Update from Joseph - God is raising up workers!

Just wanted to share a couple of quick stories of the way we are seeing God at work here! We cannot tell you how much we value your prayer support.  Please continue to pray that those in darkness would see the light of Christ… and that as they begin to follow Jesus, they would bring the good news of the Gospel to those people they know and love.  Also, please pray that we would be strong in the Lord even as we are in the midst of many spiritual battles.  We are blessed beyond measure to know that He indeed is always with us.  He gives His grace and peace in abundance!  (1 Peter 1: 2)

I met Nery in the market in Antigua last Friday night. He said he was a Christian and wanted to know more about following Jesus. So I went back to train him in how to study the Bible and share the Gospel. During the second training, he discovered that he had never surrendered to Jesus as Lord and repented of his sins. Nery asked Jesus to be his Lord and King last night. Praise God for blessing this encounter and for making all things new in the hearts of men. Please pray for Nery, his wife Mersy, and their daughter, Adriana, as he shares the gospel with them and as we continue discipleship. Also, ¡Gloria a Dios! this was my first time in Spanish without translation.

Nery and I

Gospel conversations training

Sofia is a young lady who attends our church.  She contacted me recently and asked for training in gospel conversations since she had missed the trainings we did at the church a couple of months ago.  So this last Sunday, we had a training at our house with Sofia and two of the guys that have been going out on Thursday nights to share the gospel in the Nimajuyú community.  After some time spent in training at our house, we went to a very busy street in San Lucas. It’s right beside the shopping center and a grocery store we frequent.  In an hour and a half our team of five engaged 38 people.  Seven of them asked Jesus to be their King that night. Two of them, Javier & Adreana, are not believers but they did say yes to studying the Bible in their home. They have agreed to meet this Saturday at 2:30pm. Please pray that their hearts will be changed and that they will become fruit that yields 100-fold.

Thankful for Stephen Frein's help in the training

Our team of 5: Vinicio Tello, Sofia Rod, Stephen Frein, Julio Jimenez and me

We praise the Lord for the work He is doing and the souls He has saved!  Our continual prayer is that He will send out more workers into the harvest (Luke 10:2).  Please let us know if there is ever any way we can be praying for you! 

We also thank those of you that have come alongside us in financial support.  If you would like to give a gift to help support this ministry, please see the right column of our blog for info on how to give.

Merry Christmas!

Update from Joseph - Gospel Conversations Trainings

HOLA! We are sincerely thankful to all of you who are faithfully supporting us financially and in prayer. We praise the Lord for His faithfulness and for putting Guatemala on your hearts. Without your support we would not have the blessing to be here and to see the Lord’s work in and around us. Thank you very much.

The view of Guatemala City from our neighborhood

When we first said “Yes” to the Lord and began this journey to Guatemala we thought the Lord would have us come here and work only with Good News in Action and Vida Nueva Guatemala on training in evangelism. As we began to move in this direction the Lord introduced us to a network of people who are seeking the fulfilment of the Great Commission, #NoPlaceLeft where the gospel has not been heard by a mouth to ear gospel presentation. You can visit www.noplaceleft.net for more information on trainings, worldwide, and mission statements. In Latin America this best translates to #NingunLugarSinAlcanzar (NLSA). With this network the Lord provided encouragement, training, methods for training trainers, challenged our then tiny vision for His mission and gave us many great resources useful for equipping new and existing believers to carry out His kingdom-building mission. It is a comprehensive biblical approach of training in gospel conversations, equipping believers for discipleship and challenging immediate obedience to the Gospel. It is truly a way to multiply the workers in the harvest to get more Great Commission kingdom-building work accomplished.

Our strategy here in Guatemala is pretty simple: Share the Gospel. Train others to share the gospel. Train Trainers to train others to share the gospel until there is #NingunLugarSinAlcanzar in Guatemala where the gospel has not been heard by a mouth to ear conversation.

(I am including a couple of videos below... one is from a training held at the church and the other is from a training held in our home.)

