Angry Meeting # ... I Lost Count

We sent out our prayer letter for February Monday. I shared about our water story. It seems we have lots of water stories these days, but this one was about the institute. I'm posting it here with more details because it is definitely one I want to remember, one I need to remember.

Eventually we want to dig a well on the pastors institute property/farm. $20,000 has been given and set aside for this. Unfortunately for the depth that we need, we only know of one reasonably priced company that can dig this well. We have been on the waiting list for over a year. They have several government jobs currently that pay above going rate ($65,000), hence we are at the bottom of the list. Yes, there are missions organizations that dig wells, but the ones we have contacted either don't have the right equipment or are more expensive than secular companies. As a temporary solution Jimmy met with the village next door (our current church plant) over and over again to eventually get permission and a contract signed to be able to hook up to their well. The contract says that they cannot turnoff our water for any reason other than us not paying our bill. Not that we thought there would be any future problems;)

{The day there was running water at the farm was an exciting day}

  Jimmy has been having problems at the farm with people stealing watermelons and fish... like ALL of the watermelons and ALL of the fish. During the night someone would sneak on the property, crack open watermelons to see if they were ripe, then they would take all the good ones. The students were raising hundreds of white fish and Tilapia in ponds, EVERY SINGLE one was stolen.

{One of the ponds}

The property is 180 acres mainly of virgin jungle. The wood from that jungle is used to build student houses, bookshelves, tables, etc for the farm. We realize people need firewood. Jimmy had told that village (just that next-door village) that anyone who wanted firewood, needed to check in first and they could take as much "firewood" as they could carry. Well, huge trees are being chopped down without permission. Large Mahogany logs are being removed. One guy even drove a truck onto the property.

   On one occasion a student called and said that he had caught someone stealing wood and that when he asked him to leave, he cursed him and refused. Jimmy called the police to have them remove him. He was a teenage brother of one of the girls that comes to our church. Jimmy didn't want him to be taken to the capital and put in jail with gang members, so he didn't end up pressing charges, he just had him escorted home. The police even had the mom sign a piece of paper that said he was not injured during the incident... which funny enough didn't prevent all the made up stories afterwards. 

Just having the teen escorted home ended up upsetting some of the villagers. They do not believe that they are under Guatemalan law so this made them angry. Mob rule is the law in their eyes. They themselves have been having just as many problems with villagers stealing from them, so they called a meeting about it. One of our students happened to be there at the time, he said that he was just paying the water bill for the month. Somehow during this meeting, rather than identify the thieves, they turned the attention on Jimmy for getting the police involved in that specific instance. They held our student and wouldn't let him leave. There were around a thousand angry people in that meeting. They had the student call Jimmy and say that they weren't going to let him go until Jimmy came to the meeting. Well, Jimmy originally had not been invited to the meeting and had warned the students to stay away. Now, certainly Jimmy wasn't going to show up in the middle of a thousand angry villagers who live by mob rule. Jimmy told the student not to stress and that come noon, all the villagers would get hungry and go home. And it happened just like. About 2 hours later everyone got hungry and that ended up trumping their anger, so they let the student go so that they could go home and eat. Before that though, even with many of our church people speaking out against the decision, some of the outspoken angry ones went and turned off the water to the farm. Jimmy kept going and turning it back on, but then someone behind him would turn it right back off.

During that meeting the town instituted a curfew. Anyone on the street after 9PM gets shot, no questions asked. This scared many of our church members. In this culture, when the sun goes down, it's time for church to start, so by the time you have your service and people walk home, it is after 9. People were afraid to walk anywhere after dark, no matter what time. Even finishing earlier, this has hurt our church attendance and our youth group. It is slowly coming back, but honestly, I would be afraid to walk around after dark now too with that in place.

{The farm with the village beginning on the left}

It stayed like this for about a week until Jimmy could get a meeting scheduled with the town leaders. I was really worried about this meeting. I know that this institute is something that God put in Jimmy's heart to do. I know that God has protected this institute in many ways in the past when people tried to go against it. (I shared a specific story in one of our email updates and there are more I wish I could tell, just because it brings God glory.) Still, I was really worried about Jimmy stepping into a mess like that. The student who had been in the other meeting had been getting death threats... he was scared. Jimmy kept telling me about stories in Acts and how God is with him and will do the speaking and that God is the only one who can work in the hearts of the leaders. That is what Jimmy believed God was going to do- work in the hearts of the leaders.

