A Prayer of Dedication

Yesterday we all went with Jimmy to the monthly Kekchi pastors' meeting in Sayaxché. Usually Jimmy goes by himself, but this month was special. Since we work in missions every weekend and aren't a member of a church here (soon it will be the church in San Pancho), Jimmy asked if the pastors would have a prayer of dedication over Eden.

{Domingo giving a report about his missions work}

This church in Sayaxché is the same place Jimmy holds the KBI modules. I would say it could possibly be one of the hottest places on this earth. I think it's only competition would be our current rental house. It has the same itty bitty windows and for some unknown reason half the time they are closed... why people... why?!

The high yesterday was 104 degrees. Luckily today the high is only 102. This kind of heat makes you crazy. You just walk around drenched and stinky all day and sometimes all night. Since our windows are so tiny, no breeze gets in. We have window air conditioning units in the boys bedroom and in our room that we run at night to be able to sleep, but when it is this hot, the concrete block heats up so much, that the air conditioners can't keep up. While we were in Guate, they must have hooked up more people to the transformer we are on because there is not enough power now to even run one unit in our house. My washing machine trips our breaker half the time. The wires get so hot in our roof that they just can't handle anything. Jimmy hoses off our roof every evening. This makes me even more thankful for our forever house where we have more windows than walls!!! I just have to make it a month and a half to rainy season and this should be our last dry season in this house. I am SO thankful.

So for now we drink lots of water and pray for rain!

We are so thankful for the friendship and partnership with these national pastors and missionaries. We were very honored to have them pray for Eden and for us as parents.

Pastor Mateo led the prayer. He is the legal representative for the Association of Kekchi Baptist pastors in Petén. He is also on the board of directors for the institute. (This is not the same Mateo that pastors in Poptún.) When the Kekchi pray they all pray out loud at the same time. It is a beautiful thing to hear and it is encouraging to us to see their love for our family.

Profitable

Guess what pastor Mateo preached out of yesterday? The book of Revelation! His mission is going to go through the entire book together. Do you see the book on the corner of the table? That is the textbook from the latest KBI module! That is the whole point, for the pastors to take what they learn back to their churches. This was very encouraging to see and hear!

Yesterday wasn't a super sweaty day, so I snapped a baby bump photo after church. We are 19 weeks today and I can feel her kick now!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY:

Who needs a pickup when you have a tuk tuk. He almost took out a dog that was on the side of the road minding his own business. Most people don't transport wood on a main road since it is often poached. This guy's must be legal, so good for him. He's resourceful and honest!

Prophecy & Revelation

Those are the 2 subjects that the Kekchi pastors have been asking for a while now to be included in one of our KBI (Kekchi Bible Institute) training modules.

Last week Louis Powell, who had been here before with the radio team last March, returned with his pastor, Allen Tilley, to teach our October module.

Louis taught on prophecy and

Pastor Allen taught through the Book of Revelation.

Over 40 pastors were in attendance. Unfortunately we found out that when it was announced over the radio they said that only pastors could come when we were making it available to the men who are in charge of new missions too. We have a solution to this problem thanks to Louis that we will post about soon. It is very exciting!

The pastors who were in attendance went on and on about how helpful this module was. They all received a bound copy of the notes to take home with them for further study. Jimmy had about 4 days to translate all of that material before the module and those were the days we were traveling to Sololá. He even got Jay (whose interning in FL now) and I to help some. Just the Revelation notes were 54 single spaced pages worth of translation; I'm not sure how he got it done.

We are so thankful that Louis and Pastor Allen were willing to come down here and offer such quality teaching to these pastors, especially on topics they have been specifically requesting. Their trip was short, but we enjoyed the time we had with them.

The Birth of KBI

There are so many exciting things going on here it is tough to pick which thing to post about next. Today we are working on preparing for a service tomorrow where we will get to help a new national friend with a new work. This work will be in Spanish and is 30 minutes outside of La Libertad, a city on the other side of Santa Rita. Please be in prayer for that!

Also today Jimmy is starting a formal doctrines class with Lico since God put it in his heart to pastor a church... maybe the church in NH! Please pray for that. Last week Lico went with Jimmy for the first service in a campo blanco. It is really exciting to see God work in Lico's life!

What I wanted to share today is about KBI (the Kekchi pastors' institute). While we were on furlough we wanted to begin to raise the money to buy the land for the farm, the dormitories and the classrooms for the Institute. This was $47,500. (We had already received $2,500.) We were not very good fundraisers and we didn't have any strategy at all. We had no ideas to get people involved, nothing really other than sharing it in our presentation.

After one of those presentations, the pastor of the church came up to Jimmy and said casually, "How much were you guys needing for the land... well I just wanted to let you know it's paid for." What?!!! We wanted to shout it from the rooftops then, but they asked to remain anonymous. God just used these people's heart for missions and took care of it. He didn't need any gimmicks.

We were overwhelmed! The way that God did it reassured us that He is completely behind this endeavor.

Once we got back Jimmy started to narrow down the land options. He is still looking for the best piece to purchase. He also began meeting with the men who he felt would be great leaders in the institute. These are the men who will be on the board of directors, plus Jimmy and Pastor Andy.

