Hello everybody! It was a good, busy week! Many people got sick this week. I felt pretty good the whole week though. We went to church on Sunday, and it was a good and passionate message about not building monuments for yourself that will eventually fall like Saul did, but build alters to God that will last forever like David did. It was translated in English for us too, and it was a child’s birthday at the church and they gave everyone food and cake! We were at the school Mon-Wed this week. Some things we taught the kids about included David and Goliath and how we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and we did this skit called the “Sin Chair” and shared the Gospel. I was reminded this week while preparing the lessons for the kids that God will work not because of my own power, but because of His. We did some more construction work, and much of the week we stenciled and painted the name of the school on the building by going on ladders. On Thursday and Friday, the pastor we’ve been working with got us connected to another pastor who wanted help to build his new church. So we got to help start to build a new church from scratch. It was interesting when we got wood because we went to this place where the Guatemalans were actually making the wood from trees, and we got to see them saw out the wood. It was pretty funny for us because we had to haul the wood up this super steep hill that was almost like a mountain. It took a lot of strength. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.“ We’ve been working with the pastor’s son and nephew, and they speak English well and are fun to hang out with. We started to dig the ground for the church this week. We’ve been eating a lot in Guatemala as the Guatemalans are so generous. They’ve been giving us pop and pastries as a snack after our lunch. It was so touching yesterday because the owner of the “wood shop” came with his wife and child to where we’re staying and brought us each a bag of pastries and visited with us. The Guatemalan hospitality is really sweet. We had two sessions as a squad this week. One was about honoring each other as men and women and the importance about not dating each other during these 11 months and the other was the testimonies of our squad leaders. One of our leaders testimony was so inspiring. It was the one who I said that is really bold and confident, and it inspires me. She said that she remembers speaking in tongues and praying before she could even talk, and she said that she actually has seen Jesus during a time that she was suicidal. She said it wasn’t a dream or a vision. It might sound crazy, but she’s a trustworthy person. And she said that when she was in Africa, she saw people that were blind see, people that were deaf being able to hear, people that couldn’t walk be able to, and someone get cured from AIDS through Christ. It made me excited to hear about God’s power, and I’m excited to see it for myself too. I forgot to mention that last week we put a bunch of medical supplies into this hospital. It was pretty cool! Also, I forgot to mention that last week I was feeling really stressed out one night and one of the guys on our squad saw me and prayed for me, and it was really encouraging. We only have about 1 more week left in Guatemala! Crazy!!!! Today is our “day off”, and it was the first completely free day that we’ve had! Tomorrow, I’m leading the team Bible study, and we’re going to church. I might have the opportunity to talk in front of the church tomorrow. One of the Guatemalan guys that we work with told us that they evangelize on Mondays and show this film about Jesus and then talk about it after, and I really wanted to go, but we have a squad session then. So I’m gonna try to go another time, and I’m gonna try to go with someone tomorrow or sometime this week to share the Gospel. Well, that’s about it for now.
Prayer Requests
1. That we make the most of our last week in Guatemala- that God’s will be done and that we’re not lukewarm
2. That my squad would stay healthy
3. That I’d have opportunities to share Christ with people
Thanks sooooooo much. I love you!!!!!! 🙂 I have a couple pictures, but it's not letting me load them now, but you can look at my Facebook page. 🙂
