Guatemala Day 3

Hola!  Como estas? 

We are doing great!  I continue to be amazed at the work that God is doing here.  It is certainly the work of he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)

This morning after worship, we went to observe our Ignite interns at another public school where they teach English.  Just like the school I told you about yesterday, PFM has been invited to this school by the school district superintendent to come into the schools to teach English.  The government recently cut the funding for English classes in public schools and the school district found out that we (PFM) were teaching English on school nearby.  The superintendent approached Potter's Field and said "We have 150 schools in this district.  Will you teach in them all?" - Talk about God opening doors! - Of course, we don't have nearly the staffing to teach English in 150 schools, but we can do 4, so that's what we're doing!

 This is a public washing place across the street from the school we visited.

Many women gather here to wash their laundry.

 The children were so excited to have visitors.  The boy in the left hand corner, saw my boys outside the classroom door and waved excitedly for them to come over.  Caden and Noah came over and the boys introduced themselves to each other in Spanish!

 This is one of the serving Ignite interns (completed training, deployed here in Guatemala) teaching English using a Bible verse.

 School we visited

Looking down the street from the school

 You can't tell but there are 17 of us in this van (and not this is not even a 15 passenger)!  Ha ha ha, road rules are bit different here!  Cobblestone roads make for a rollercoaster like ride and cars come from every direction on whichever side of the narrow street they can fit.  Fortunately, the cobblestone keeps you from going very fast.  Oh yeah, and pedestrians most definitely DO NOT have the right of way!

After lunch we spent the afternoon learning more about the day to day aspects of ministry here in Guatemala from various PFM missionaries and interns.  I had the privilege of talking for quite a while with one of the women who is a full-time missionary here.  She and her family (husband and three kids) have been on the mission field for 11 years in a few different Central American countries.  We talked about the challenges of homeschooling on the field and balancing ministry and family.  I learned much from here and was so encouraged!  Meanwhile, my boys were outside playing with her two daughter and two other young boys (missionary kids).  

Yesterday, at the Kids Club, Josh got to know a young man who is a Bible College student (there is a Bible College that meets at the PFM center).  He also works with PFM and has a real heart for the middle school aged boys.  He expressed a desire to learn to play guitar because he believes it could be an effective ministry tool in reaching these boys.  Today, Josh began guitar lessons with him.  Josh intends to work with him each day for the remaining three days of our trip.

This evening Josh and I lead worship for chapel and then were blessed to be taught by Pastor Pete (formerly of The Cry - Christian music group).

Walking the few blocks from our hotel to the center.

We continue to be so blessed by the privilege of being a part of this ministry.  God is in this place and he is moving in the people of this community.  It is so exciting!

Tomorrow will be a bit of a "rest" day.  I'm going with a few of the ladies to the village market after worship and the boys are going to hang around the center.  Then we'll see what the afternoon holds....

Love to you all!

Guatemala Day 2

So Much Fun!!!  Oh my goodness, I don't know how else to describe today.  It was long, busy, and exhausting....but SO MUCH FUN!!!  I am certain today we were spoiled as most mission trips are much more difficult.  I will say, I am BEAT!  My feet and ankles are killing me, but the joy in my heart greatly dulls the pain!

We woke up this morning and after breakfast headed to the PFM Center.  Josh and I lead worship for the Ignite chapel.  We have lead worship for Ignite interns 4 times now, and every time I am so humbled.  The deep heartfelt worship coming from young adults who have left their home, abandoned any personal plans or ambitions to give Jesus one year in complete service on the foreign mission field is awe inspiring and humbling.  What a privilege!  And let me say, although the PFM Center is beautiful  and in a fairly safe community, these interns work their....rear ends off all day.  They are either in intense Bible study and teaching or serving.

After chapel, we went with two vans full (read - MORE THAN FULL) of PFM staff to a public school where the interns who are deployed in Guatemala teach English classes 4 days a week.  Today, after their classes, Pastor Michael did a Gospel presentation with his pottery demonstration.  Josh played a few songs during part of the presentation.
~ A little bit of info about these English classes : PFM interns teach at four different schools for several hours each morning.  One of the interns said that altogether she teaches 300 students each week.  God supernaturally opened the door for this ministry!  That's a whole other story.  What I wanted to share though is that PFM has been very upfront about being a Christian organization.  Up to this point, the schools have allowed PFM to use Bible verses in their English classes but no Gospel presentation.  PFM has been praying for God to grow these seeds that are planted.  However, today was the first time that a school had allowed us to do an evangelical presentation!  Praise the Lord!  So exciting to be even a small part of that!