It was a Monday evening. As Jimmy waited at the meeting place people who could barely walk because they were so drunk started showing up. So I guess Monday night is a horrible time to have a meeting, although it wasn't our choosing. On top of that the meeting had been moved so many times, that by the time it actually happened, none of the students were around to go with Jimmy to translate everything into Kekchi. There were villagers spouting off made up stories about Jimmy and the farm. Jimmy felt completely abandoned, in the pitch dark of night, arguing with a bunch of angry drunks in his third language. It looked for a while like it was going to end in the farm's favor, Jimmy had explained everything that had happened and cleared up many false rumors, but then at the last second someone who wasn't even a leader got up and shouted that they "must" turn the water off permanently. Everyone was over it by that time, so that was the conclusion.

Where was God? How can you have a farm and families living on that farm without water? We were so sad. We went to sleep Monday night feeling alone and defeated.

    Then early the next morning an unknown number kept calling Jimmy. Finally Jimmy answered the phone. It was the mayor of the village. He told Jimmy that he was not able to sleep all night long. All of these Bible verses kept coming to his head. (He does not profess to be a Christian nor does he attend any church). “The Bible says that if someone asks for water, you have to give it to him.” He said that he was turning the water back on. He called all the town leaders who were at the store buying the plug for the pipe and told them that too. Amazingly, these guys who a few hours earlier had been slurring their angry hate towards Jimmy, all of a sudden agreed and decided they shouldn't turn off our water. They got in trouble for this, but have stuck to it.  

I want to get this story down to help remind myself that what is in the book of Acts is true. If God has a job for you to do, He will make it happen. He controls the hearts of leaders, even those who do not profess Him. All of this just brings Him glory.

I have more to share later about how we are learning to live by their cultural rules. We are going to implement some new things before we restock the fish ponds for sure! Praying we can all live in peace.   

Sad, Frustrated, Disappointed... All of Those Emotions

2 weeks ago Jimmy had to ask the national pastor we had been working with at the Kekchi church plant in San Pancho to step down. We had been trying to work with him on fixing some really big issues, but he wasn't having it. He had been leading the church in a direction neither we, nor the Kekchi Baptist Pastors Association agree with doctrinally. That was the main issue. Besides that he had made it clear that he was no longer committed to the mission. We regularly would show up on Sunday mornings and he had taken a job somewhere else that day in order to make money instead of preaching at the church. This was a result of the very large debt he had gotten his family into because of an investment decision he had made before we ever met him. He was actively looking for any jobs that would make him more money because of this debt and said he could be leaving at any time. A threat had been made on his life because of the amount of money he owed and who he owed it to.

This was all unexpected to us. At the beginning this pastor was passionately committed to this mission. People, and by that I mean any of us, can get caught up in the cares of this world at any time and are only a couple decisions away from missing out on God's best for our lives. He had a great family, with a great job, a great ministry, a nice house, and plenty of food to eat. Now most of that has been destroyed because of risking everything in this investment scam. He isn't the same person we first got to know. 

Jimmy thought that last Sunday morning he would be able to explain everything to the church, or at least enough to where they would understand why the decision had to be made. What we weren't counting on was the pastor trying to completely ruin the mission during the week in between. He led the lady we were renting the building from to believe we were no longer wanting it and that she should look for new renters, he had the microbus that goes by and picks up our people in SR canceled even though he knew we were going to continue having services, and then he went to SR and told all of them that Jimmy had fired him out of the blue and that he didn't know why. He even drove all the way to Sayaxché to tell the other Kekchi pastors lies about the situation. It appears that he really wanted the mission to fail without him. 

Last Sunday a group of men from SR showed up to the Bible study to speak on behalf of everyone else and let us know that they would no longer be attending the Bible study. Jimmy was able to share with them the truth, but in this culture, it is usually whichever story you hear first that sticks. Jimmy went to SR last Sunday afternoon and spoke for several hours to everyone explaining the situation. They eventually agreed with him that he had made the right decision, but they said that Jimmy should have spoke to them about it first. Jimmy apologized and said that they need to tell him anytime he goes against their culture so that he can learn to be more Kekchi. He WANTS to be more Kekchi. Most seemed to be planning on coming this Sunday, but Jimmy knew there were still a few who were apprehensive. 

This week the microbus went by like before, but no one came. Not a single person. Instead of having church this morning we took those who had come from San Pancho with us to SR to try and explain everything again. In this culture it takes several times to go over things. Lots of patience is required because they are thinkers. They like to think for a LONG time. Thankfully Domingo was here this morning along with Carlos, another national missionary who works in another part of Petén, and a young Kekchi man who will be attending the Institute this next summer to become a pastor. The 3 men who are mature Christians, have been in predicaments like this before, and are fluent in Kekchi and pretty good in Spanish were all part of God's plan. They were definitely sent by Him this morning. They went too and explained in Kekchi over and over again the story. 

