God's plan

What a week. God had an AMAZING plan for this past week but it not match up with ours. First, the team was supposed to arrive here on Tuesday but instead they arrived on Wednesday. This really messed up "our" plans, but we have no idea what God saved us from that night as we didn't go to the ariport. There could have been some accident or someone who was going to follow us and chase us down. God kept us safe from all that by keeping us form the airport on Tuesday night.

Thursday we started building and boy, did we ever build. We had the house standing before lunch and the roofs and the patios on JUST beofore the rain. Usually this takes 2 days to finish. On the second building day, we applyed the stucco and painted the inside of the houses and decorated. After lunch, we dedicated 2 of the 5 houses. God showed up and did amzing things at these 2 houses. The next day, we packed two vans and took one of them to La Reina (the village where we build) and dediacted the other 3 houses. 2 of these 3 families accepted Jesus as their Savior, please be in prayer for Rodolfo and his son Leonel as they had excues and ran away for Jesus that day. Also pray for Carolina (Rodolfo's wife) and Ingrid and Veronica that they will be a good example of a Christ Follower to their husband/father and son/brother.

After the dedications, we left to go to the village to do a medical clinic. On the way, the rain started and it rained and rained and rained! Usually the rain would not be a problem but the intresting thing about this village is that it is a squatter's village which means that the people living there are just "squatting" there until the government tells them to move. And so here they didn't have a school or any good place where we could go out of the rain. We sat in the vans and waited and waited for the rain to let up. I think we waited for a hour and finally Dan decided to just leave but GOD did not want us to leave; HE flooded the roads so we really couldn't leave. Finally the rain let up and we set up the clinc under a tarp. God showed HIMSELF strong at this village and many people came to know Christ as their Savior including the team members.

At the second clinc God showed up again and lives were changed including my own. This week God really taught me to TRUST in HIS plan because "As for the LORD, His ways are perfect..." ~2 Samuel 22:31

Running the Race

"You know as well as I do, it is one thing to start something. It's something else entirely to complete it. Relax! 'Don't start what you can't finish' is not my point. To be honest, I don't believe you should finish everything you start. Every student with homework just perked up. There are certain quests better left undone, some projects wisely abandoned. Though i wouldn't list homework as one of them! We can become so obsessed with completion that we become blind to effectiveness. no, my desire is not to convince you to finish everyting. My desire is to encourage you to finish the RIGHT thing.

Certain races are optional. Other races are essential-like the race of faith. Consider this admonition form the author of Hebrews in Chapter 12:1, "let us run the race that is before us and nenver give up."

Finish STRONG my friend." A little story from Max Lucado that I found in an envelope from my friend from home!

This just really encouraged me this week as I was reminded that I am here for less than one month. Continue to pray that Dan, Anya and myself will be filled with God's love and continue to pour out God's love to the Guatemalans and to the 3 teams! Thank you SO much!!!

see you later

Wow, The 3rd team has come and gone. What a wonderful group of people, again! God has done amazing things here this week also! He has changed lives and people won't be the same; the Guatemalans and the team members and myself! During the second medical clinic I was saying goodbye to the Guatemalans at the village, and God brought to my mind the fact that we, as Chrstians, never say goodbye. We WILL see each other again in Heaven! The next day during devotions, one of the team members talked about that same thing. She said that her grandfather would never say goodbye, he would say "see you later." What a wondeful thing! And so I started thinking back to all the Guatemalans I have seen, cried with and hugged and knew that one day, one GLORIOUS day, I will see them again in Heaven! And there we will be able to converse with each other without a lanuage barrier! I thought about the family I had met at the second medical clinic with the first team. The family with 3 little boys who will now grow up knowing Jesus Christ. I thought about the girl who I prayed with at the 4th village, who is now my sister in Christ. I thought about the older women I prayed with and hugged at the 6th village. And one day, I will see them ALL in Heaven! I also thought about the 3 teams so far and how I will never see some of them again but ONE GLORIOUS DAY we will praise our Heavenly Father together in Heaven! "Amen, Come Lord Jesus." Revelations 22:20