{Santiago, Carlos, Mateo, Domingo, & Manuel}

Missionary Domingo is the president, which is great because he has a huge passion for campos blancos (white fields). He works in over a dozen each month and this is the purpose of the institute, to train new pastors to go reach the unreached village.

Pastor Mateo is the vice-president. He is the current legal representative for the Kekchi pastors' association. He has worked very hard and now pastors the largest church among the Kekchi in Petén. He is a great leader among the other pastors.

Professor Manuel is the legal representative. He has been in charge of the training they have now for the current pastors. This is what we want to expand on and add to for the new pastors. He is very educated and has a lot more work in front of him now, so pray for him! He is willing to move his family 2.5 hrs to San Pancho in order to head up the curriculum.

Pastor Carlos is the secretary. He writes very well in both Kekchi and Spanish, so he is great for this job.

Jimmy is the treasurer. We had to put him somewhere... haha!

Pastor Andy is the Vocal I. He has an equal heart for Petén. We work with his mission agency a lot in the radio ministry, so beyond being a great encourager and friend he will be the liaison with his agency as well.

Pastor Santiago is the Vocal II. He is the current treasurer for the Kekchi pastor's association.

All organizations have to have long names in Spanish, but we tried to keep ours relatively short. Nonetheless, it is a big trend to have an acronym that you say instead of spelling. Ours is "IBiKeP." Instituto Bíblico Kekchi de Petén.

All of these men (aside from Pastor Andy) have never missed a training session. They were picked by Jimmy and Domingo because they have proven themselves to be trustworthy over time. They are very involved and want to see the rest of the Kekchi in Petén reached with the Gospel. None of them will be paid except for Manuel eventually as a professor, yet they were still looking forward to investing their time into this. They were all very excited about the vision. They used the word, "magnífico!"

After the board of directors met together they presented the Institute to the rest of the Kekchi pastors who were able to attend the monthly meeting. They were just as excited. They will be sending men and teens out of their churches to attend this seminary. They said it was a privilege to be a part of something like this!

We are so thankful to be able to work together with these men to reach the rest of their people. Soon we will have pastors for the village that call into the radio station asking for someone to come to their village to tell them more about this God.

An Exciting Day in Our Ministry

We have been thinking about Santa Rita a lot since we have been gone. Jimmy casually claims we will start up again in there when we get back. Honestly, I am nervous to go back in. We just did a quick drive through right before we left, but I did not get out of the micro. We both want the Bible study to continue.

I was behind on the blog before we left, so I never posted about one of the most important events that has happened in our ministry. It was back at the end of January. Jesús, who has been attending Jimmy's discipleship class each week (he put his faith in Christ soon after we arrived in Santa Rita), taught one of the Bible studies. He sounded nervous to talk to him beforehand, but during the Bible study he seemed at home sharing the Bible with his peers.

{Jesús (21 years old)}

He planned a devo sheet for everyone during the week, came up with questions to ask during the Bible study which Jimmy put on the projector, and even asked Jimmy, "You think it would be ok if I challenged them to go ahead and accept Christ for themselves at the end of it?" So exciting! I loved seeing his passion as he spoke. He spoke on II Corinthians 5, that is the book they had been studying recently in the adult Bible study. It has been very relevant for what is going on in there right now.

Please pray for Jesús, he has been working a job in the capital while we have been gone. Please pray that God does not move him out of Santa Rita just yet. He is the only one in his family who has accepted Christ yet. He may even be the one that God has to take over the Bible study in there if we are not able to get back in. We love these people. They are our friends. Some are Christians now, some not yet.

What God is Doing in Poptún

Two Sundays ago we took the team to the Sunday morning service at the new Kekchi church plant in Poptún.

Pastor Tim shared with the group why they had come and how they were excited about this new church plant.

Kim shared her testimony. The ladies loved it when she said she was a mom of 5 boys and 1 grandson... they can relate to that!

The team sang a song in English. That is a common request. It's beautiful to hear your God worshiped in a language different from your own.

Teresa, pastor Mateo's wife, served everyone tostadas.

I'm not normally a fan of goat cheese, but with the homemade sauce it was delicious. I would have eaten more if I hadn't been chasing 2 little boys!

The services are held on their patio and the sun was extra bright, so this photo is a little grainy, but it is of the pastor's entire family: Pastor Mateo, Teresa, Gamaliel, Santiago, & Lourdes.

This is a new family that was their that day. They had heard through the radio broadcast about this new church in Kekchi. They accepted Christ and came from an hour away to attend the service. (They were there this Sunday too.)

After the service we all walked down to see the new land that they had just purchased on which to build a permanent building. They along with all the other Kekchi pastors have been raising money for this new church building.

{Jimmy, Mateo, and Jonah}

{Silas, still wearing pastor Tim's hat, with his buddy Jacob}

{I love little girls in the traditional dress... so cute!}

Here are some of the families from the church in front of their newly purchased land. It is very close to the main highway. They are going to put up a large sign that can be easily seen from that road... free advertising! We all prayed together before we walked back, thanking God for the land and asking Him to continue to bless this church so that more Kekchi people will be reached and discipled for Him.