We will be going again sometime this week with Domingo and Carlos for an official meeting in SR. Please pray! If this is God's will, for there to be a Kekchi church in San Pancho, pray than He would heal this mess. It was painful today to sit and listen to them talk about their allegiance to the other pastor. Is that what this was? Why does this have to be about a man? All this time we have been trying to draw them to God, never make them become attached to us. I don't get it anyway. Jimmy was preaching more than he was. I teach their children every week. I know them, love them. We are involved in so many parts of their lives beyond Sundays. We knew them first. We worked with their families for 2.5 years before this man ever came into their lives. But what trumped all of that was that we aren't Kekchi. We are foreigners. When does love start to trump ethnicity? This pastor was ready to leave them at any time for a better offer, but his word gets believed over ours because of his heart language. 

Please pray as our hearts are broken for these people. We feel that we are losing them for a second time, all because of lies. We are trying to be encouraged in that if God wasn't working then Satan wouldn't be fighting. Several were saved and being discipled as a result of this mission, so it wasn't in vain.  

Our Life Is Bananas... B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

It is looking like Eden may be here soon. I am 35w4d, and as of 2am tonight I will have had the steroids in me to help her lungs develop for 24 hours, so that is good news. I am on a couple of meds to help my uterus calm down, but I think if she comes now she will be just fine. The doctor said it looks like she is measuring at 37 weeks now anyway, so we will probably get to take her home with us! My doctor is absolutely wonderful, so that brings a lot of comfort as well. He was looking at her the other day and asked me, "Is your family as big as your husband?" I laughed out loud! He thinks she will be very tall.

{My boys in the waiting room eating pretzels}

Jonah and Silas go to every appointment with us so that Jimmy can be there too since we don't know anyone in Guate to watch them. Jimmy doesn't get to participate much, but I like him seeing the baby with me on the monitor. He is a good sport about it since it is a lot of work on his part to keep the boys entertained with snacks (and sometimes maybe a little bit of candy). My doctor thinks our boys are angels, haha! We have friends coming tonight, so today was our last appointment with them in tow.

The place we have been staying for the last 19 days decided to up the price by over $600 a month. We just found that out this morning. There have been lots of other issues as well... tons! It is a beautiful, completely non-functional facade of a place. None of the issues were worth moving over, until the price change though.

The apartment complex's maid stole something the very first day. I didn't want a maid anyway, so that was fine, but we asked her to come by and change the trash while we were here in the morning each day... 2 weeks went by and no maid. (And we are the only ones staying in this place.) Since I have been having contractions and we have guests coming tonight AND there is no vent on the dryer so there is soggy lent all over the floors in this place that need to be mopped every day, I asked if she could come by today to do that while I had another doctor's appointment this morning. Our "free" daily maid service that we haven't been using turned into a $5 charge for her to come today. So I said fooy on that, I'm leaving the breakfast dishes for her too to get more of my "free for only $5 service" worth while I was at my appointment. Well $5 later there was still dirty breakfast dishes in my sink when I got home. It won't be hard to say goodbye to this place! Their rates and services manual is sitting on our coffee table. That was how I thought it was actually going to be. Naive optimistic me!

{This was the inside of their "pink" dryer the first day. They said they tried to clean it, so it wouldn't come off on my clothes, no worries. Well after a dozen or so of my laundry loads later, their dryer is clean! I had a dryer-phobia before this anyway, I miss my clothesline!}

Sooo, tomorrow, on Jimmy's birthday, while I am trying not to go into labor, and after our poor guests (whose bus has been broken down for several hours on the side of the road today) get here in the middle of the night, we are moving to a new place, that is significantly nicer and cheaper. We actually liked the new place better before choosing our current one, but the owner lives outside of the country and we couldn't get a hold of him until this morning. So we are really thankful for this newly available option.

It is owned by a gringo. That might cut back on some culture shock issues. Yes, when I don't live in my house that we have repaired and rigged I still... 6 years later... experience culture shock. I'm used to things here and probably prefer them now, just not INSIDE my home. The new place has a real kitchen too (and a clothesline!) No more cooking on a hot pad and toaster oven hooked up to a 20 amp breaker and tripping over extension cords!!! That will be really nice while I am in my "large (lbs)" state.

