Grace Missions Blog

Even though seventeen of us arrived yesterday, today is the “official” first day of our final GRACE ‘08 mission trip.  The remaining twenty-five folks arrived safe and sound today arriving at the mission house around 3:00PM.  Some of the Michigan folks were delayed getting to the Detroit airport due to snow but they all made it safely - praise the Lord! 

Mark Mast and the Canadians went to The Potter’s House today and had a good day of ministry.  (I am not sure if they saw T.D. or not)  They also stopped by Amor del Nino to visit with Steve & Shyrel.

The other four of us went to Casa Aleluya this morning and began laying the tile in the building simply known as the gringo dorm.  It was a good start to what we hope will be a successful project on this trip. 

Our prayers and sympathy go to Mike Geerlings and his family as Mike’s mother passed away last night.  Obviously, Mike was not able to make this trip because his mother was so low physically.  Please keep the Geerlings family in your prayers. 

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the house building.  Our goal is fifteen houses.  Pray that we will have a good day. 

What a day of traveling!  As far as I know at this point, the Yankees arrived home safely (I know they had gotten to Detroit and were driving home) and Davy Bosarge made it safely home through New Orleans.  Glory to God!

The team members on Delta had a slight problem in Atlanta - they cancelled our flight from ATL to Gulfport.  So, Delta gave meal vouchers and a hotel room to each passenger.  However, seven of us made the decision to rent a car and drive arriving home at 1:45AM today.  The remaining fifteen team members will arrive on two different flights with the latest flight scheduled to arrive in GPT around 10:00AM.  Glory to God! 

We serve an awesome God and we thank Him for all He did in our lives this past week even with the flight problems.  God knows!   

It is a little before 3:00AM and the Michigan crew plus Davy Bosarge are about to leave for the airport.  It will be a long day for the Michiganders as they have an extended layover in Houston. 

Yesterday was a very good day.  The folks who hiked (actually the rode horses) Picaya had an awesome time.  Doug Wiltjer stayed behind and washed vehicles - what a great servant’s heart!  The others came home and helped finish washing the vans, mowing the lawn, et cetera.  We had a good share time last night which was a good way to finish the week. 

Pray for us as we travel today.  The Alabama team will leave here at 8:30AM and is scheduled to arrive in Gulfport at 9:45PM.  Thank you for your continued prayer support. 

Good afternoon from Pollo Campero.  We have had internet connection issues since late yesterday afternoon.  Our friend, Kirk Lightfield, is diligently working to correct the problem but to no avail up to this point. 

Yesterday was another good day as noon saw us completely finished with all fifteen houses - dedications and all.  A group then headed to Casa Aleluya while the rest of the team went to the seminary to replace a roof that had been blown off by a storm and to paint. 

We hosted Jack & Carolyn Ciak’s dorm for pizza.  It was different as we were without electricity for about three or four hours.  Pizza by candlelight - so romantic!  The girls were great even though one was dressed in an Auburn outfit thanks to Kim French - how disgusting! 

Today, almost the entire group is hiking Picaya.  I must be getting soft in my old age!  Actually, this team has worked really hard and really fast.  Also, it is raining here today so any outside work would have been hindered.  When the others return, we will wash vehicles and get ready to head home. 

Chris has done a good job of uploading the pictures and I appreciate his efforts.  Check them out via the gallery section on this site. 

Pray for us as we leave in two waves tomorrow - the Yankees leave early and the Bama folks a bit later but both groups get home really late.  I appreciate you taking the time to read these entries. 

God is good!  We have certainly been blessed this week with beautiful weather- crystal clear skies and not a drop of rain!  This morning started out much the same, but this afternoon the rains most certainly came.  Our group began this morning with a special time of prayer for several needs.  We lifted up Joey Switzer in particular, as he was preparing for surgery about the same time we were beginning our morning devotion time.  We were all delighted to hear this afternoon that the surgery went well, and that the tumor is not malignant according to the neurosurgeon.  We were also excited to hear during our share time this morning that one of the students on our trip accepted Christ as his personal Savior last night.  We give God all the glory!  Pray for him as he certainly has a challenging road ahead.  Davy Bosarge led us in a time of studying the Word this morning and did an excellent job sharing about what God has done in his life over the summer.

The group split into several smaller teams today as our goal was to complete as many houses as possible.  At quitting time today (brought on by the rain!) we had cemented 4 houses and dedicated 7 houses.  This brings the grand total of completed houses to 13.  The remaining two houses are framed and should be completed tomorrow.  Plans are to dedicate the rest of the houses tomorrow morning.  The rains began shortly after lunch time and never completely quit.  We headed back to the mission house a little early and a lot muddy.

We enjoyed a great time of group fellowship this evening.  As can be expected, several people are up to no good!  It seems that someone felt the need to target Ross Genzink as his hair gel suddenly came up missing this morning before breakfast!  You can only imagine the catastrophe that resulted!  The issue was resolved this evening, however as the hair gel somehow amazingly turned up in a certain someone’s suitcase.  Payback hurts!
I have truly been blessed this week by the fellowship among this group of Christian young people.  Everyone has done a superb job at displaying patience, flexibility, and great attitudes!  It is amazing how so many different personalities can come together to work toward a common goal.  I know that God is using this week to speak to me, as well as many other group members.  Thank you so much for your prayers already this week.  Please continue to pray for us as we finish up in the village tomorrow and do whatever work the Lord lays out for us.  We are truly blessed!

-Jennifer Wetterer

This entry is way late as it is now 6:15AM on Wednesday morning.  We did not have internet service last night and just got it back.  So, I apologize for the tardiness of this post. 