62+1=63

Last week we were officially adopted into the family of Kekchi Baptist Pastors. This is the first time a foreign missionary has requested to be part of the Petén group. It is really the next phase in the work that the Southern Baptists started in Cobán, the churches where these men heard the Gospel and answered the call to preach. Now it is time to take the Gospel to all parts of Petén.

After over two years of working with these 62 men, Jimmy felt like his relationship was close enough to request this and after the shock wore off we were wholeheartedly accepted. Last Wednesday at their annual meeting, we presented our letter of recommendation and other paperwork and then were voted into their association. Their association is a way for these pastors to pool their resources, have fellowship, encourage each other, and have accountability.

The discussion started 2 weeks ago during the January KBI session. Jimmy was tired of being singled out. He did not want the men to feel as though he was trying to come in and take over or start his own thing, he wants to come alongside them and work with them. We can help in the area of training. We have the resources to help start a permanent seminary, which they are very excited about.

I didn't get a photo of them, but our friends David and Regina were there and were asked to come to the front to pray over us. They are missionaries with the IMB who just finished their 3 year internship in Cobán and arrived in Petén as "full-time" missionaries in November to begin an up to 3 year assignment. They are the first IMB missionaries in Petén. We are excited about working with them whenever possible, but more than anything else we are thankful for the fellowship with them and their heart for the Kekchi! They live in Sayaxché, about 1.5 hours from us.

CUTE ITEM OF THE DAY:

{Silas with José's wife, Candelaria}

As we walked up to the front to be accepted, the men were applauding. We clap with the boys all the time, so as soon as Jonah and Silas heard the applause, they started clapping too. The men loved it. They kept clapping just to get the boys to do it! They are 2 little hams. They get so much love and acceptance from our Kekchi friends.

Watching the Church Grow

Sunday night we went to Poptún to attend a service of the new Kekchi church plant.

Do you recognize those green chairs?!

James was asked to share a little about himself. They all giggle with delight when he starts to speak Kekchi because they cannot believe it!

Jimmy and I said hello too and that we were happy to be there with them... in Spanish!

I loved seeing Mateo and his wife working together to build this church. Mateo is very articulate and confidant... the good kind of confidence when he preaches, confidence in the God he is speaking about. His wife is just as passionate about this church plant. After the service she served everyone a type of oatmeal drink and bread while we had a nice time of fellowship. Everyone there is so friendly.

Jonah and Silas were well received of course. I love the way they instantly connect us with people. They got passed around a lot. They are very comfortable with Chapines, so they didn't fuss a bit. They both have started walking. Silas more than Jonah. He wanted to show off his new moves... and he did! He was walking all over the place!

Pastor Mateo was on the radio yesterday for the first time. He got 2 calls already from the broadcast asking about the church!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Silas loves hats and thinks everything is hilarious when it is on your head. After the service he went up front and stole the offering plate off of the table/podium and walked around with it on his head... he was right, it was hilarious, he had everyone laughing!

Special Service in Se Tul

Another KBI module starts tomorrow! This past summer we met a family who was traveling through Petén. They didn't speak much Spanish, but they were fluent in Kekchi... who would have thought! James Yoder and his wife Marietta were missionaries with the Kekchi in Belize 18 years ago. We stayed in touch with him and James agreed to come back down to teach a module for KBI.

Saturday Jimmy and James were invited to a special event in Se Tul. This is the village on the complete other side of Petén (about 3 hours of highway driving time) where the Kekchi radio station is based. There were two special events: one the inauguration of a new parsonage

{The man in the center left is the pastor of this church.}

and two the 20th anniversary of the church.

{Berea Baptist Church}

They got there early and got a tour of the village.

In the center of the village are hand dug wells. That is where everyone comes to draw water.

We haven't been there in almost 3 years, since we went with Pastor Andy to see the radio firsthand.

(Andy, the air conditioner is still there and they were quick to point it out as the one you bought for them to keep their machines cool.)

It is a very large church and out of 260 families in the village, 80 are members of the Baptist church.

{ribbon cutting ceremony}
{time of prayer & dedication}

After a special prayer and dedication of the new parsonage, they had a big meal for everybody.

The meal was caldo which is what they basically call anything that is in liquid. I wasn't there this time, but I have never eaten caldo in a Kekchi village when it was not delicious and Jimmy confirmed this time that it was!

{Jimmy with Domingo, grabbing a tortilla haha}

A couple hours later the service started. This was such a big event that both the Catholic church and the Spanish speaking church in the village attended.

{a special processional to start the service}

{a very giving people}

Both James and Jimmy gave a testimony. I don't have a picture of James giving his because I forgot to give Jimmy our camera before he left. So thank you to James for all of these photos!

James was a big hit! He speaks perfect Kekchi after working for so many years in Belize, and as teenagers would walk by him having a conversation with one of the other pastors (many attended to show their support) they would stop in their tracks, turn around and just listen to the white guy speaking Kekchi. Hopefully we are not too far away from this.

It was a great time of fellowship with the pastors and all are excited about attending the Institute this week. Please be in prayer for that!