Pastor Nelson Rivas after the VNG training

Training held at the church (VNG)

We are excited, and we praise the Lord for His great work here. Since our last blog post we have experienced the Lord open doors for trainings and gospel conversations. The Lord has provided great translators, who speak English well and want to be trained and they want to be trainers. So we have seen the Lord do much more in the onset of this adventure than we expected. So far, in the last 8 weeks we have had 12 trainings and trained at least 70 people in gospel conversations. Some trainings were in our home, some in other homes and some in the church at Vida Nueva Guatemala. We are also in the process of training leaders from three churches just outside the city so that they can take the training and cast the #NLSA vision in their church and community. In December we will work with them and do a full day training complete with harvest time in their communities (Santiago, Chimaltenango, Xeno & Nimajuyu). In short, The Lord is opening doors for the people of God to be mobilized with the gospel.

Training in our home

 

With the youth of VNG

Some pics of small group trainings:

We are hearing stories of people from VNG sharing the gospel in the work place, with family members and elsewhere. Last night we met in a large colonia (group of neighborhoods) in the north of Guatemala City called Nimajuyu. Back in August I was in Guatemala for the GNIA campaigns and met a couple named Julio and Ana in the park of this colonia. These two were already following Jesus when we met. We stayed in touch through Facebook. They saw the pictures of NLSA trainings on FB and wanted to know more. We met for coffee and I cast the NLSA Vision for them. Julio and Ana were very excited and saw that this is a great way for them to reach their community and possibly other parts of Guatemala. Since this coffee meeting we have spent a lot of time together looking at scripture, training and praying for more workers in the harvest. Last night, four men from Vida Nueva and I met in their home, prayed and went into the harvest together. In one hour and 15 minutes we engaged 14 people. Some would not receive prayer. Some wanted to hear more and have been invited to discover more through bible study. One young woman surrendered to the Lordship of King Jesus and will be discipled by Ana and Julio.

Last night in Julio and Ana's home

Last night in the harvest

Notes from our sharing time after the harvest

I am sorry for the long post and I do apologize that my words cannot express how much we can see happening in the hearts of the people here. I am humbled to say that I could keep on and on with how the Lord has been working for His name sake.

We had the opportunity to share the gospel after playing a game of soccer with a group of boys in a local neighborhood park.

I will end with this one scripture that has recently come alive to us. “The Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.” (Matt 13:44) Jesus calls us to recognize the value of the Kingdom of God. It is worth everything we have and we cannot outgive God - not with our time, our money or even our lives. In this time our family is learning more about the true and lasting joy that comes from simple obedience and the discovery of the value of the Kingdom of God. The further we go down this road of investing in eternal things the more we discover true joy in in Christ in the midst of the uncertainties we face.

Christy and the girls were so excited to find a leaf at the park that reminded them of fall in NC :)

The girls loved helping with VBS decorations

Again, we cannot thank you enough for your prayers and financial support. We would not be on this journey if many of you did not give of your finances and prayer support. Please continue to pray for more workers in the harvest and please continue to give. If you are looking for a mission to support please prayerfully consider us and view the right side of the blog for more information.

Prayer Points:

Ø  More workers in the harvest.

Ø  More opportunities for training trainers.

Ø  For the training to remain simple and reproducible.

Ø  Those who are trained to produce fruit and to become trainers.

Ø  32,000 trainers who will train at least 50 more people.

Ø  Patience and persistence in pursuing the Kingdom of God.

Ø  Strength and perception when the enemy strikes. We are waging war against him and he is striking, but God is faithful to sustain us.

Ø  Family as we continue to adjust to the culture.

Ø  Family to grow in our understanding and ability to speak Spanish. (The Lord is blessing in this way.)

Ø  Christy and the girls and they continue to valiantly keep up with a full homeschool schedule. With our move they had a little delay in starting. They are 10 weeks into the school year now and are doing a great job of getting caught up.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss sending a mission team to Guatemala:

My cell number is +502 4803 5579 (I can receive texts and I can call you.)

Email: jdsaleeby@gmail.com

Joseph

Getting settled in Guatemala

So, here we are in Central America! The last few months have been a huge blur. We are in our third week living in Guatemala and the Lord has shown Himself faithful in all the many tiny little details. We have been cared for by our brothers and sisters of Vida Nueva Guatemala (VNG) in so many ways. The minute we landed we had a beautiful welcoming party and they even brought coffee! They took us home, carried all our trunks and luggage in the house and we prayed together. They even made a special late-night trip to get us toilet paper. TP is kind of a necessity for a home with 4 ladies. (Thank you Lefties!)

