Update from Joseph

It has been a while, but I will do my best to keep this short and sweet! In September, just after our one year anniversary of living in Guatemala, we made our visa run to the States. The Lord blessed us with amazing opportunities to serve and minister the gospel along the way. It was a blessing to visit with our families, friends, and churches who are supporting this ministry in various ways - through loving, preaching, sharing the gospel and sharing in gospel conversations training.

If you are interested, here is a link to the sermon,, "Connecting with Your Purpose", I shared at Spring Valley Baptist Church in Columbia, SC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhyFWdWS7a0&authuser=0

And here is a link to the sermon, "Living with a Right Perspective", I shared at New Covenant Church in Myrtle Beach, SC: https://newcovenantmb.com/?download=%2F2018%2F09%2F2018-09-09-2-Corinthians-5-JS.mp3&nocache 

We are excited to share with you how 2018 will end for the Saleebys, Lord willing! 

1) This week, we have a couple from our neighborhood coming over Thursday night to begin discipleship/bible study in our home. This is a very exciting start to reaching our neighbors. PRAY: Please pray that we grow together in this fellowship.

2) This Saturday, we have a full day gospel conversation training in San Cristobal. Four churches from San Cristobal will have leaders there and Engadi Ministries will have 4 representatives there. This will be the beginning of our working toward a church plant in Zone 18 with Engadi Ministries (www.engadiministries.org). This is going to be a very exciting weekend! PRAY: Please pray for Pastor Julio Arenales and the leaders of Casa Jehovah Dios, where we will give this training. Please ask the Lord to put His passion in their hearts and desire for reaching their loved ones, neighbors and co-workers. 

3) October 22-November 9, I have the great opportunity and pleasure of working with a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) team from the States over these 3 weeks as they work in Nimajuyu (Zone 21). I will not have full-time involvement, but I will have several opportunities for training in gospel conversations. PRAY: Please pray for fruit in the harvest time and for the Lord to guide our steps during these weeks. 

4) In November we have two awesome opportunities to serve: 

• November 10-17, we will have VBS in our church, Vida Nueva Guatemala.  During the same week, we will have the Good News In Action team here for the evangelism campaigns throughout the city. PRAY: Please pray that we see fruit in the harvest (people truly surrendered to follow Jesus) and that we, the church, handle the responsibility of follow-up with discipleship well. Pray: Please pray for strength and wisdom for Pastor Nelson, Pastor Javier, and their families as they lead Vida Nueva Guatemala. 

• November 18-24, I will have the opportunity to shadow Nathan Hardeman, founder of Engadi Ministries, as he hosts a team from the States in their continued work in Zone 18 of Guatemala City. This will help me learn from a veteran in handling large groups as well as help me to become familiar with the area. Nathan and his team believe the Lord has called them to plant a church. We have the privilege of assisting and training their existing employees, starting this weekend. They have been working in this same area for 20 years. PRAY: Please pray for me to learn as we prepare for many of you to join us on future trips. Also, please pray for the Lord to guide our steps in reaching this area further with the gospel. 

5) December... I am working with Adrian Hernandez, the founding pastor of two churches. One in Santiago and another in Xenacoj ("Chin-a-co"). Both are located near to our home and outside the city in the department of Sacatepéquez. We are praying together and discussing the best approach for implementing the gospel conversation tools and training in these two little towns. We are hopeful that this will happen in early December. PRAY: For these two very precious congregations, that the Lord will put His compassion and desire to grow His Kingdom in the hearts of their loved ones, neighbors and co-workers. Please pray for pastor Josh Hill and Adrian Hernandez and their families. 

6) May 04-11, 2019 We are planning to work with God In the Streets (gits) and Engadi Ministries to do street ministry work in Zone 21 Nimajuyu and Zone 18 in Guatemala City. We will have local teams ready for follow up and discipleship. These teams have developed from the trainings done in and around Guatemala City. God In the Streets is a collaboration ministry of Latin American gospel hip-hop artists who will travel from Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Houston (TX), etc. PRAY: Please pray for all the artists who will sacrifice their own time and money to join us in ministry here in Guatemala. Please pray for fruit and for workers to rise up for the harvest and be ready to disciple new believers. 

We want you to know that we sincerely appreciate all who are sacrificing and giving to keep us active in the ministry. We ask that you do something for us to continue in the ministry. Share this blog with others so they can know what God is doing here. Share it with your friends and pastors.  Ask them to consider joining us in financial support. We are sincerely committed to doing the work of ministry and we are independent of organizational support. We count on you as individuals to consider giving above and beyond your normal organizational or cooperative giving. If you are currently supporting us and you have committed to two years but you plan to continue please let us know so we can plan well. If you need to discontinue or decrease support, please let us know. We are into our second year of service and believe the Lord would have us stay indefinitely. We are committed to stay and work as hard as we can for as long as we can while we have funding. The forms and information for giving are on the right hand side of your screen (desktop view). 

