Posted in A Trip Update by Chelsey Keel on 6/28/2010
Sunday night was definitely one to remember! About half of our team braved a truck ride through pouring rain to arrive at a local church service. We planned to attend it and maybe sing one song. However, when we arrived, we found out that the pastor expected us to conduct the entire service. SURPRISE!
We quickly put together a list of things to do, and we did it well. We sang, read Scripture, played the piano, shared testimonies and gave a brief message. Some of us even sang acapella! We truly felt out of our comfort zone, but God has a plan for the night. No matter how afraid and embarrassed we felt, we rejoice because God´s plan for the night worked out!
Posted in A Trip Update by Hanna Miecznikowski on 6/28/2010
So often, we tell God everything we want and need, and we throw up a few words of praise or maybe a bit of confession, but then we walk away. We end our prayers, and we have never even given the Lord a chance to speak. What a crazy concept! How would you feel if someone came up to you, talked your ear off for twenty minutes and then walked away--never giving you a chance to respond or share your thoughts?
On Saturday, our team devoted the entire day to listening to the Lord in prayer. We talked about ways to hear from God and how to test what you hear to make sure it is from the Lord, and then we spent the entire day going out in small groups and doing the things we had heard from God. Below are some stories from our team. Some share their experiences, and others just share what they have learned about how God speaks. Take some time to read through them and see what the Lord is doing. We are growing in our faith and obedience, and we are seeing the Gospel go out! -- Hanna
STORIES:
From Lauren...
Coincidence? I don´t think so!
Until training camp, I had never heard of ATLs. ATL stands for "Ask The Lord" and it means ask the Lord and wait for an answer. I don´t know about you, but I was a little skeptical about this. I went into ATL day praying that God would help me hear Him and that I would be positive.
After listening to some ATL pointers, our team prayed for about 30 minutes and wrote down anything we thought God said. We had everything from tires to pizza to a trident. After praying for guidance, we set off to figure out what God had planned for us. I think we were all a little excited and really nervous. We found many of the things on our list (including a man to pray for near a tire pile and a group of kids to share Trident brand gum with while witnessing!) and prayed for lots of people. However, I still kind of felt that these were coincidences. But then, two little boys came up to us and asked us to buy them pizza. This was crazy because, while praying I had seen pizza. We had just laughed it off and said it was my stomach talking. Obviously not! So we ordered a pizza and spent the time it took to cook sharing Christ with the little boys, one of whom turned out to be a believer. It was so fun! I believed in talking and listening to God before, but now I believe that He really does talk to us every day. We just have to want to hear and listen!
From Lydia...
I prayed and listened and God showed me a man in a green and red shirt. Pretty random, right? Well, as we walked through the village, guess what I saw? A man at the front window of a restraunt wearing a green and red shirt! Right away we went over to him and asked if we could pray for him. His eyes swelled up with tears and after a a moment he said, "Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you. You are messangers from God!"
From Garrett...
Saturday was the first time I had done an ATL. We talked about it all trip long and I tried it in private every day but never heard anything so I wasn´t too excited. Before our ATL, we each partnered with someone from another American team we didn´t know and did listening prayer for them. I was so surprised when the Lord brought something specific to my mind to pray for the guy I was with and then he said that my prayer directly applied to his life. For the first time, I heard something from God, and it was true!
From Amy...
Listening prayer seemed uncomfortable and awkward at first, but then I had a few thoughts of what God wanted me to do for the day, nothing huge. However, my team stepped out in faith and walked around San Pedro. We ended up near the mudslide, a devastating place that I had visited days before and been really impacted by a man´s story there. This day, we were at the mudslide for a different reason. God provided deep spiritual conversation between our teammates and we grew more unified. Following God´s leading to this place caused me to have more confidence in hearing Him speak to me in prayer.
From Mari...
Saturday, our team did listening prayer to see what kind of adventure God would take us on. After a while, the others in my group were all coming up with stuff like "mudslide", "blades of grass in water", etc., but I was not hearing anything. We ended up going to the mudslide and worshiping together there. None of us really knew what to do next so we split up and walked around just talking to the Lord individually. Suddenly, I realized that God was telling me to change--change my ways and turn negativity into something positive for Him. He wanted me to stop trying to live for myself and to start living with Him in my heart. I talked to two other girls and a leader about this. They really helped me and let me know that they´re always going to be there for me. What I learned out of the experience is that God accepts me just as I am but loves me too much to let me stay that way.
