained.

We are praying for it to rain tonight, and hoping for a quiet night as this firefighting team is tired.  The girls were down in the orphanage helping, as the nannies were fighting the fire as well.  When the help arrived, and the nannies returned downstairs, the girls shifted to the "lunch wagon" with lemonade and cookies for those that came to help.

Thank you for those of you who prayed.  We pray for rain tonight, for the smell of smoke to leave the base (oh is it BAD!), and for the fire to be complete contained.


The wedding went well, we just did not get to go.........Oh what a day...
~Vicki

Provision

Justin and his amigos are in Mexico.  A bit later than planned but there none the less.  Thanks for your prayers as they crossed the boarder.  Now, pray for the teachers and fellow pastors that are participating in the Timothy Leadership training.  May the Holy Spirit reign down on this gathering and dwell among these men and women.  May a movement that Glorifies God begin in each of their lives~!

Thanks also for praying for Wendy.  Wendy and her mom have traveled to Guatemala City more times than I can count trying to make headway in obtaining her passport.  Each time they have been told the same thing, we need WEndy's dad to sign the paperwork.  Numerous attempts have been made to located him with no success.

UNTIL TODAY!  God has answered our prayer!  Wendy's dad has passed away and his 'death certificate' has been located!  Our prayers have been answered and this is the best scenario possible for the situation at hand.  On Wednesday, Wendy and her mom will return to Guatemala City again but this time they will have an extra piece of paper.

Please continue to pray for Wendy as we continue on the path of obtaining the passport and then the much more difficult visa.  All with a deadline of the end of July looming over our head!

We know a God that is timeless, un-demensional, and unconditional.  God has a plan for the pastors in Mexico, for today, for tomorrow and for eternity.  God has a plan for Wendy, for today, for tomorrow and for eternity.  God has a plan for you, for today, for tomorrow, and for eternity.  Are you willing to take time and Thanks HIM for HIS provision?  Are you willing to continue to circle Wendy and Timothy Leadership in Prayer?  Are you willing to pray with persistence?

IF SO, God will continue to blow our minds with HIS provision!

Wisdom comes...

As the rain falls down tonight, creating a symphony all around us I am reminded of what this day was and is: a unique gift from God.

How did you spend your day today? 

I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to the many people that sent e-mails and provided prayers and insight with my call for wisdom in my decision to go to Chiapas, Mexico for the next Timothy Leadership Training.

In response to the plans for tomorrow….

Hermano Jesus, Pablo, Darvin, Guillermo, Miguel, Dan, and myself will leave PBM around 3pm and head to Huehuetenango.  There we will spend the night and then leave early Monday morning for the border.

Once we get across the border (PRAY for smooth paperwork for the Guatemalans…Dan and I should have no problems)….then we will meet Pastor Miguel from Chiapas who will travel with us to Las Margaritas. 

TLT will start around 4pm on Monday and last until Thursday noon.  After the conference we will head back to Huehuetenango for the night and then return to the base around noon.

*We ask for prayers for safety with the travel

*A hedge of protection for the 25 pastors that will be gathering (6 different denominations!)

*For God to give the right words to those teaching

*For the Lord to cover us (the team traveling) with cloud by day and in the night glow of a burning flame!!!...let the traditionalists that have brought problems for Christians in the past, be blinded and blocked from encountering what we feel God leading us to do....

Join us in prayer for what God will continue to do in the Chiapas area…..

Some GREAT missionaries (The Kempers) used to say “Chiapas para Cristo” which means: Chiapas for Christ……

We go with the same heart, but with the motto…”Chiapas con Cristo”…..Chiapas with Christ.

Update on Wendi and a hunger for Wisdom....

UPDATE on Wendi’s last meeting:

We just got word that things did not go well again with the Passport office for Wendi.  Since Wendi’s father’s name is on the birth certificate and since she is only 15, the office is saying that they have to have both parents’ signatures.  We are now onto the next step, we are not 100% sure what that is.  We do know that her first surgery is scheduled in August…..but she needs a passport and then a visa….pray with us for all things to clear and to clear QUICKLY!

~Vicki

Wisdom. 

It is a true mystery.  It is often something that we do not see within ourselves.  It can escape us if we are not looking for it and it can show up when we least expect.  It is not knowledge, and it is not information.   Wisdom is something deeper.

I have longed for wisdom.  Not the wisdom that comes from books and schooling only.  I long for the wisdom that is richer than that: The wisdom from the Lord.  It is this covering that can come and go.  If you tell someone you are wise, they think you are arrogant.    If you show someone you are wise, they sometimes will marvel.

Wisdom.  Let it not escape us.  I went looking for wisdom many years ago.  When I was 21 years old, I was determined to seek after wisdom.  I knew that I could not grab onto it alone.  I knew God spoke in and through others, and so I went chasing it. 

I carried with me a red book whose pages were blank.  When I read or heard a quote that spoke to the depth of my soul, I wrote it down.  Sometimes it was scripture, other times it came from within.  I wanted to grow from the wisdom….and then pass it on to my son and daughters.  May they fall in love with the wisdom of the Lord the way that I have.  I still have that book today.  I still add to it today at different times as well.  I go back through it from time to time to scroll through the pages and let it marinate my soul once again. 

It is with this same passion that I request your help in my quest for continued wisdom.  I have a decision to make and I need to make it by Sunday at 3pm (4pm Central Time).  Sunday through Thursday in Las Margaritas, Chiapas is the next Timothy Leadership Training seminar for 25 pastors.  There would be 8 of us going up to teach, lead devotions, and assist these pastors and to train them in the Biblical Truth.  This part of Chiapas is one of the most persecuted parts of Mexico and Central America.  The traditionalists are those who have a mix of Catholicism and Mayan beliefs.  They have been hurting Christians, kidnapping them, and even killing them.  Yet, in and through this, the Christians are crying out for help and hope from the Lord….they want more.  The Church is still living there! 