Another HUGE praise is that we got all of the money from the debit card cloning incident put back into our account. I am not sure how, since they used our pin number and were withdrawing cash so it wouldn't involve a merchant, but it is there, even the ATM fees. We are so thankful, especially since we will be using that to pay our hospital bills in a couple days. Thank you to everyone who prayed about this! God continually works everything out for us!

If you would pray for our friends that are currently on the side of the road somewhere between Belize and Guatemala City we and I am sure even more they would appreciate it! I will share more about this wonderful couple later.

Tomorrow Jimmy will be 29... haha! I can't wait for him to be 30. He has made so much fun of his viajita the last 2 years, he deserves to be 30 already. So I am off to make a German chocolate birthday cake, cooking it one layer at a time in my completely awesome toaster oven!

COOL ITEM OF THE DAY: It is only fair that I include in this post one of the many wonderful things about this country...

Pregnant Lady parking spaces!!! I have been taking advantage of these!

Policewomen, Poachers and Prayers

Friday afternoon at 4pm I (Jimmy) was supposed to meet with the entire town that has been stealing wood from the Institute's property. They have been becoming more and more abusive and this week started showing up with pickup trucks and guns so that they could haul more wood and the guard would not approach. By the time the police would finally arrive, the wood had been hidden. Through all of this, you would think they would have been ashamed or felt guilty, but instead they turned angry at us for trying to stop them. So the mayor came to ask me to a meeting so that the town could tell me why they were going to keep stealing my wood.

Naturally, I wanted the authorities to be there with me. I have been on good terms with the police department through all of this, so I knew they would go with me, but because of the new administrations in the various levels of government that will be taking office over the next couple of days, that was the only support I got. Elías and I went together, followed by a police truck with 8 officers inside. As we were loading up at the station for them to follow me, the officer in charge asked me again what village we were going to. I told her and she told everybody to go back inside and get the machine guns, just in case. That's not something you want to hear.

We arrived early and the mayor got on the loud speaker to tell everybody to hurry up and get to the school. The police officers pulled me aside again and told me that I needed to be very careful about what I said because these people were very hard-headed and very unified. They told me that things could quickly get out of hand and they may not be able to stop it. I told them that I knew things might get out of hand and that's why I had invited them in the first place. She assured me that they were there to back me up, but as we were having this conversation they were turning their truck around so that it pointed to the exit...

While this is going on the mayor is announcing on the loud speaker that "the gringo is here and he must be more important than the president to have all of these body guards and ha ha ha does he think we're going to kill somebody ha ha ha everybody hurry up and get here..." He was intentionally inciting the people against me for about 15 minutes.

Therefore when everybody was there and gathered on the basketball court (in the sun they said where I would have to sweat like them instead of hiding in the shadows where the mayor knew I wanted to be), instead of letting them start the conversation, I started right in telling everybody how thankful I was that they had come. I apologized for taking so long to call this meeting and that I felt because of my delay there had been a lot of confusion and misinterpretation. I then told them that what they had been used to had changed concerning the property, that I was now the legal owner and had full rights to the property, but that I would be the best neighbor they could have. I explained the purpose of the Institute and that it was not for personal gain. I explained the benefits to the community concerning our future improvements to their schools (so that our student's children would have a good place to study) and our collaboration with the water supply and the jobs the various construction projects would create.

Then I explained our need to save the wood on the property for our use, but that I understood their needs as well. Therefore in order to get along we would allow only the people from their village to cut firewood from our land, but only after they reported themselves to our guard so that he could verify they were from the village. If somebody was on the property without permission that would be trespassing and we would call the police. They can take firewood for personal use, but not haul off truckloads to sell. They also have to enter only through our approved entrance and not cut the fence in addition to only cutting firewood during the day.

It seemed they were all in agreement with this. The large trees will not be cut down anymore. If people from the village do try to steal wood, we will cut off the firewood supply from everybody, so in that way they are responsible for policing their own people. I explained our desire for everybody to get along and that if they would forgive me for not having called the meeting sooner then I would forgive them their actions over the last month and we could now all move forward with a better relationship.

After translation and dealing with a few interruptions it took about an hour, but I believe almost everybody was happy and in agreement. The ones not happy will have to answer to the rest of the community and our goal is to not get the police involved any more.

There was a large hoard of people (around 450) during all of this and Elías and I were surrounded on all sides with the police about 50 yards away. The benefit of speaking first kept them from getting all riled up. After all was said and done the mayor became my biggest supporter.