From Emily...
While praying, my team heard many different things: team unity, worship, bottom of a volcano, water with grass growing through it, mudslide and surrender. I went into the day thinking that our whole team would end up together somewhere in worship and surrender, but that was not God´s plan at all. We started walking down a hill near the lake and ended up near a place at the foot of a volcano where grass grew in the shallow water at the bottom of the mudslide area. We prayed there and worshipped God. Some team members surrendered themselves more fully to God, and bonds were built between all of us. God´s purpose for our day was to minister to one another and grow in unity so that we would be better prepared to serve here. What a great day!
WHAT WE´RE LEARNING:
From Lizzie...
"I found out what it´s like to follow God when you don´t know where you´re going or why. I learned how to trust that God has a plan and will guide me even when I don´t understand."
From Anna...
"I have heard about God speaking back to people in prayer, but I never knew how it really worked. Learning about this brought me closer to God along with touching the lives of other people along the way. It was amazing to see the reaction of other people being thought of, pursued and prayed for."
From Kacie...
"At first, listening prayer seemed a little too cool, fun and hookie pookie to be true. After my own experience with it, God showed me that He does talk back and that listening to Him really works!"
From Allie...
"Starting out, I didn´t understand listening prayer and had my doubts about hearing the Lord. After our day of following listeing prayer, I know God has many things to tell and show me."
From Holly...
"God showed me through others that God is above all in the world, and we are truly his messangers sent from Heaven."
From Elliot...
"Listening prayer showed me that God will answer you if you call upon Him. It showed me to trust what God said to me and follow it. Our team ended up more unified because we listened to God."
This morning we visited the site of a mudslide that occurred here in San Pedro less than one month ago. I have never seen anything like what I saw today. When you stand on the shore of Lake Atitlan, you see the exquisite beauty of the mountains and the water, but when you turn around and face the land, all that meets your eyes is destruction. People´s homes were destroyed, their crops obliterated. Everything is covered in mud. Debris littered the area--ruined clothes, shoes, dishes, toys, chairs. We even saw a gift that a child had made for his mother with the words "Feliz dia Mama" written on it.
In the midst of the destruction, there stood a man chopping firewood for his family--wood that used to be the walls of his home... He told us about the mudslide and explained that he and the others who had lived in the area had nothing left but the clothes on their backs. They have no food, no money and no help. Their own government is not even helping them because of some racial issues between the Latin people and the Myan people.
As we prayed with the man, he wept and cried out to God fervently, yet we also heard him thank the Lord over and over again in his prayers. It was so touching to see that he thanked the Lord for His goodness even despite all the devastation in his life. To me, that is a huge testimony to the hope we find in Christ and the fact that, although there will be troubles in this world, the Lord takes care of His children and has a better place prepared for us in Heaven.
As we unloaded out of the pick up trucks, kids started crowding around us. People began to sit and get ready for the service. One family with two elderly people and a young girl came and sat in the front next to me. All were seated except for the young girl--I was confused and intrigued. The service continued with songs and skits and testimonies, but, out of the corner of my eye, I could still see the girl standing.
At the end of the worship, Pastor Antonio welcomed the family to the front and we prayed over them. It turns out that the girl was sick and couldn´t sit--most likely because of a hernia--so we prayed for her specifically and are trusting God to bring healing. The unity of the Guatemalen people with our American missions team in prayer was breath-taking. The Holy Spirit was alive and present with us as a light unto the people of Guatemala. Gracias a Dios!
Posted in A Trip Update by Holly Sullivan on 6/24/2010
Thursday, we attended a festival in San Juan. Our team broke into small groups with the goal of praying for the city and talking to people about Jesus. Chelsey, Lizzie and I walked around and said ¨Hola¨ to all the little kids, including three shoe-shine boys. After we passed them, Chelsey said, "Hey guys, I think we should go back and talk to those boys about Jesus."
Lizzie and I felt skeptical because of the language barrier, but Chelsey convinced us. We walked over and sat down next to them while Chelsey pulled out a Spanish tract and explained God´s love. I was amazed how well Chelsey could communicate with them, and I knew God made it possible. We left the boys feeling satisfied that we made an impact in their lives, and we prayed that God would work through them.