Again, Thank you very much for your willingness to support us as you do. We love and appreciate all of you and we ask the Lord to bless you with joy as you seek to grow the Kingdom of God in the hearts of those you know and love.

Seeing God at Work

It has been way too long since we last posted an update. Life has been full and busy, and we praise the Lord that we are witnessing Him doing a work that is so much bigger than us!  We are seeing people choosing to follow Jesus.  We are seeing people become passionate about their calling as ambassadors who carry the message of reconciliation to those around them.  We are seeing leaders and pastors who are eager to train and equip those under their care.  We are seeing young men eager to be a part of training and encouraging others.  We praise God for allowing us to witness and be a part of the miraculous ways He is moving here!  If you would like to partner with us financially, please see the info on the right side of our blog page (you won't see this if you are looking at the mobile site).  Also, if you would like to be included in the group that receives real-time updates/prayer requests, see info at the end of this blog post.  Here are some of the things we’ve been up to…

Since the process to get a permanent visa here in Guatemala is long, complicated, expensive and not really necessary, we are living here with only our tourism visa.  This means we have to leave the country for a few days every 6 months in order to renew it.  So, in February our 6 months was up and we visited the States.  We thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with friends and family.  We also had some great opportunities to share what the Lord has been teaching us and how He is moving in the hearts of the people here in Guatemala. 

We returned home to Guatemala and received some special guests… the pastor of our home church (Faith Baptist in Youngsville, NC) and his wife, Steven and Jenny Wade. It was a treat to spend time with them and to share our new surroundings with them. After their visit, Christy and the girls began their final 15 week stretch of their homeschool year. We also spent the rest of March moving into a different condo in our same neighborhood.  We had been living in the home of some missionary friends of ours that have been in the States for the past year, but plan to return soon.  Joseph, with the help of several brothers in Christ here, worked hard making repairs and getting the new home ready for us.  Praise the Lord for all who are giving so that we can afford a safe and secure home with beds and enough space for all to feel at home. 

The Lord’s timing amazes us.  As soon as we finished getting settled into our new home, new opportunities for ministry opened before us. After being away, having guests and getting moved, I (Joseph) thought the things in ministry where suffering. I was worried that we may have setbacks in the work but the Lord’s timing is always best. With my horizontal view I saw no work being done, but God was working here even still. People we trained prior to this long stint had been practicing and have seen fruit. They have also been speaking with other churches who have heard of the work and are eager to have us come and train. For months, we have been praying for opportunities to train in more places more often and for more trainers to rise up and begin to practice and train. Just a few weeks ago we heard from a pastor in Zacapa, Guatemala (La Majada) who was looking for someone in the NoPlaceLeft/NingunLugarSinAlcanzar network to help him with gospel conversations and discipleship training. I am overwhelmed and excited to tell you that God has provided faithful men who want to join in the work of making disciples and training them to make disciples who will entrust the ministry to other faithful men as well (2Tim 2:2). Right now, we have at least three months of trainings from these organic contacts.

Prayer Requests:

• Rising Leaders: We are seeing the Lord develop leaders in Guatemala City, Nimajuyu, and Zacapa (La Majada and Llano De Piedras). The Lord is working, and the enemy is attacking.

• Luke 10:2. Please pray for more workers in the harvest. We need more trainers to rise up from the harvest and begin to disciple others who will become trainers.

• Effective communication in trainings scheduled for the next few months in Zacapa/Rio Hondo, Villa Nueva (South of the City) and Nimajuyu (where local pastors will receive training).

• Wisdom to know and see where the Lord is working vs. working where we think we should because it is more convenient or comfortable.

• For continued strength to persevere in learning Spanish, homeschool and ministry.

• Continued financial support so we can stay here and witness the Lord’s work. We need more faithful monthly partners to continue the work.

I (Joseph) often send real-time updates and prayer requests to a group chat using the WhatsApp messenger app.  If you get WhatsApp and would like to be added to this group, send me a message at +502 4803-5579 or email me at jdsaleeby@gmail.com.  

This entire family repented and believed in Jesus! Please pray that we will be able to meet with the father (who was not there that day) and be able to share with him as well.

Jhonnatan is a young man from Nimajuyu who is passionate about making disciples and learning to train others.  Pastor Pedro and Jose are church leaders in Zacapa that have opened their home to us and worked with us to train the local congregations.

This 15 year old named Diego realized his need to repent and believe in Jesus during our training at a local school in Zacapa.  Praise the Lord for opening His eyes to the light of Christ!  Pray that he grows in his understanding of the Gospel and what it means to follow Jesus.

Church training in Zacapa (La Majada)

Stephen Frein helping to train.  These are leaders from La Majada that want to plant a church

Another training.  This church is in Llano de Piedras, Zacapa. We had a pig wander in during one of the trainings here!

Two young men in Nimajuyu that are eager to make disciples.  We will be working together a lot in the next month.

Training at a school in Zacapa.

The vision is to seek houses of peace or churches that would like to practice the tools of evangelism for strengthening an existing church or planting a new church.  Please join us in praying for connections in these locations.

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.