My original plan was to sit in the woods with night vision goggles and a paint ball gun... But as we were sitting there waiting on everybody to arrive and I was steaming thinking about all of these thieves and how blatantly abusive they have been over the past few weeks, Elías whispered to me, "Just think, some day all of these people will be part of the church we start here." It's good to surround yourself with people more spiritual than you so you can keep things in perspective.

They Kicked Us Out

I was trying to wait and post this until I wasn't as sad and we had some type of plan, but I still am and we don't.

The town meeting on Saturday was supposed to be a chance for Jimmy to share and then let everyone vote again. Since there was going to be a new vote we didn't even address the fact that the last meeting was done in secret, based on complete lies and that several of the signatures appear to have been forged.

The lady from the town council in charge of the meeting was one of the 8 that spoke out against us. One of the other 8 was the one choosing who got to speak. After the first several people allowed to speak were found out to be against us, the lady in charge was still saying we were going to vote again.

Then those for us started speaking up. Several people from the community improvement committee spoke up about how we had helped out the village in several ways. They said that they were embarrassed about how we were being treated now. Some spoke out about land rights and how if they were now truly the owners of their property then Fabio has the right to build a Bible study on his. Others spoke up about those who wanted us kicked out and the lies that they were telling. Others pointed out that they don't kick out criminals yet want us to leave and how unjust that was.

Fabio was the only one who mentioned God though. He spoke up boldly. There are many new believers, some who couldn't be there that day, some who spoke up trying to share arguments that would appeal to those against us, some who were too afraid to speak up at all, but more than for anyone else in SR we want to fight this out for Fabio's sake. This 70+ year old man has learned about God and has given all. We saw him being mocked during the meeting and it broke our hearts. We cannot leave him there alone.

When the lady from the town council saw that there were not enough people against us to get a majority (when someone's watching the legitimacy of the signatures) she changed her story and said that the original "act" stands. She refused to hold another vote.

José's wife, the matriarch of the Kekchi, who was against us in the past had a change of heart. We have tried to reach out to her family several times because we really love them. She must have seen that. She let our opposition have it! That was surprising.

Those who actually spoke out against us specifically said all kinds of elaborate lies. Lorena, who we knew was only nice to our face from the beginning, with intentions of hurting our cause ended up describing it beautifully. She said, "Fabio, you speak so much of God now. They (meaning us) don't know how you used to talk before they got here." He has changed. He is a new creature in Christ. That fact right there makes ALL of this worth it.

So tonight was our first Monday night not being in SR. The act only said "Jimmy", so Jimmy tried to get me to go by myself tonight. I'm not 100% sure he was kidding.

What they did is against the laws of Guatemala, but that doesn't mean it would be the best decision right now to continue on like nothing happened. Please pray that God gives us wisdom. When Jesús gets back he could even keep the services going possibly. (He is in Guate working right now.) Jimmy is still talking with our lawyer. The people in SR are very upset about this for many reasons. It is a violation of property rights, so those who don't even care about God are effected by this decision. They might take care of the fight for us.

So we don't know anything other than that we are still in the middle of the story. It feels like Satan has been victorious. We feel like years of work have gone up in smoke. We feel lower right now than at any other time in our ministry, but the Truth is more powerful than our feelings. Our faith is strong and our God is real.

No matter what, people who wouldn't have heard did, many are now new creatures in Christ. We are gone, but the Holy Spirit is still at work in their hearts.

Please keep praying for Santa Rita.

Pray

February and March are the hottest months in Petén. This team is working so hard and doing some pretty glamorous stuff too!

Like Jacob and Matt chipping a hole for the tube on the seats for the outhouses (we are building Fabio a new outhouse too).

Jimmy spent most of the morning trying to get lumber since our original supplier was almost a week late getting it to us and still couldn't come up with it. He found some!

Mateo, the pastor in Poptún is a carpenter. He engineered the top 2/3rds of our building since it will be out of boards.

The wood was still wet, so between each board they had to wipe the blade down with diesel. (That is what pastor Tim is doing in the photo above.)

Here is Ian chiseling a notch for a support beam.

The team got 2 complete sides done and will finish the other 2 tomorrow!

Over the last couple days Jimmy has found out about more of the lies that were said about us during the last meeting and their sources. This will help when he speaks in the meeting tomorrow.

During lunch time José went to the store to buy a drink. He overheard a couple men talking about how they should get a bunch of guys together to go tear down our building. He came back and got all the men together to pray right away.

Each evening we take the team to Flores for a nice meal... so we can get more work out of them the next day!

Pastor Tim let Silas try out his hat. The middle part is mesh, so he could see through it = the coolest hat ever!

