Hello to my Awesome Supporters who make this all possible!
Here is what has been happening this month:
This month has been challenging to me in so many ways. At the end of each day our team has feedback time, which we named “family time”. In this time, we must discuss anything we are going through: struggles we are having, issues we may have with one another, areas we need to grow in, and truths about ourselves that we have trouble accepting. This time of the day is dreadful some days when we may be ready to go to sleep or just be alone. But on those days, we usually learn the most. While this process of feedback makes each of us feel vulnerable and maybe even awkward at times, it helps us to learn things about ourselves that we may never have noticed on our own. Because of this time, I have been able to see things that may have held me back for so long, and ugliness is often exposed.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving Antigua, Guatemala. It will be hard to leave this city, not only because of how beautiful it is and how beautiful the people are, inside and out, but especially because of the awesome ministry contacts we have had the opportunity to get to know.
This month has been a blessing in many ways. My group has been able to work with Forrest and Carol Kendall through their organization Servants 4 Him. They have been such a blessing to us. They have been like parents to us and have such fun personalities. Forrest’s playful personality always makes the workday fun and enjoyable for everyone. Carol’s humor and firecracker personality always keeps us laughing and keeps the mood light no matter what she may be going through or how tough the day has been. It is so encouraging to see their hearts for the people of this country. They picked up their comfortable, safe lives with their children and moved to care for the people in need in Guatemala. They not only bring clean water and clean air to the people of Guatemala but they bring Christ to them, a life of freedom, a life of love. During our time, we were able to see how dramatically the lives of these people were changed through a little bit of love and a water filter or a new stove and it has blessed me in many ways.
“There is a fundamental, life-transforming truth that we cannot miss as Christ followers: We were created to impact all nations for the glory of Christ. The testimony of Scripture from Genesis to Revelations is that we were created to enjoy God’s grace in relationship to Him, so that we may extend His glory to the ends of the earth. Matthew 28:19 commands and commissions us to “go and make disciples of all nations…”
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:17-18
The Bibles speaks repeatedly about the responsibility of the people of God to care for those in need. Deuteronomy 15:11 says “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land”. In the New Testament our care for the needs of others is a demonstration of the internal transformation Christ brings to our lives. Therefore we must be well informed about the needs around the world so that we can show God’s word active in our lives in the way we care for the poor.
Forrest and Carol Kendall’s lives have been a great example of this to me.
Let’s embrace the radical purpose of God for our lives.
Let’s wake up as God’s people to see His great glory and to see the nations’ great need.
Let’s each spend our lives for the sake of God’s glory among all nations.
You were created to impact the world for the glory of Christ.