Tuesday was a good day for our team as we built five more houses bringing the total to fourteen that are up.  One team completely finished i.e. front on, door/window installed, et cetera three houses.  We found our tools for the concrete and were able to put cement in six more.  So, we now need to build one more house, pour cement in six, and put the finishing touches on twelve. 

The team quit the house building at 2:00PM in order to go to a village to distribute food and clothing while another team did the same at Palabra Viva (Paul & Cristy’s church).  Ben Taylor preached in that church.  The distribution in both places went well.  A special thanks to those folks who gave clothes, shoes, toys, et cetera in order for us to minister in the name of Jesus. 

Today, we will hopefully finish the house construction and begin the dedication process.  The Lord continues to bless us with absolutely awesome weather and we are grateful. 

I have heard that Shirley Bosarge (Tina Sprinkle’s mother) is in ICU.  Joey Switzer will have surgery this morning in Mobile.  I think Sarah Thornton’s surgery is today also.  Please join me in praying for these folks and their needs. 

Lord willing, I will post another entry late tonight.  Please know that everyone is doing great!

Again, I am not going to bore you with a lot of details but suffice it to say that we had a good Monday.  The day began with our usual morning Bible study time at 7:00AM and we were in the vans rolling down the hill around 8:30AM.  We went to a village located about twenty minutes from the mission house and built a total of 8 1/2 houses.  Three of those received cement.  Our cement crew was limited today as we don’t have but one set of tools.  Hopefully, we can remedy that problem tomorrow. 

We arrived back at the house around 7:00PM having chosen to just keep working as the weather was absolutely picture perfect!  Rita Arriola had led in preparing a traditional Guatemalan meal for us to enjoy and it was fantastic! 

Our plans are to continue building tomorrow and do village ministry tomorrow night.  Everyone is doing great and the attitudes are superb!  Remember, Chris Taylor is uploading pictures to our photo gallery section of this website so check them out!  Keep praying for us! 

I was reading a blog entry the other day and it was long.  I tired of reading it and simply didn’t finish but realized that folks don’t necessarily want to read long entries.  So, I will try to be informative but not let this entry go on forever. 

We had a good Sunday.  It is now 10:00PM and the upper & lower rooms are filled with folks spending time in fellowship by playing games.  Chris is uploading pictures to the gallery on the website so check them out! 

We had a two hour plus worship service tonight in the upper room.  Kristen & Ross DeYoung led our musical worship as John Vickers accompanied them on the guitar.  Ben Taylor, seminary student from Mid-America, brought us a message from Matthew 7:15 - 23 and other selected passages. 

It has been a blessed day from the service at Alpha & Omega this morning to the fellowship time tonight and all in between.  Pray for us as we will hit the ground running in the morning building houses.  My plans are to update each night - probably late so check the website each morning. 

This was our last morning in Guatemala for awhile.  All the folks busied themselves in the early morning hours getting ready for the luggage truck to arrive.  Three of our folk had already taken off for home on an earlier flight.  We loaded up the truck and like the Beverly Hillbillies went to town.  Our day was basically a hurry up and wait process.  The Miami airport was very difficult to maneuver about as those we encountered seemed to not know what they were doing.  They couldn’t decide which dot to tell us to follow >>>green >>>yellow >>>etc.   After a very confusing process, we finally checked our luggage and had a bite to eat.  We gave them the benefit of the doubt as the weather was playing havoc with the flights.  We arrived from there in New Orleans and caught a commercial bus owned and operated by Jim Hodge from Gulf Port, MS.  He graciously picked us up and carried us to our destinations.  If anyone needs a chartered bus, feel free to contact Friendship for details on how to contact Mr. Jim.  He seems to be a great Christian who has a great ministry as well as a charter bus and trucking business.   Pray that God will bless him in a great way.  The ride was smooth sailing, especially as the roads were flooded by a bad storm.

So here I sit waiting for the group from Gulf Port who were also delayed due to weather.  They should be arriving in Grand Bay by about 12:30 a.m.   Included in that group of eight is my wife, Tena.  I think I’ll stay up and wait for her! 

We want to thank everyone who went on the trip for their unending efforts.  They were great.  I’m blessed by meeting our new brothers and sisters in Christ.  We plan on sharing tomorrow night in our worship service as to what God has done.   Pray for the next group which is already down there.  Pray for those who have and are coming home.  May our lives never be the same again.  May we decrease as Jesus increases.  May we remember, “It’s not about me, It’s all about Christ.”

Blessings,

Bro. Jerry

Today is actually Saturday night and I am sitting in my recliner waiting for the last eight of our team to arrive home.   We tried to blog Friday but the Internet was being very temperamental.  

Our day Friday started out with Willie and a few faithful ones leaving early to complete the last three houses which included cement in one, front walls and doors on the other two.  While they were doing that, the medical team went back to the village where pastor Alfonzo is pastor and they spent the morning doing their medical work.  The rest of us did our dedication of each house.  We asked pastor Alfonzo to help us share the gospel and dedicate each house.  We had some language barriers but we seemed to communicate well enough that we knew what each other was thinking.  (I think!)

We were blessed by each dedication and especially when our people that were there had part in the giving of the house in memory or in honor of someone.  We finished the dedications and then went back to the mission house to begin the process of cleaning the mission house, vans, garage, etc.   It takes a lot of work to maintain a ministry like this.  I so appreciate all  of our folks who pitched in to get the job done.

After having our final evening meal, we had a share time with our devotion for the day given by John Crigler from Martin Bluff Baptist Church.  Many shared testimonies of God’s goodness and we had our final instructions to the group as to what to expect on Saturday morning.  It was a great day.  We were also blessed by seeing Daniel & Millie, Juan Marcos, and Max and some of his family.  they joined us for supper and a great time of fellowship.

Bro. Jerry