Jimmy got to spend a lot of time around our Kekchi missionary friends. This is what they do, start churches in campos blancos (white fields/places with no Gospel). Jimmy asked if it is always this hard to get into a village. Domingo said, "No, you just pick the hard ones!"

Domingo and José both told several stories of places where after they had gotten something going, the towns people got upset and tried to kick them out. They spoke of how the new believers would persevere. Each story ended with the same phrase, "There's a church now." Please pray that our new Christians persevere.

Mateo said that there is a saying among the Kekchi, "Raizes amargas, fruto dulce." (He said it in Spanish.) It means "Bitter roots, sweet fruit."

Please pray for our meeting tomorrow at 2:00 (CST). Please pray for wisdom as Jimmy speaks, that the new believers will persevere, and that God's power will be made known.

Thank you to everyone who let us know you are praying. You all have a part in this.

"Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." ~Elisha

To Add Insult To Injury...

we have a team here this week. They arrived Tuesday evening. I don't think those who are currently on a mission to kick us out appreciate seeing a large group of gringos, kekchi pastors, and others from our Bible study come together to finish our Bible study building a couple days after they thought we were history. I think they were planning on us tucking our tails and running. They got a surprise yesterday morning.

God's timing is perfect. This team is from the same church that built the fence around and painted their school and payed for half of the tubes to solve the drainage problem of their new road. Their pastor came down too this time. Jimmy is taking all of them to the meeting on Saturday. He will introduce them as just that, those who helped out "your community" in these ways. It will be a nice physical reminder of how we really do care about SR.

Yesterday morning they helped the Kekchi guys (since they know what they are doing!) build the forms to pour the columns. The top half of the building is going to be out of wood to save money. That is Domingo and pastor Mateo from the church plant in Poptún in the photo above!

That is José with the saw. We had 5 Kekchi missionaries/pastors come to help. We are really thankful to have their support.

Macaria came by. She is a Kekchi lady who accepted Christ along with her son and daughter. Her husband got really upset about it and doesn't let her come anymore. She was able to share her story with the Kekchi guys and they were able to encourage her in her heart language. She said that she didn't know about Salvation until we came and it is not right that she is not allowed to learn more (speaking about the community and her husband).

Then they mixed concrete and brought it in bucket loads to Lico to pour into the molds. This is hard work, especially in this climate!

Here is Fabio telling the team his story, how before he couldn't find out anything about God and now we came to tell him. He said that he gets to learn every week and he doesn't want it to stop.

Rosalino came to help too. He is interesting. He's the first one at our Bible studies every week. He shows up for every activity and does all of his devo sheets, but he still hasn't accepted Christ. Pray for him. He represents what is unfinished here.

After the columns the team leveled out the center to be able to pour a floor later.

There is only one female on this team, Kim. She was out their pic-axing with the rest of them! They cleared a path to have a nice walkway to the entrance of the building and for a little landscaping later on.

This team is great! They are working so hard and have the best attitude. They were late getting back for supper because Jimmy couldn't get them to stop working and load up!

Please keep praying for the meeting on Saturday. There is spiritual warfare going on here. Oh me of little faith, I get sick to my stomach when I think about Saturday. I have verses running through my head all day long, the same ones we are teaching our boys right now... well here is our chance not to have dead faith. All those times when you read about the Israelites and their whiny disbelief and you get so frustrated with them, yet we somehow separate that history from our own life. Look at the past. I believe in this God.

Birthing Pains

I remember my night in the hospital with contractions that I couldn't make go away no matter how hard I tried or how many drugs they gave me. I remember the ready or not feeling, the nervous uncertainty. I remember watching Jimmy annoyingly sleep like a baby on the other side of the room and me throwing ice at him to wake him up when someone would give me an update on our twins. Nothing truly wonderful comes easy in this world.

We knew once all the people in Santa Rita saw the huge tractor followed by the subsequent huge hole in the ground, our peaceful existence in that community would come to a screeching halt.

Our last team did such a great job getting things rolling. While they were here we got the foundation prepped and built, Fabio a new and much nicer outhouse since his was now on our half and built a females only one for our Bible study as well. (Our ladies loved hearing that!)

{The new next to the old. The one on the far right is on a different property.}

In the beginning it was difficult, but over the last year we haven't had a lot of resistance. I think it was because we were in the back corner of the community not really bothering anyone. Those who wanted to attend did and they were encouraged to invite their friends. After New Horizon we were really trying not to rock the boat.

