Exciting Days Ahead in Guatemala

As many of those who follow our ministry know we have been investing deeply in a relationship the church in Guatemala for over four years now.  The days have been very productive in establishing a strong mutually beneficial partnership.  This is a critical step in establishing a long-term partnership on the field.  Pastor Morales and the faith family at Iglesia Jerusalen have been wonderful teachers and friends in the process of learning the culture and establishing a vision for long-term impact.  The first week of this month we were blessed with an awesome medical team from several locations that came together to provide our smoothest most efficient clinic ever!  The clinic included medical professionals from the US as well as Guatemala. We also enjoyed several non-medical professionals who jumped into their areas of gifting and blew the doors off with amazing organization and over-the-top service to a people desperate for hope and care.

While on the ground we were able to walk and pray over a piece of land that the Lord has shown Pastor Morales and us as an excellent location to establish a long-term work through the mission church in Sajcavilla.    We have been seeking the Lord's direction for over a year about a permanent home for the church and a place to establish a feeding center for the community.  The Lord has provided!  We currently have the money pledged to help the church buy land for the permanent home for the mission church and begin a feeding center in Sajcavilla!

Jesus shared with us in the Gospels that He did not come for those who were well but for those who were sick.  He clearly came to pour into the lives of those who need nourishment and hope that comes from an eternal hope that does not disappoint!  I am excited about the days ahead in Guatemala.  The hope of a permanent location for the church to establish a long-term ministry in Sajcavilla and the future feeding of thousands in that Mayan village is truly a dream that is coming true.  God has been weighing our hearts down with the need for food, teaching and showing the Gospel in this community since we first walked among the homes in 2009.  Today we see His hand at work in bringing this vision of hope to reality.

We will not be able to do this alone!  We need your help.  Just as we have been dependent upon your support through prayer and finances up to this point, we need you even more now!  The future is exciting.  The reality of long-term impact is upon us.  Now we whom God has blessed with the excesses of His blessings will need to be sacrificial with our giving to fulfill the hope of impacting a people group with the truth of the Gospel through food, worship, teaching and the planting of the Word in this community.

Will you begin to pray now about how the Father wants you involved in the exciting days ahead in Guatemala.  We will need prayer support as decisions need to made and plans begin to become reality.  We will need financial support to progress into the new day of long-term ministry the Lord is inviting us to get involved with as He reaches a people in Sajcavilla.  We will need teams to go to Guatemala and help us build, develop and serve the community.  We will need servants to continue to carry the Word into the homes as we make home visits and spread the Gospel message across the community.  We will need teams to go and teach the children in the local schools the Word and continue to establish a foundation of truth among the future generation of Mayan young people.  We need soccer players to help us establish a soccer clinic this summer for the schools and play the local teenagers as an example of the grace and goodness of God in the area of sports.  We need men to journey with us into homes and share with the men of the community the value of Godly dads and the hope that brings to a family as the dads follow the Lord.  We need young people who will serve as interns to go and invest some time in the future leaders and partners from within the churches to help us establish a leadership base for the future.  And on and on the list goes of what we need from you!

You see the Lord opens doors for His church to share in the ministry of reconciliation throughout the world.  When He shows you what He is doing in a particular place, that is His invitation for you to get involved with Him in His work!  So, we have some exciting days ahead in Guatemala...will you join us as we follow Him into Sajcavilla?  Will you get involved in impacting a community, long-term with the truth of the Gospel?  Will you pray with us for the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the field to bring in the harvest that is ripe and ready!  Come on, lets reach the world and teach His Word in Guatemala!

In His Grip,
JT

Don't Waste Your Best Life Now!

This past week our medical mission team in Guatemala experienced some awesome events during our time in Sajcavilla.  Jerry Flummer, chairman of our board, along with Josh and Ashley Pigford from Birmingham, brought clear vision to hundreds of people as they led our eye care room.  Watching them work and seeing the faces of those coming out of their room was a true blessing!

So many times in the field we find situations and circumstances that overwhelm us.  We so often have very little to offer the family or individual that will affect their daily struggles in this life.  The weight of the struggles we see is very heavy at times and the opportunity to truly impact the daily life is so limited at times, we think maybe it is not work it.  Yet, the events of this past week allowed me to see a fresh new perspective on this whole idea.  

You see this week several men came in to the eye care room who could not even see the chart!  Yes, you read that right.  The big E at 20+ feet was not even clear enough to distinguish.  Over and over I watched Jerry patiently consider whether he could actually help them or not.  In our first world culture we would have said there is nothing I can do to help you.  Your situation needs a doctor or something we do not have.  Although that was not what Jerry did!  

Jerry patiently sat these gentlemen down and proceeded to improve their sight as much as he could.  He would work with them, and ask questions and seek to clear it all up as much as he could.  Josh and Ashley would build a pair of glasses or fit them with readers that made the most improvement possible.  Amazingly these men would shuffle out of the room with a new pair of glasses, not seeing everything perfectly, but seeing more clearly than they came in.  They were happy and very thankful for the limited sight they had and now it was greatly improved.  

How often do we discuss with the creator of the universe the challenges we face because we do not understand "clearly" His will for our lives?  Have you found yourself complaining to Him because you do not see clearly?  Our Father has promised each of us a life full of excitement and fulfillment if we will trust and obey!  You see there is no other way to see clearly than to see what He shows us.  It may not be the full picture.  We may not see the end result or the impact of our actions on everyone around us.  It is possible that our sight may be limited.  Yet, His will is perfect.  His desire for you and for me, is to trust Him with all our heart, even when we can't trace His hand!  

As I watched the work God was doing through our eye care team I was reminded that many times my vision is limited.  I may not ever really see clearly the whole picture.  But my Father is trying with patience and understanding, to improve my vision for His glory.  Am I willing to accept His will and His ways as my full vision.  You see, there is coming a day when, as the song goes,  "my faith becomes sight."

God so desires to use you right now right where you are to impact others' lives with the hope of the Gospel.  Don't waste the life you have wishing for more, hoping for clarity, waiting to see the whole picture clearly!  Now is the best you may see.  Right now is the time he has for you to serve Him with faith sight...not always eye sight!  Are you willing to serve people in a way today that improves their sight?  Will those who cross your path today see Him more clearly as a result of being in relationship with you today?  Will you take the vision you have and seek Him with all your heart in expectation of Him showing you Himself in a real and personal way?  Come on and stop trying so hard to make it all work out in your head and trust your heart as He guides you through His Spirit to see people the way He sees them.  Love with all your heart...even when you can't see the whole picture.  Serve with everything you have...even when it does not seem to make a difference from your perspective.  Follow Him today even if you must close your eyes and fall into His arms so He can carry you through the fire!  Don't waste your best life now...Live for Him and Love for His Glory!  

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8