It’s hard to believe that this Tuesday is the 2-year
anniversary of our move to Guatemala. It
has been a most unexpected adventure with many ups and downs, but we can
confidently say that the Lord continues to be faithful to every one of His
promises. Christy and the girls are 3
weeks into a new homeschool year and finally able to speak Spanish well enough
to build friendships with people at church and in the neighborhood.
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| The girls play soccer in the park most days after school. The neighborhood kids were so excited when someone gave us a set of portable goals! Our girls have had many opportunities to both speak the gospel to these kids and to stand firm in their convictions despite opposition and temptation. |
I (Joseph) am truly thankful that the Lord has
given me the language as well. I am able
to build discipleship relationships and lead trainings in Spanish. Thank you to everyone that prayed for this miracle! But even greater than that, it has been thrilling
to witness the Lord bringing about movement right before our very eyes. We are praising Him for raising up workers in
the harvest and moving in the hearts of men, women and children all around us.
Here are a couple of brief stories…
Dany is a young man that lives in a village in
Patzún, Chimaltenango, with his wife and 2 small children. He works in his family’s hardware store business
and helps with the youth at his uncle’s church.
Dany recently accompanied me to Huehuetenango to train a church there in
evangelism and discipleship. (This was the church of a brother named Jesús that we met through working with God in the Streets.) Since that
trip, we have seen him return to his home and become very active in the training
and discipleship of his pastor and church. They have formed a team of 8 who are
faithful to go share the gospel and begin discipleship. Dany is so
committed to following Jesus and fishing for men that he and his family are
sacrificing an already meager income so that he can spend time sharing the
gospel and discipling others.
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| Training in Huehuetenango |
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| From left to right: me, Salvador (see story below), Jesús and Dany. We are in Huehuetenango, right at the border of Mexico. |
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| Here is Dany back at home training his church. |
Also, last year I met and trained Salvador Archila. We have stayed in
touch since. He recently told me of a new church plant in a small
town in El Progreso La Union, Zacapa. Salvador
trained a few people there using the NoPlaceLeft/NingunLugarSinAlacanzar tools
and methods. After receiving the
training, they went out and shared the gospel and saw 16 salvations in one day.
They immediately began to gather and said, “We are church.” Please pray for them as they develop. This
town had no evangelical church before now. I will go and see for myself next
week and will ask the Lord for discernment there. Also, if this is truly a new
church plant, then I need to learn something from them. I am asking the Lord to help me see how He
(the Lord) did that! Salvador is so
committed to following Jesus and fishing for men that he and his family are
also sacrificing an already meager income so that he can spend time sharing the
gospel and doing discipleship.
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| Our family with Salvador |
This week, Dany and I will be joined by a
brother who came all the way from Colombia, as well as Jesús from Huehuetenango, to train in both the above locations (Patzún and El Progreso). We hope to
be an encouragement and to help them with their discipleship and leadership
development. We will be focused on
training trainers as they will train others in various parts of Guatemala. We
have invited many local pastors and laymen to come to the training in Patzún
and anticipate at least 25 people in the training.
For
anyone interested in getting involved:
- You can join us through financial
support. We need more faithful givers to meet our family needs. See the
info in the right-hand margin of our blog homepage for how to give.
- You can come and see what the
Lord is doing. If you are physically capable and want to come please
contact us and arrange a trip to see how the Lord is moving.
- You can pray. We need constant
prayer for endurance and discernment to follow the work of the Holy
Spirit. Some specific prayer requests for
this week:
·
For the work to be done this week and the
weeks following.
·
For protection of our minds, protection of our
families, and for unity in the team.
·
For more workers in the harvest and more fruit
from the harvest.
·
For safe travel for all involved.
· For us to see an unmistakable movement of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.
We sincerely thank you all for your love and
support!