The VNG family that greeted us

The new gospel whip

The following days were no different. We had our Guatemalan family show up to help us as we needed to stock the pantry, fridge and freezer.  We also needed a vehicle and a few guys took me out car shopping. This was quite an experience which you can ask me about sometime. When we finally settled on a 12-passenger van, we had a mechanic from VNG volunteer to drive the van and look it over thoroughly. The Lord provided the funds to purchase the vehicle, the people to vet the vehicle and the right vehicle for personal and ministry use. Interesting note, here they refer to our 12-passenger van as a microbus. We are so thankful to have a vehicle that will not only work well for our family, but will also be a help to the ministry here.

So what’s next?  I will start language school and the girls will start homeschool this coming Monday, September 4^th. I am meeting with a few men in VNG each Thursday afternoon to cast vision for NingunLugarSinAlcanzar (NoPlaceLeft) in Guatemala. I am seeking persons of peace anywhere and everywhere who are willing to listen to the gospel or to be trained to take the gospel to their households and beyond. At this time, we have identified and are praying for 4 prospective locations for NPL training to take place: San Lucas, Mixco, Zona 9 in the city at VNG and Chimaltenango.

Gospeling Update: During the purchase of the vehicle, I met Indira. She is the manager of the company where we purchased the van. She speaks great English and this gave an opportunity to share the gospel using the 3 circles conversational tool in this culture. Edwin from VNG was with me so I was blessed with the opportunity to share the gospel with Indira and to model this tool for Edwin. Indira is like many people in Guatemala. She has a lot of head knowledge about God but she admits she is far from God. She wants to be close to God but she wants to hear more before committing to follow Jesus. Please pray that she remains sincere and does accept the opportunity to meet again.

While I was in town and in between meetings I found a pupuseria that also has coffee. I strolled in looking like a total gringo and with my poor Spanish asked for pupusas. The English-speaking owner, Xavier, asked if he could help with my order. We got into a conversation where he also pegged me for a missionary and told me he had a few thoughts he’d like to share with me regarding the approach that missionaries typically take here in Guatemala. Xavier is Guatemalan, around 60 years old, and an established business man. Here is a great opportunity. He invited me back for FREE coffee and he wants to discuss my plans. From this conversation, I learned that he is not a believer. As he tears up in our conversation, I see that he cares a great deal for people in this country. Please pray that Xavier hears the gospel and responds to it with obedience to take the gospel to his household and the nations. I will go see him again… and not just for the free coffee.

This is Christy… I wanted to add a quick note myself. This has been no small adjustment to say the least.  We find ourselves completely out of our element and in unfamiliar territory.  But we are most definitely where we are supposed to be.  We are figuring out how to do life here little by little.  Everything is different, but our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  I am so thankful for His presence, His peace, His guidance and His joy – all of which we have experienced in deeper, more tangible ways than ever before.  Hannah, Jordyn, and Layla are doing amazingly well.  They are happy and content, and we are blown away at the ability God has given them to adapt to such a huge life change.  Thank you for all of you that continue to pray for and encourage us.  We love you all!

Some specific prayer requests:

1) Wise use of time in the harvest and in training new workers to be in the harvest 

2) Language

3) More workers in the harvest and for us to remain faithful to spread Gospel seeds

4) Nationals to see the Father's heart for church planting

5) For Christy and the girls as they start homeschool next week

I attempted to ask for turkey sausage at the grocery store (for cabbage and sausage) but these are most definitely hot dogs!  My family was gracious and seemed to enjoy it anyway lol but I do not recommend it!   -Christy

New friends with the Tello family

Sharing my heart with VNG

Our first Sunday at VNG

Casting NPL vision to VNG leadership

Enjoying time with the Izquierdo family

Empty Hands and Full Hearts

We love and sincerely appreciate all of you whom the Lord has used to encourage, pray, and physically lend a hand, as well as those of you who have been able to partner with us through giving. The past year is a blur of decisions and transitions but God is faithful and many of you played a part. We thank you all for your love, friendship and support!  

The sale of our home is final. Our earthly goods have been whittled down to fit into 20 plastic luggage trunks and a few sentimental totes for U.S. storage.  We have experienced the Lord providing in so many ways.  We had so much to do the month of July as we worked to sell everything we could.  Then, on Saturday the 22^nd, we held a moving sale at our house. We'd already sold most of our big items: TV's, dining table and chairs, etc. but we still had a ton of items that needed a good home. Our neighborhood was out in the country about twenty minutes from town. In the past, when we've tried to have a yard sale on our own (without it being a community yard sale) we had only maybe one or two customers the entire morning. So this time, with a garage and driveway full of stuff, we prayed and asked the Lord to bring people.  Well, the entire morning, we had constant traffic!  There were more people than we’ve had during community events in the past. We sold tons of stuff and probably gave away just as much. Several of our friends came to help with customers and we know that we could not have done it without them. At the end of the moving sale, the remaining items fit in the back of one pickup truck! A team of volunteers from Faith came and helped by taking them off to goodwill. This whole event was undeniably God’s provision. 