Well after the huge hole in the ground, there was a secret (as in we asked ahead of time and were told there wasn't one) town assembly this past weekend. Someone was upset and got 30 of the 80 partners to sign a petition saying that they were going to ask us to leave the community. They have done this twice before with actual partners of the co-op who tried to hold services in their homes. In one case the family had to move out and in the other the family refused to leave, but were forced to stop holding the services.

Recently, some new town laws have been voted in though that are really in our favor. Plus this time around we know the law of Guatemala which trumps any community law... although Petén is pretty lawless. It's basically a mob rule, so that's not all neatly black and white either. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's safe and from what we have seen authorities aren't really interested in coming inside a guerrilla community and refereeing anything. Guerrillas are sort of left alone. If we had lived here the past 30+ years we'd probably know better than to mess with them as well.

Out of 80 partners, 30 is not a majority. The leaders of the community wouldn't sign it, so that was encouraging. Like before a lot of lies are being told about us. One teacher threatened his students to stop attending our Bible studies. They came anyway until he sent his mother down to our building to spy on them and several left out of fear then.

We know of some other adults who didn't come this past week because of pressure from others. When we pull into the community several girls always jump into our micro to play with Jonah and Silas. They were flinging themselves under the seats when we would drive down certain roads so no one would see them with us... that always makes ya feel good!

There is just a lot of spiritual warfare going on. We will soon be permanent and visible to all. We are praying things will calm down and stay safe for us to be there. We want to be old news. We want people to be able to decide for themselves if they want to come and hear about God or not. Please pray!

Cool things from this teams trip:

When we went to Villa Maya, several crocs came up while we were eating instead of the normal one. One was a big one and liked tortillas too.

One night while they were here we had a huge storm come through (during the dry season). It knocked down most of the banana trees in our yard. Since lots of places were flooded we though it was going to mess up one of the work days, but somehow it skipped over the areas where they were working while flooding every place on all four sides of those areas

My Surprise This Morning!

This plant was a gift from a "friend" in New Horizon, one of the first women my age in Petén that I felt a connection with. I thought we were going to have years of friendship ahead of us, trading recipes and of our kids playing together. Just yesterday we were told of something she had been saying about us that wasn't true and was hurtful. I'm not writing her off, it is just a painful season in that part of our ministry right now.

Well she told me this plant has white flowers, but I had never seen them before. They bloomed this morning for the first time! So pretty on our back patio!

Divine Intuition

New Horizon has been crazy before, but this time it was Jimmy's reaction that was different to me. I knew he saw something that I didn't. Well he was right. Lico just called and said that there was a town meeting last Saturday and that Ofelia... yes you have heard of her before, but as one of our "friends"... was complaining about Jimmy coming into the town. She is just mad because Jimmy took SOME of what was ours from the building we had been using and she wanted her son to be able to keep ALL of it for free, even though letting us use it was a very advantageous arrangement for him, especially since he kicked us out 3 years early.

According to the letter we received from the town council and per Jimmy's conversation with the town council president the next day, only our Bible study was kicked out, not us. In the meeting when Ofelia asked about us, they said that WE had been kicked out... as are no longer allowed to step foot past the gate. The president said that the town council could not grab Jimmy if he walked in, but those in the community could and should.

So Lico called to warn us because he still IS our friend. You see he was one of the ones who accepted Christ during what has turned out to be our small window of opportunity to tell them about Christ. He and the others like him made it worth it.

We thought we might be waiting for our whale, but it looks as though since they have all heard they are without excuse now. This might be a permanent closing of the door. I have never before seen evil displayed like this with my own eyes. Like I said in our news letter, it is hard to understand a place the kicks out the missionary, but lets the drug dealers and child molesters stay.

There are plenty more as the Kekchi say, "white fields" here in Petén. As for now I'm thankful for God's protection and for a husband sensitive to His leading!

What's Going On

So here is some of what has been going on... in New Horizon at least.

Missionary How To: Get Kicked Out Of a Village.

Missionary How To: Make It Unsafe To Return To a Village.

Pastor Andy and his wife are here now. We enjoyed lunch with them today and then several hours of just talking. It was really nice and a perfect time for it!

Kicked Out Again

I have been having Mac issues so I haven't been able to upload any new blogs. This week has had a lot in it. Jimmy has been in Guatemala since last Thursday. He returns tomorrow.