When this school outreach was finished, we headed back to the center for lunch.

After lunch was our Potter's Field Kids club.  Kids from all over the city come to the center!  We provide a meal and the kids just hang out and play for a while.   There were about 50 or so kids running around and it was so much fun to play with them.  Caden and Noah did a fantastic job getting to know and playing with other children.  Caden has perfected "Como te llama?" and "Me llamo Caden." and "Jesus Christo te ama (Jesus loves you!)  My sweet boy is a little missionary.  Noah also made a real effort to participate and be friendly, which is a little more intimidating for him.

At Kids Club we played Red Light Green light and a few different forms of tag.  Oh my goodness, I ran and ran and ran and I don't remember the last time I laughed as much as I did today.  It was a blast!  The kids are desperate for love and they attach themselves to you with very little effort.

 This little boy challenged me to a race during Red light Green light....He won....several times :)

After games we gathered together and sang a bunch of super fun songs in spanish with motions.  I have no idea what we were singing, but the dancing was hilarious.  The kids loved it...and so did I! :)  Then we gathered in a circle and sang a couple more mellow worship songs in Spanish and then English.

Then kids divide into age groups and there is opportunity for a little more one on one interaction with the kids.  Then they gather together for a Bible story/Gospel presentation.

This all takes about 2 hours.  Afterwards the kids are dismissed but invited to hang around and play in the field for a while.  Josh played soccer with a bunch of the older boys for a while and I spent some time chatting with some of the interns.

The rest of the afternoon/ evening was spent getting to know the PFM leadership better.  We came back to our hotel a little earlier this evening as we are all exhausted.  I'm not certain what tomorrow holds, but I can't wait! :)

Guatemala Day 1

Well we made it!  Monday was a LLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGG day!  We left our hotel (after less than 4 hours of sleep) at 5:45 AM.  After three flights, two layovers, three delays, two trips through security, two trips through immigration, two trips through customs, and 8 hours in the air we finally arrived in Guatemala at 1:00AM Tuesday morning! By the time we went through immigration and customs and then got to our hotel and into bed, it was nearly 3am! UG!  It was quite an adventure.  Though it was a long day and our last flight was delayed a few times, overall everything went very smoothly.  We had no hiccups in security or immigration and our flights were pretty much free of turbulence.  We all were able to sit together on each flight and the boys enjoyed flying for the most part.  (Caden loved every bit of it, but Noah got a little scared on our first take off.  For the next two flights he simply sat away from the window and put his head in my lap during take off. That helped and he was fine for the rest of the flights.)

Because we got in so late last night (actually early this morning), we delayed the start of our day a bit and had a pretty laid back day.  We slept until after 10am, which was soooo needed and then headed over to the PFM center.  This is where our Ignite school is and where the interns and staff live.  It's also where the church we partner with meets and where our Potter's Field Kids Club is held.  We spent some time with Pastor Michael Rozell (founder of PFM), Pastor Don McClure and several other PFM staff.  We discussed the vision of our partnership with them as well as the history and heart of Potter's Field. - While we had this meeting our boys played with a few children of PFM staff outside and had so much fun!  No doubt, this first day will a highlight of their trip.

After spending several hours at the center this morning, we were graciously allowed time to go back to the hotel to rest.  The boys played video games (the big boy "played" on the computer) and I took a nap!

Then this evening we went back to the center for a bit and then out to dinner with more PFM leadership.  This was a great time of fellowship and learning more about the ministry, but the real fun starts tomorrow! :)

Tomorrow Josh and I will lead worship for the interns in the morning.  Then we'll go help at one of the schools where our Potter's Field interns teach English (and share the Gospel ;)  Then tomorrow afternoon is our Kids Club!!! Yay!  I can't wait.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  I'll do my best to keep you updated as the week progresses.

The PFM Center is a little bit of an oasis inside the town.  

It is a safe place for the students to study, the church to meet, and the children to be cared for.

Mount Agua from the rooftop of our hotel

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