Prayer Requests

I have some prayer requests for anyone who would like to offer their time!

James 5:16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1. Spiritual Enlightenment. That God would continue to open His Word to me, in order to better reach/teach the children as well as adults that God puts in my life.
2. Protection. From Satan's tricks, and against danger. Zacapa is becoming a more and more dangerous place, with killings and armed robberies every day. Only God can keep me safe in His arms! Psalms 140
3. Direction/Guidance. That the Holy Spirit would lead and guide me every day, and that I would have the patience and quietness to listen to His voice.
4. Finances. That God would speak to people's hearts, even in these tough economic times, to donate to His work here in Guatemala.
5. Leaders. That God would raise up leaders here in Guatemala to pastor the congregations, to lead the children's services, and for the orphanage project in Jalapa.

Thank you! I cannot do this alone. I need you, my brother's and sister's to join me in this battle! Thank you so much for your time and prayers!

2008 In Summary

Good evening!

In this entry I would like to give a quick overview of what went on here in Zacapa during the year 2008.

I started out super busy in January, getting ready for a team of 18 that came in the middle of the month to build a school and do medical/dental outreach up in a mountain village called Agua Fria. That was an awesome success!

Throughout the year we had many different small groups of pastors come down from all around the States. The average trip was for about a week and a half, and with the pastors we would visit small village churches, schools, houses, and hold open-air services to bring the good news of Christ to as many people as we could.

This year we had over 15 small teams come to Guatemala. Some were short term, some were a couple months. Thank you to each one of you that may have come throughout this year. I/we really appreciate your help and concern! Please don't let it be your last!

Some of the construction projects recently completed this year are:

1. School building in Agua Fria. (Team from US)
2. Bathrooms in small church in Piedras Azules. (Locals)
3. Total cleaning and re-painting of church in Piedras Azules. (ALC Team from MN)
4. Construction of exterior benches, and rain pad for church in Piedras Azules. (Locals)
5. Construction of temporary church hut in Juan Ponce. (Locals)
6. Start of the construction of church in Juan Ponce. (Locals)
7. Start of the site work for future orphanage in Jalapa. (Little Lambs International)
8. Along with many other smaller projects.

The following are some of the outreach methods that I was able to be a part of, to reach the locals with the Gospel and the Love of Christ.

1. Distribution of Bibles in various churches and villages (Thank you, Foreign Mission of the ALC, for your large donation of Bibles)
2. Distribution of AUDIO Bibles.. solar powered Bibles for those that can't read, and the blind. (thanks to the private donors)
3. Distribution of tons of clothes and shoes to many of the poorest, thanks to the many donors!
4. Distribution of medicines to the ones that can't afford it. (Special thanks to ALC of Ashburnham, MA)
5. Regular open-air Bible stories/lessons/music for children in various villages
6. Open-air church services with visiting pastors in local villages, to reach non-church goers
7. Dental/medical missions to provide free dental care for the poorest people AND to gather the people for a Gospel message.
8. Youth activities including Bible studies, and organized outreaches to get them involved
9. TONS of hospital runs with injured, sick and/or dying children/adults.
10. Regular children's services/sunday school in 3 small local churches.
11. Regular church serves in 3 small local churches.
12. House visits to people who are suffering physically, mentally or spiritually.
13. Purchase of school materials in order for children to be able to study.
14. Much more.. these are just a few. Praise God.

In short, it's been a busy, but blessed year!! A LOT has happened, and I can't even begin to list everything. But I just wanted to give you all a quick overlook of some of the things that happened here in this last year. This next year, I hope to keep you all updated through this blog, so keep coming back for more!

The culture here is a lot different than in the United States, and sometimes it gets frustrating that they can't just do things the way we do. But I have had to learn the hard way, that it just doesn't happen like that! So, every day is a learning experiance, and I pray, and I hope you pray for me as well, that God would give me patience to deal with the people, and that my love for them would not dismay! Please see my prayer requests in the blog post above.

I want to end by saying THANK YOU to all of you, churches, organizations and individuals, who have supported me financially and spiritually throughout the year. An extra special thanks to the ALC Foreign Mission, for all of your support. Thank you, ALC of Ashburnham, my home church, for your awesome support as well! Your prayers and support are VERY much needed! Pray for me in this new year that the Lord would guide me and send me where he would, and help me to be more Christ-like in every aspect of my life! Muchas Gracias y que Dios los bendiga!

First Time Blogger!

Hello everyone.. I am new to this blog thing, and figured I would give it a try. I have been meaning to start doing newsletters, but have never been able to actually get that going. So hopefully I can use this blog to keep you all in the loop as to what is going on down here in Guatemala! If you are interested, keep checking back for updates.. I will try to post them as often as possible!

Forgive me in these first few posts while I try to figure this blog stuff out.. I would like to post pictures and stuff eventually but it might take me a while to learn all the tricks to this. So, thanks for your time, and I appreciate your interest in what God has me doing here in Zacapa! God bless!