We are also amazed at the way the Lord has been working through this process. We had many people in our home as they came to buy our stuff, and we were able to pray with them and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ.  It was such a joy to be able to pause in the middle of all this craziness and do what we were created to do!  Each encounter refreshed our soul as we were reminded of the greatness of our God and the mercy and grace we have through Jesus.  We pray that the seeds that were planted will have a ripple effect into eternity.

In a way, we feel like the Israelites in Joshua 3 as they stood on the banks of the Jordan River, about to cross over, following the presence of God into the great unknown.  With His strength and perfect provision along the way we have made the preparations necessary to cross over, and He has prepared and is preparing our hearts for what is to come. We go with our expectations, but we hold our plans loosely because we know He has His best in store for us. We go because we want to obey the Master. Please pray that we follow the presence of the Lord faithfully and diligently do the work he has called us to.  We have our plane tickets to fly out as a family on August 13^th, just a little over a week away.  Full-time language school is our first order of business, so we ask that you join us in praying that God will give us the ability to learn the language quickly.

We have emptied our hands but we have full hearts. We have exchanged building our kingdom for proclaiming His Kingdom. We are learning to value relationships more. We are bowing our heads lower, bending our knees more than ever, learning to obey each step of the way.  And even though the impending circumstances seem scary as they are full of unknowns, our joy is full. Our God is faithful and we are secure because He is with us.

“Who do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. Those far from you will certainly perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all you do.”

Psalms 73:25-28 CSB

Almost Go Time!

Praise the Lord! He has provided a buyer for our house. Not only did He provide a buyer, but He gave us a buyer who loves the Lord. We have been praying as a family that whoever moves into our home will share the gospel right here in this neighborhood. We give thanks and praise to God because we believe He has brought a family who will proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the neighbors that we have grown to love and care about deeply. He always gives more than we can ask or imagine!

Change of Career: Friday, June 30^th was Joseph's last day as an Industrial Sales Representative for Tnemec Coatings Company and today, Monday June 3^rd begins our new full-time ambition of taking the gospel to the nations.

“Go” time: We close on our house July 28^th which means we have some work to do. Each day from here on out will be filled with planning, packing, and shipping. Hmm…what to do with all this stuff?! This also moves our date of departure for Guatemala to August 15^th.

Brief Financial Update:   Currently we are at 83% of our monthly support goal and seeking more prayer and financial partners through churches and individuals. If you would like to partner with us, please see the partnership letter and support form to the right of your screen (on the desktop site).

Please understand that the ministry we will do does not cost very much so we do not expect to be regularly asking for additional financial support. However, we do have some immediate needs above our monthly living expenses.

• Language School Tuition: $4,300

• Family Vehicle in Guatemala: $15,000

• Shipping Household Items: $6,000 (Kitchen, homeschool, personal items...)

We believe the Lord will accomplish His great work of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout Guatemala and the world. We believe He is being gracious in allowing us to be a part of this work, and not only that, but that this is who He created us to be and what He created us to do.

Isaiah 9:7 tells us that it is God who is advancing His Kingdom:

      "The dominion will be vast,

      and its prosperity will never end.

      He will reign on the throne of David

      and over his kingdom,

      to establish and sustain it

      with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

      The zeal of the LORD of Armies will accomplish this."

Please join with us in prayer as we strive for the advancement of the King’s Dominion.  Please also consider giving as we go. We are laying our needs before the Lord and trusting Him to provide through those who are led to do so. Please use the information on the right side of your screen, on your desktop, if you plan to make a contribution.  Words cannot express just how thankful we are for all of you!! 

Specific Prayer requests:

• For all the details and moving parts involved with preparing to move.

• For the Lord to continue preparing our hearts and the hearts of men and women in Guatemala to be ready and willing to share the gospel.

• For people of peace who will receive the minister and the message of the gospel as well as training to go and do the same.

• For our family to learn the language.