God's timing is perfect to have Jimmy there this week. Some lies were started about Quincho in New Horizon. Part of the lies were that he had stolen something. He is treated like us now since he has decided to follow Christ. The lies were so serious that 3 men said that they were going to have him killed. Jimmy found some of the people involved and realized that the lies were started by the real thief. The town of New Horizon wanted to kick Quincho out so that no one would be hurt when they came to kill Quincho... or at least that was their story. Well Jimmy fixed the confusion with the 3 men so there should no longer be a hit on Quincho's head. He went to the mayor of New Horizon and the town council to update them on the news. Well since Quincho has been living at our house for that last month and will continue to do so until we return the mayor claimed that we were "harboring" him. The town council got the story right, but when the mayor, who we had believed to be our friend for the last 2 years, went before the town, the council kept their mouths closed. Beatriz, the mayor, rallied the community to have us voted out along with Quincho. We have spent hours talking with this woman. We have been invited in her house several times and spent a lot of time with her children (teens and adults). We have never had a problem with any of them. Jimmy was given the official letter yesterday that said we could no longer hold our Bible studies... and the best part, it is "due to the town's high moral standards". There are known child molesters in the community who aren't asked to leave. The president of the town council told Jimmy that he knew it was all based on a lie, but that basically it is a mob rule and there was nothing he could do. He said, "That's a true democracy." The place is so twisted. He said that when we return we can ask permission to speak to the town and tell the whole story and see if they want to let us back in. Jimmy and I are allowed to be in New Horizon, we just can't hold Bible studies there. We knew that was the issue the entire time. Most of our friends don't even know yet. That is how they do it. They hold secret meetings and don't invite our supporters. It's funny how these meetings are always scheduled during when our Bible studies are held.

We will pray for wisdom. There are so many villages and communities with no Gospel in our area, maybe God wants us to move on. Matthew 10:23 "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." We are not tired or desire to give up, we just want to use our time here wisely. Do we stay and keep fighting? This is the second time this has happened and it will happen again.

We invested our heart and soul into these people; we want to see more come to Him. Please pray that God gives us clear direction over the next couple of months. No matter what we will stay in contact with many people from there. Also, please pray for Quincho as he has lost his home. We think this is the best thing for him, to be out of that evil place.

Family Photos, Gofers, & 1,000 Liter Cisterns

We were very disappointed that we did not get to go to Santa Rita on Saturday. Please pray this will not put us behind next week. A man that lives across the street from our Bible study named Blas road his bike down to the scene of the accident just to watch after he heard us talking about it on Saturday. (That is a very Guatemalan thing to do!) He said that the Public Minister came and arrested the drunk driver.

Mateo is Gerardo’s brother. He told Jimmy that Gerardo was having nightmares. He heard him in the middle of the night yell, “The car... the car...” We were hoping that maybe this event would have made some of our teens stop and think. Mateo still has not accepted Christ. The Bible study Sunday night in New Horizon was on Heaven and Hell. Right before it started I told Mateo that he still needed to accept Christ. I said, “I want to see you in Heaven too.” He always gives an adamant “NO” when we ask him if he is ready. Later during the study he was part of the discussion. He seemed shocked that Hell was forever. Then he asked, “Well what if your name is in the book of life?” Please pray that God will continue to work in his heart. He is 13.

We passed out the family photos in New Horizon today that Jimmy’s mom took while the team was here. That was a lot of fun!

While we were at Anabella’s house, Olivia came running up with a gofer. She had technically found it on Anabella’s property and she wanted to make sure that she did not want it. I love Olivia, she always makes me smile! She was nice and posed the gofer for me! She later took it home to skin it and eat.

While we were at Aquilino’s house he told us that his family went to a special service the Catholic church had on Christmas Eve. (His family comes to our Bible study every week, but we do not tell anyone not to go to the Catholic church. We just teach the truth. This allows us to stay in the village) Anyway, he told us that they said that he was “in the shadow of Jimmy” and that Jimmy has bought him with a cookie. They said that only people who are starving come to our Bible studies. Aquilino said that made his “temperature rise”. He then told them, “The things of God are not talking bad about other people. This (the Catholic church in NH) doesn’t have anything to do with God. Jimmy never says anything bad about you.” And then he left. When they understand the truth, the Lord leads them down the right path for us!

Sunday was Ernesto’s last week at our Bible study. He is moving to Coban to go to school. He still had not accepted Christ. He has heard the Gospel over and over again. Please pray that he too will come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Well we are out of water for the 2nd time in the last month. Our town only turns the water on twice a week normally. Our cistern holds 1,000 liters, so who knows how long it has been since the water had been turned on. Our shower has been leaking, and that helped drain our cistern. So Jimmy started breaking concrete to fix it tonight at 9:45! He finished it in about 2 hours. He poured the last 3, 5 gallon jugs of pure water he could find in our town, into our cistern to take a shower afterwards.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY:

In the States you might see this:

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