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!

There's a Reason...

people behave the way they do, not an excuse, just a reason. Many times I forget that I don't know someone's STORY... everything that has contributed to the way they are behaving in the moment or the kind of person they are every day.

We have been frustrated with Mateo, Gerardo, Marcela, Maruca, and Choki's dad in the past for different things. The main thing is that the times we have hired one of his kids to do something for us, he usually takes their pay and drinks it away. The other day we got to hear some of his STORY... at least through the eyes of one of his sons (Mateo).

(Gerardo with his dad)

During the war Mateo's dad had an 18 acre farm. They lived in a nice house and had plenty of food to eat. One day the guerrillas showed up and explained that it was now going to be Mateo's family's responsibility to feed them. They stole his entire harvest and told him that if he fought with them, then after the war he would be farming again, but this time with tractors. He felt like he had no other option. Now he has 2 acres and not enough room to do crop rotation, so his land produces less and less every year. They live in New Horizon where they are greatly discriminated against because they are Kekchi (even though the guerrillas were supposedly fighting for indigenous rights.) Mateo said, "If it wasn't for us, they (meaning the guerrillas in NH) would have starved, look at how they treat us now." His father lost everything and without the Lord, no wonder he drinks.

Please pray for Mateo's dad. We are no longer "allowed" in New Horizon, but God still is working in there. We have remained very close with this family. Please pray that Mateo's dad will one day come to know the Lord.

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!

Safety Issues/Prayer Request

Things have been tense in our life and ministry for almost a week now. There are some serious safety issues that have arisen in New Horizon. Please pray for Jimmy as he still has a couple items to get from our old building and will be going there today along with Lico and 2 metal workers to remove our doors and windows. We are seeking wisdom from God for our next move regarding this dark place. As of right now we do not feel safe even going in there. People who carry guns around while the are drunk and high are nothing to mess around with. Thank you to everyone who is faithful to lift us up in prayer. We will update more on this later.

Since everyone in there knows where we live and feels comfortable just showing up at our house we are looking to move to a new rental house in San Francisco (Petén). It will be in a much safer area... and I am praying for a wall! Please pray that we can find a house soon and can somehow in the midst of teams coming and all the outreaches we have planned in the next couple months find time to move. Thanks! We are ready for things to calm down around here!

A Wow Moment

So many times already in our short ministry God has done very specific things where it was as though He was telling us, "Yep that's what I want." It usually comes after something that breaks our stride and we think, "What?... That wasn't supposed to happen."

Jimmy got a phone call from Newspring yesterday and found out that someone had anonymously given the rest of the money for our ministry micro bus! They wanted us to know before we left. Now in February we will be able to purchase one and start having CHURCH services at our house.

If you know from previous posts, CHURCH is not a word we are allowed to use in New Horizon. We have been very restricted and the threat of being kicked out has always been held over our heads to keep us and everybody coming to our Bible Studies in fear of saying something wrong. It wasn't unbearable, but it affected every conversation and activity. For over two years we tried to show respect for the community's laws, always getting permission from the town council and never crossing any of the boundaries they set up. That is why we were so shocked when we were falsely accused by one of our 'friends' and kicked out last September without a chance to speak or defend ourselves.

It was discouraging to think that we had invested the time, energy and resources into something, only for everything to abruptly come to an end. We tried to look at the positive aspects in our personal lives of no longer having to minister in such a dark, oppressive place, but with that our hearts broke to think of the victories God had given us and the many people there that are so close to making a decision for Christ.

We believed God had given us the vision to invest in a Micro and we understood all the benefits of meeting at our house, but $15,000 is a lot of money. Very quickly NewSpring responded, providing half of the money. Even though God had provided half in only two days, we still had thoughts that it might take us all year to get the rest to actually be able to minister again.

So we weren't expecting the phone call yesterday. It was one of those moments where you get chills realizing God's perfect timing. It was assurance that we are on the right track and that God will provide for everything He has called us to. We also received the peace that God wasn't done with New Horizon just yet. He hadn't closed the door to work there; He was expanding our ministry and squashing opposition at the same time.

We will start with a core group of those who have accepted Christ. We will study again the fundamental doctrines of the Bible and conclude this study with a Baptismal service to form the church. Then we will open it up to visitors. If we start by inviting everybody who wants to come, we will have a Micro full of people who want a free ride to our town to go shopping and a free ride home, but nobody who will attend our services. With the core group we can be specific and without too many distractions.

So now we go MicroBus shopping. Pray for wisdom. We have a close friend who knows a lot about them and evaluating their working condition. We've never had a diesel and we both have rusty manual transmission skills. In addition to serving as a CHURCH (love that word!) bus on Sundays, the Micro will be a safe family vehicle with room for car seats and friends for ministry in Santa Rita, a team vehicle for our 7 teams this year, and save us $1.50/gallon in fuel costs.

We hope that the Anonymous Blesser along with everyone else who has given reads our Blog. We are so thankful for your gifts of love and investment in our ministry. Every victory from the CHURCH in New Horizon will be because of your sacrifices.

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.