• That we will be wise in each step and decision we make along the way. We want to be faithful to follow the Lord’s direction one step at a time.

• That we would handle and budget wisely all the financial support we receive.

Striving to be Faithful to the Call

June 16, 2017

Can you imagine being in one of Paul’s many tough situations? I am reading the book of Acts to capture the stories of the spread of the gospel and the early church planting movement. I am amazed at how many times Paul, during some extremely rough conditions, is afforded the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. Many times, he has a plan that he cannot follow through with or things don’t quite work out the way he wants them to. I encourage you to read Acts and imagine how frustrating it must have been for him. Despite things not going his way, Paul remains determined to obey the great commission by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and making disciples. He never claims that he’s too busy to obey. It’s who he is and what he does. He scatters gospel seed and trains new believers to do the same anywhere and everywhere.

So, our prayer as a family is that we will be obedient and persevere to be faithful to the call wherever we are and in whatever circumstance we are in.  We pray the same for you all too.  As we are in this transition we do not want to miss opportunities to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We don’t know how the many details are going to work out, but we know the Lord is faithful and He is our reward. We know our joy is found in Christ and glorifying Him above all else.

Speaking of details, here is a neat story you may want to hear. We had an issue with our garage door opener and were faced with the decision between the cheap short-cut fix or the long-term fix which was much more expensive. Christy and I agreed that we couldn’t cheat the new home owner and honor the Lord at the same time. So, we selected the more expensive option. A few days later, Sunday June 11^th, we visited Malachi Chapel in Columbia, NC. We had a great time of fellowship with them and we were encouraged by them. They were so kind to take a love offering for us at the end of the service.  The amount of the offering was the exact amount we spent on the garage door repair!  The Lord used this to remind us that He's going to provide for our every need and He is able to handle every detail! As a family, we praise the Lord for showing Himself to be faithful as always!

An update on our financial support: Currently we are at 83% of our monthly support goal for two year financial commitments.  We are still seeking more prayer and financial partners through churches and individuals. If you would like to partner with us please see the partnership letter and support form to the right of your screen. We are also still raising support through one time gifts for our moving costs, purchase of a vehicle in Guatemala, and language school tuition.

Please join us in praying:

• For the sale of our home. We are praying for a departure date of July 17^th or that week which is only 4 weeks away!

• For all the details and moving parts involved with preparing to move.

• For the Lord to continue preparing our hearts and the hearts of men and women at VNG to be ready and willing to share the gospel.

• For fruit as we seek to faithfully point others to King Jesus.

• For our family to learn the language.

• That we will be wise in each step and decision we make along the way. We want to be faithful to follow the Lord’s direction one step at a time.

• That we would handle and budget wisely all the financial support we receive.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

God's Provision in a Life-Shaking Season - from Joseph

April 24, 2017

As we approach our departure date for Guatemala, we are hit with the reality that time is moving fast and it seems that the things to do are more than time will allow. This Monday, May 1^st, we are putting our home on the market. We have let go of so many things that at one time had some value to us. However, now they just don’t seem important. Letting things go for the call to follow Jesus is getting easier and easier each step of the way. It is freeing.  We can’t believe how much stuff we have stored up over the years!  But now, we are no longer storing up things for this world and it actually feels like a relief to let it go!

We are overwhelmed at the way the Lord has continued to pour out His blessings in so many ways.  I don’t just mean the way He is providing for us financially.  We are also seeing Him work in the hearts of people around us and in our own hearts. For example, this past Monday, in one day the Lord provided three things we needed. Number one: I’ve been praying for months that the Lord would give us someone as a person of peace that would have a heart for the gospel in our neighborhood. I now have a man who is interested in learning more about the NoPlaceLeft vision and being a part of seeing the gospel spread in our neighborhood. Number 2: Through a friend in our Faith group, God gave us a lot of packing paper. When we recently met with the moving companies, they told us that we could save significant money by packing our own stuff for shipping. Number 3: I really wanted to get more NoPlaceLeft training before leaving, but all the level 3 opportunities are so far away. Well, The Lord provided plane tickets to a training in New Mexico through another Faith family. So, Jehova Jireh provides yet again.