I am faced with the decision: to go or not.

To go: to be an encourager and help with the seminar.  I would lead two devos and help host and assist.

To Not go:  Would my presence as a “gringo” make the group more of target (which is a serious concern that we all are talking it through).

This decision has been given to me to make.  I long to make the wise choice.  Maybe not the choice best in the sight of mankind, but the choice in the sight of the Lord is what I want to do.

Pray with me BUT more importantly, pray for the pastors in the Chiapas area that WANT more of Christ and want to share Him with those in the area.  There is Hope in the name of the Lord.

~Justin

Prayers Needed

Today there is a very important meeting happening in a small little office with a mom and her daughter and government agent. Wendy is needing a passport and Visa to be able to travel to Ohio for some very needed surgery that she is not able to receive here in Guatemala.  Wendy was born with some intestinal mal-normalicies, and a hospital and team of doctors is willing to donate their time and resources to help Wendy, 15 years old.

Here is where you come in!  Wendy's birth certificate lists her dad, but he left the home soon after Wendy was born.  Now when the passport papers need to be signed the government wants Wendy's dad to sign them too.  So, we need prayers that in todays meeting there can be alternative paperwork filled out, or that the person listed on Wendy's birth Certificate can be located.

This is literally life and death for Wendy!  We need a million dollar prayer answered TODAY!  Will you please join in storming the gates of Heaven in Wendy's name!

With anticipation,

Vicki

We are at WAR!

Well, only kind of.  You see, we have a deck outside of our apartment and we absolutely love sitting out there to eat.  In fact, more times than not, we have our meals outside.  The view is amazing, the breeze is not too overpowering, the fellowship is just more "alive" when we can eat outside.  YET....yet, at night, we become under attack once the suns sets. We have a light on the outside as well.  Which brings in the June Bugs.  The kids simply cannot understand why they would come, given that it is still May.  However, come they do.  And then come the screams.  These dive bombing fools seem to have a death wish as the dive right towards us.  Hearing girlish screams from ALL of the kids, seeing hands swirling around forcefully to get them out of our hair, and having to double and triple check our food before we eat.

This adventure has not slowed us down from eating outside: we make adjustments.  We eat a little earlier.  We have a fly swatter ready.  We laugh it off when we can.

Isn't this true of life sometimes.  We really want something, but there is one small annoyance.  We need to make adjustments, plan and prepare, and laugh at ourselves.

                                                               How.bad.do.we.want.it?


Last week was Mother's Day and we celebrated the one and only Vicki.  A truly wonderful mother who can seem to do so much in so little of time.  So we went out to eat and with it being Sunday (which means insanity in terms of busyness) we went to the Pradera (fancy word for the mall food court).


Good times!!!!


Want to know what it is like to eat at Chimaltenango in the Pradera on Mother's Day?  Music and all at this link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9K1DLM5sG8&feature=youtu.be

Sums our family up well now...two languages....LIVE MORE!

Emilee

AJ and Kira

Naomi

Beautiful Flowers and.....corn growing together!

Panoramic pic of Lake Atitlan near Panajachel, Guatemala

National Geographic says: 3rd most beautiful lake in the world.....yep!

17 people from the Chuaquenum church were baptized

beautiful colors

Day One...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2Tp3asLU8

This new song by Matthew West sums it for us.  SO…

Before you continue on reading….go ahead and click on the above link and watch/listen to Day One by Matthew West.

We are down to less than 8 weeks left here in Guatemala.  We have had a lot of questions cycle through our heads in this journey that our family has embarked on.

Besides questions, we have taken note of various truths as well.

*We were called to come to Guatemala (for an actual season!)

*We always said that we would remain in youth ministry at our home church until we were called away (even though we never really gave much thought of what THAT would feel and look like when it was time to move on).

*We are truly called back to the States.  If there is any sort of running, it is into the arms of our LORD.  That same path that led us here to Guatemala is the same path that leads us back.

*Moving our family to a third world country that we have visited before was a leap of faith, BUT heading back to the States, yet not fully knowing what the “next step” looks like….now THAT is the leap of faith that this past year has been preparing us for.

*What is next?

As we proceed to finish well here in Guate, we continue to work on:

                        **The on site clinic organization and implementation

                        **Profiles for each pastor/church that is under the discipleship care

                        **Hosting various people that come to stay, visit, work, serve

                        **Update the painting (switching from flat that needs to be re-painted                                                                 each year, to semi-brilliant that can now be wiped down

Yet, the most important part is that we are doing what we can to live into the mercies of the Lord each day.  Each day is a gift.   We let the kids experience life in a third world country.  This means when we hear the words “I have it so tough” or “ I miss my friends” or “I have nothing to do”, we can easily share with them the world around us and then words seem to change to “God really does love everyone” or “how come they do not have……and how can I help” or “yeah…..pretty amazing”. 

We let imaginations go wild.  Like letting all of the kids make forts in the big room with chairs and blankets and then let them “sleep” downstairs, if you could midnight to 4:30 in the morning sleeping?

Each new day brings us closer to the next phase, whatever that will look like besides being in the States.  Each new day brings us His mercies and new ways of learning more of His heart.  Each day, can be and really is….Day One.

How are you living your day today?

~Justin

Cooling off on a hot day

capturing a rare moment....calm togetherness! 

Lesli and Emilee

first meal out on the deck with the "new" table...straight from a pallet

normal day

Happy Birthday Emilee

There are 6 kids in this photo...can you spot them?

Forts and kids and big spaces go well together...