One Room Down

We are still painting in Santa Rita. We went Friday and we will probably go most everyday this week to finish up the other 5 classrooms. Quincho has been helping us. It is fun. People come by to talk, it has been a great way to get to know people. This has really been a great outreach!

Before

After

The wife of one of the team members sent down 3 suitcases worth of supplies for the teachers. We sorted everything out by grade and presented it to them today. It was fun to see them go through their boxes of goodies. The third grade teacher said, “The fence, the paint, the flowers, what more could we ask for!” We are so thankful for our teams they make so much more possible! One said that we had done more to help the school than the minister of education. We always tell them it is all from Christians in the States. This has really communicated God’s love.

Ana, Carlos, & Marcos received Bibles last night. Marcos and Carlos just moved to New Horizon for school. They are Kekchi. They have not accepted Christ yet, but haven’t missed a week. Ana is the daughter of the old president in Santa Rita. Please pray for all of them to come to know the Lord soon.

Ana

Carlos

Marcos

Please pray for the kids time in NH. The Catholic church is causing problems again. I only had 4 yesterday. They keep changing their time to conflict with ours and then harassing people who come to ours. Everyone is so afraid. We are going to hold the kids time in the morning next week to throw them off. Religion is sending so many people to Hell.

The boy in the above picture is Alex. His stepdad is Quincho’s uncle. He is in the running to be the next president of New Horizon. We are friends, but we are trying to keep that a secret, so he will still get elected! His name is Parvil. Please pray for this upcoming election. He told us he thinks things are going to be much easier for us in the village soon. We are not sure what he meant by that, but it was encouraging none the less. He spoke to Jimmy a couple months ago about Quincho’s attitude. He knew that Quincho really respected Jimmy and thought maybe he could encourage him to be more respectful and helpful to his mom. Sunday Jimmy ran into Parvil and he told him that Quincho had stopped by his house the other day. Parvil said his demeanor had completely change.d Quincho even told him that he had accepted Christ. He said that he saw a big difference in him. We are so proud of him!!!

Parvil

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Anytime we are away from home. Quincho sleeps on a hammock on our back porch, guards our house, and feeds our dogs. The team brought down beef jerky for Jimmy and he has made such a stink about it, that we all know that he doesn’t want to share any of it. Well Quincho called us to ask about the Chicken jerky that had been left on our porch. He knew if it was Jimmy’s he wouldn’t have left it there, so he wanted to know what was going on. We told him it was for the dogs. Since it wasn’t Jimmy’s he decided to try some. He called us back to say it wasn’t very good. Then he asked what the dirt was for. We didn’t understand that part until we got back. He had never seen one of those little pouches that comes inside food sometimes to absorb moisture and preserve freshness. He thought it had to be a seasoning. Since the first slice of chicken wasn’t good he thought maybe he was supposed to use the “seasoning” packet. So he ate another one with “seasoning” on top. He said, “It tasted like dirt!”

A Wonderful Weekend

We held our Bible studies in Santa Rita in our new meeting place this Saturday. We are so thankful for this house. God worked a miracle. We had a great turnout!

As soon as we pulled into the village the kids started running out with their new Bibles. All had completed their devo sheets. 3 more kids received Bibles this week.

With this open area many people can stand close and listen. One dad came for awhile and thanked Jimmy for what we were doing with his kids.

Marco Tulio

We learned about being Fishers of Men.

Jesus with his 12 disciples in a fishing boat.

The adults were as excited as the kids to have their own place to meet. We are located in the Kekchi part of the village, so we had a couple new Kekchi people.

Lesbia (we are meeting in her house) was in Santa Rita for a town meeting, so she came to the Bible study too with her sister that lives in SR.

On our way home we saw some lights in our town. There was a small fair. So for Valentine’s Day we stopped and road a ride. Jimmy tested positive for Dengue again, so it was really sweet of him to be willing to go. I like the rides that spin fast and upside down!

A nice sweaty Valentine’s Day picture!

My beautiful gift from Jimmy!

Sunday in New Horizon was just as good!

Araselin & Oshi

Darwin, Alex, & Alfredo

Gregory & Quincho

Lico was back for a week before he leaves again for work. Giovani and his girlfriend came with their son. He should have received a Bible but we are all out. Please pray for Giovani. He is very interested. He and JImmy have become friends and we do believe that soon he will accept Christ. Gregory has become friends with Quincho. Both of them are Christians and it would be wonderful if they could encourage each other. Gregory is going to start going to SR with us. These two could really be great leaders. We are a little concerned about Gregory. Now is a time where he has to start choosing what is more important to him. Please pray for both of them. Two Kekchi guys have been coming faithfully, Carlos and Marcos. Neither one are Christians, but they have been doing their devo sheets. Zacarias needs to get saved too. Please keep praying for the Bible study in NH. This week was so encouraging to us!

Please pray for Jimmy. He does have Dengue Fever again. He has been taking an equivalent to Loratab for the joint pain. It seems not to be as bad as last time, but I think it is because he just hasn’t had the option to feel bad... he’s just been too busy!