People, paper and plane tickets. Our God has got this!  Down to the smallest detail!  And that is the secret to our rest during this incredibly busy, life-shaking season.  We have to keep working diligently to do all the things that need to be done, but we can rest knowing that it is God that will accomplish whatever He wants to accomplish with us.  He’s the One who will do it!    1 Thess. 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.”  And just like David said to Solomon when he was talking about the way God had called Solomon to the specific work of building the temple, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work.  Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you.” (1 Chron. 28:20) Our God is faithful!! 

May 1, 2017 Update: So this happened today!

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to be a part of the message in our home church, Faith Baptist.  Our missions pastor, Ben McRoy, preached a short message and then called us up for an interview. We thought we would post this link to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our hearts as we prepare for Guatemala.  We were so blessed as we worked through the answers to these questions. We pray the Lord will also bless you through our journey in some way!

The March 19^th sermon is titled “Following the Exalted Savior”.  Our first interview begins at around the 11 minute mark and then we come on again around the 26 minute mark to answer a few more questions. Here is the link: http://faithnc.org/sermons/following-exalted-savior/?player=audio

We've also updated our Invitation to Partnership letter and our Support Form (in the column to the right).  Please check those out if you are interested in seeing where we are with our support.  Our God is faithful!!

January 21, 2017

I, Joseph, am en route back home to the US. These two weeks spent in Guatemala have been very beneficial. I spent the first week with a team of 19 North Americans and at least 15 translators from Central America doing campaigns with Good News In Action.  I was blessed to be able to share this experience with my brother, Scott, and another member of his church (New Covenant in Myrtle Beach) John Gallman, as they were able to join our team. We went into several different zones proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ where 260 people confessed Him as Lord for the first time. Please pray for wisdom and strength as the local church, Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, now has the task of following up with these new believers. This particular week was full of surprises and exciting encounters. 

The super trooper team from Faith Baptist Church.  It took them 2 1/2 days of travel to get there and their luggage took another 3 days, but they worked hard and kept a great attitude through it all.

I will share briefly about two encounters...

One was Alex: He's 31 and a nurse. He was in the park hanging out with his buddies and blew me off the first time I approached to invite him to the festival. He came just a few minutes later as the gospel was being presented. He and his friends listened for a moment and then they left. I asked the Lord to move and then approached them. I asked them for just a moment of time and shared my story of how Jesus changed my life and gave me hope. The Spirit of God moved in their hearts and all four of those young men asked Jesus to be their king. Alex is wearing the white sweater in the picture below.

The second guy's name was also Alex. Alex is 32 years old. He was playing soccer with younger guys in the neighborhood. When I asked him for a moment of his time, he was more than happy to chat for a while. We talked for about 30 minutes or so. He said he already had a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ but he didn't always feel like he was right with God. We encouraged him, prayed with him and challenged him to spend time in the word and get plugged into the church. He asked for Javier from Vida Nueva to reach out to him for sound teaching and further encouragement.  Alex is the guy in the middle in the picture below.

On Sunday, I was able to worship with Vida Nueva, which will be our future home church.  There was a good crowd and I enjoyed having lunch with a few of the leaders after service. Nelson, Rosemarie and Camila were gracious hosts and a pleasure to spend time with. Thank you also to our dear friends, the Tello family, for the ride to Antigua and the coffee talk. 

Wendy and Vinicio Tello, and their daughters, Laura and Camila.

I spent my second week in Antigua attending language school everyday.  I had four hours of classes every morning and two hours of homework to do each afternoon.  While in Antigua, I also met a few different missionaries from different sending agencies. Some were new faces from the Christian Spanish Academy and others I had planned to meet with ahead of time. These folks gave of their time freely and were able to help answer questions and provide valuable insight. Chad Bader, David Donatto and his son Josiah, Dan and Dodi Ward, Adrian and Maurisa Hernandez - Thank you for your information, encouragement, transportation, meals and prayers. 

 

Me and Adrian Hernandez

Last, but not least, language school was amazing. I think Christian Spanish Academy will definitely be a good place for us to learn Spanish. As we study the language, I also believe that there will be many opportunities to share the Gospel along the way.  This week, I had opportunities to talk with English-speaking people from other countries - Japan, Germany, and other countries - just sitting in the coffee shop doing my homework. Some were hearing the gospel for the first time.  There are so many ministry opportunities in Antigua, Guatemala City, and in the towns and villages all around. Please pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers and please pray that He will strengthen and encourage the workers already in the fields. 

My kindergarten Spanish graduation LOL

This time spent in Guatemala was definitely valuable. I am truly thankful for your prayers and financial support.