Later, when we met up with everyone else, a loud latin band was playing in the arena. We rounded up some kids to play Pato, Pato, Ganzo (Duck, Duck, Goose). The best part of this was that Griselda, a girl we met at church the day before, came up to us and hugged us. We loved seeing her again! All the kids are so happy to play with us and grateful for what they have.
Posted in A Trip Update by Elliot Condon on 6/23/2010
Wednesday, our team hosted a children´s program at Pastor Eduardo´s church. We performed skits, sang songs, read Bible stories, learned verses and made crafts. The children seemed so content with what they had and just so happy to spend time with us. God really shone through the kids and showed me how blessed I am and how appreciative I need to be. God spoke to me through these kids. We all need to live a life for Christ and realize how blessed we truly are and not be selfish. God can do amazing things so just stay strong! Gracias a Dios!
Posted in A Trip Update by Emily Culmer on 6/22/2010
As we landed at the Guatemala City airport, the natural beauty of the country overwhelmed us, but we did not anticipate how the beauty of this place would continue to overwhelm us as we set out for a prayer walk on Tuesday morning. We saw a beautiful lake surrounded by amazingly green volcanos and hills all set below the bluest sky with the whitest clouds you can imagine. As we greeted the people we passed on the street, their joy and inner beauty overwhelmed us. The children´s smiles overflowed with joy, and their eyes lit up so bright that they could blind you.
Very soon after experiencing this overwhelming joy and beauty, we also felt overwhelmed by the poverty here--it´s worse than most of us have ever seen. Yet, the local people still seem full of joy. We struggle to understand this. They say that they need nothing, but we feel that they ¨"need" much more than they have. It´s humbling. Overall, our introduction to Guatemala has overwhelmed us with all of the joy and beauty around us.
Posted in A Trip Update by Kristen Torres-Toro on 6/21/2010
The team has arrived in Guatemala! They happy to finally be there--and excited about all God is going to do!
Pray for them as they travel to their lodging, settle in, and begin ministry! The leaders will continue to update you via this blog as time and internet availability allows.
Posted in A Trip Update by Hanna Miecznikowski on 6/20/2010
NOTE: We posted 3 times today. Please scroll down to read all of our new articles!
Father's Day Messages For Our Dads:
Happy Father's Day Daddy! Have a wonderful day in Big Bear!
--Love Emily
Happy Father's Day! I miss you and hope you're having a good time in Haiti.
Love you - Amy
Daddy!! Happy's Father's day! I'm sorry I'm not there to spend it with you. Make sure Mom gives you my card :) I love you so much! I can't wait to tell you all about my trip when I get back. I am so thankful to have you as a daddy. I love you, Lauren
Dad! Happy Father's Day. I love and miss you! I know people know you so you will have a GREAT day. Love, Elliot
Happy Father's Day Dave! I love you and miss you. I can't wait to see everyone. PS, tell Mom I miss her too. Love Mari
Hey Dad, I miss you a lot. Have a happy Father's Day! Love, Kacie
Happy Father's Day, Daddio! I miss ya and I'm sure you're on the river so I know you're having a great day! Love, Allie!
Hey Dad, I'm bummed I can't spend Father's Day with you and everyone back there at home. But I hope you have a wonderful day without me anyway. Happy Father's Day! Love, Lydia
Hi Daddy, I love you and I really miss you! I hope you have a great Father's Day! Love, Lizzie
Whaz up Pa??? Hope you are really enjoying and taking advantage of this time without me :) Well anyway, Happy Father's Day. Hope you have a great day with Mom and Betsy. Sincerely, Holly
Hey Dad! Happy Father's Day! I love you soooo much Daddy! I can't tell ya'll how much I miss all of ya'll. Please give my love to everyone, including Beary. I love you! Chelsey
Happy Father's Day Dad! Hope it's a great one and you and Mom and the girls have fun! :) --Garrett
Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you and I hope you have a really special day. -- Anna
Hey Dad! You are an incredibly amazing Dad that I am so thankful for every day. Love you lots, Julianne
Happy Father's Day Dad! May the Lord bless and keep you through the next year and show you more and more of Himself each new day. I love you with all my heart, Hanna