Like Minded

There is nothing more encouraging to a missionary than to be around others passionate about missions. Not the talky fluffy kind of passion but the action kind of passion. Larry Boggs, our missionary mentor... that sounds so goofy... our missionary friend (Claire is our real missionary mentor... hehe) came a day early. We are missionaries in the same country, but haven’t seen him in a year.

Since I was the lone southerner I made Jiffy sweetbread to go with our dinner (less fortunate midwesterners refer to it as cornbread). Someone had the nerve to actually export that stuff from the States and put it in my PO Box!

Larry and Claire always bring presents. Larry picked these pots out for me. Claire and I have been on a pottery kick. It is hard to find large pieces in Petén, so it is sort of like a scavenger hunt... my whole life is like a scavenger hunt! I am going to swap out the plant to match the pots better, but I really like them on top of our new hutch.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying about our Kekchi Institute. Jimmy had two new interested pastors contact us before noon today! We also had some supporting pastors contact us already as well. Please keep praying!

One of our supporting churches set up a time for Jimmy to talk to them during their church service tonight over the phone. We sent pictures ahead of time. Jimmy got to give an update and then they passed a microphone around and had people ask him questions. I don’t think churches realize this is just as encouraging to the missionary as it is to the church about missions! We want people to stay as updated as possible so that they will pray specifically. They are interested in planning a trip to come teach a module and host an outreach in a Kekchi village.

Our Bible studies in SR were great on Saturday with a strong attendance in both studies. We should be able to start working on the new meeting place this week! New Horizon has been a little down during school vacation, it was down this time last year too. Please pray for this community. One of our new Kekchi teens came back for a second time, so that was a blessing!

Maruca doing her best Shelley imitation!

We still have a lot to get done tomorrow before our team gets here tomorrow at 6:30PM. We also will be visiting a contact Larry made while on furlough. It is an unsaved father of a Guatemalan he met in KS. Please pray for this man.

Some Very Important Prayer Requests

It is the time of year for both of the villages we are working in to vote on new town council members and officers. Santa Rita is finished with their elections. We do not know all of the results yet, but we do know of at least one of our friends that is still on the council and also the new president, Julio, has a daughter that has been coming to our Bible studies.

FIRST PRAYER REQUEST: Lesbia is going to meet with Julio tomorrow morning to ask permission for us to use her house for our Bible study. If he says yes, we could start meeting there as early as next week. It is already an answer to prayer that Lesbia wants us to use her house!

Lesbia’s house

SECOND PRAYER REQUEST: The elections in New Horizon will be in the next couple weeks. They are EXTREMELY important. Tania, the current president, has been our ally. God had the right president at the right time for us to get into and stay in the village. When the hippie, Marc, had us voted out, she wouldn’t write the letter asking us to leave. Please pray that one of the few who are still against us is not elected.

We had a blast in Santa Rita today. Carlos has been going with us to visit too. We have been learning where everyone lives in the village and who is part of which family. Just like in NH everyone has 2 names. It is like a giant puzzle. I am enjoying it! So far SR has been much more friendlier than NH (I think it is because they don’t have atheist hippies living among them.)

Josué, German, & José

Jesús, Rosalino, & Heriberto

I wish everyone could meet Bernabe, she has the most beautiful heart and a smile to match! Guatemalans don’t usually smile for photos unfortunately.

We looked at the property in San Francisco again today (where we want to build a house). The owner really wants to sell it to us and gave us an even better deal today. We think it is too small to have a one story house and a garden. There is property next door that would make it almost half an acre. If they decide to sell their property too, then this could be it! Please keep praying. Finding and buying land is a long process wherever you are.

The little plot next door.

The Weekend

We had a great weekend both in Santa Rita and New Horizon! Aaron brought his violin and we all learned a new song!

This little boy in the front is a piece of work. His name is Fredi; he’s always entertaining!

We had 2 new Kekchi teens come in NH. They just moved here to go to school. Pray they get involved!

Vanesa received a Bible. She used to come a long time ago, but then her mom stopped it. Not sure why she has been given permission to start coming again, but we are thankful.

Not having your own meeting place is always a hassle. We spend the first hour in Santa Rita every week trying to find the key and then moving tables from the school into the Salon. Last week we started very late because they were having a town meeting in there. It took us several months in NH to get our own meeting place, so we don’t want to get our hopes up. Lesbia, who lives in NH, owns land in Santa Rita. She has already given us permission to store things in her house.

This is what it looks like right now. We are going to talk to her this week and see if we can meet there. We were given some money towards purchasing supplies for this work and also some Christmas gifts. Please pray we can stretch this out to buy tables, chairs, pay for my truck repairs AND have enough money leftover to extend her house so that we can have a porch to meet under. Please pray with us this week!

This is a big blessing. The owner of our house is going in with us to pay to seal the roof. We found some sealer in the new Trooper store in Santa Elena. Jimmy and Quincho painted half of it today.... they ran out of paint. Maybe soon it will stop snowing inside my house!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Nothing says “welcome to our Bible study” like a nice puddle you have to step over as you come in the door. Most mothers don’t uses diapers here after their kids start walking. This is what happens before they become potty/nice grassy spot trained.