Sorry for no post last night.  You can blame Emily Esselink and Carina Mack!

Yesterday was another good day as the team almost finished all twenty houses.  The concrete is in all twenty, the fronts are on all but three, and over half have been completely finished.

VBS went well again with 250 in attendance.  Mark Mast and Laurie Vargas are doing a great job along with an assist from other team members.

Flexible?  This afternoon our team will leave the work site and go to Amor del Nino to take 18 children to the zoo tonight!  That means a change in work schedules and supper will have to be eaten on the road.

The catch is that we had decided to build six more houses and need to have those complete by the end of tomorrow.  Lord willing, it will get done.  Pray for us to continue to be flexible as He works in and through us.

Thanks for praying and thanks for keeping up with us.

We had a good day as a team.  We had to deal with some rain but it was not so bad as to stop us from working.  Fifteen houses have been built and a sixteenth one is basically ready for the tin.  Eleven houses have received concrete.  Some have been finished completely but I do not have that total tonight.

Mark Mast led a VBS which was attended by 200 children.  Mark is really, really good at reaching/teaching children.  They will have a larger crowd tomorrow.  You should see the bounty of stuff that the Canadians brought down to give away – impressive!

Everyone is well.  There are some tired puppies tonight but not too tired to play pulse and some card games.

Again, thanks for checking on us.  Keep praying!

Blessings,

Pastor Teddie

This is our sixth and final GRACE Ministries trip of 2011.  Obviously, many other churches/ministries have used the mission house during 2011 but this is the sixth one led by a staff member from Friendship Baptist.

If you are outside the Friendship family then I apologize for not posting prior to tonight.  I was delayed by one day getting here as I was preaching a funeral service for one of our greatest GRACE Ministries supporters, Miss Louise Morris.

Fifteen of the team members arrived in Guatemala on Saturday and the remaining twenty-seven came in yesterday.  I came today and am accompanied by three Guatemalans which brings our team total to forty six.

The team built houses in San Juan Alotenango today and had a good day.  I think I heard correctly that they have tin on seven of the houses, an eighth one framed, and three have received concrete already.  Good day!

I am told that Rex Looney and Mark Mast did an excellent job of leading worship and sharing the Word this morning.  We had a crowd for supper tonight with probably twenty five to thirty guests.  Good fellowship.

Plans call for us to update daily.  Pray for us.  Thank you for taking the time to keep up with us via this blog.

This entry is being written on Thursday morning as we are sitting in the airport at Gate 5B waiting to board our plane.  It was simply too late last night to post an entry.  Sorry about that – blame Jordan Lowell!

Our final day of ministry was awesome.  God had some things in store for us that we did not have in our agenda.  First, we sent a small team to work with Mike Parker and build a house for a lady living under a piece of plastic.  They did an awesome job!

Second, we had a team do an “extreme make over” for a house in El Tejar.  It was a major job but they got it done after about eight hard hours of work.

Third, a team went back to the seminary to paint another building.  Mission accomplished!  They painted one house and two office buildings – awesome!

Fourth, Nic Gray popped the question and Annie said “yes!”  It was good as Annie was totally surprised!  The proposal came in the gazebo behind Paul & Cristy’s house.   They are excited and we are excited for them!

We have enjoyed a good week.  The Yankees, the Catholics, the Pentecostals, and everyone else did great!  Great attitudes, great flexibility, great work ethic, et cetera.

Thanks for keeping up with us and praying for us.  Jordan says “hey!”

Good day!  The team dedicated all 20 houses which included giving baskets of food, a Bible, and other things to the families.  They then went to the seminary where another building was painted, work was done on the new building, and two more basketball clinics took place.

Everyone is well.  The team does not know it but we will be doing things differently tomorrow.  It is of necessity and I will explain in tomorrow night’s post.

Thank you for praying for us.  God is good and we give Him the glory!

Finished!  Done!  Complete!  Those words can be used to describe the 20 houses this team came to build.  All 20 are up, have the cement, and have been closed up.  Actually, I have had to throttle this team or there is no telling what they would do.  Today, they built four new houses, cemented 9 more, and put the fronts, et cetera on all 20.  Wow!  God is good!

Plus, today saw a team go to the seminary and completely paint the exterior of Josue Chavez’ house.  Plus, Coach Mickey Cochran & Coach Brian Cochran hosted two basketball clinics.  Wow!  God is good!

So, tomorrow will be dedication day plus working at the seminary on the new construction and doing more painting.

All is well and everyone is too!  We give God thanks!  Thank you for checking on us.  Pray for us!

Basically a normal Sunday for a GRACE team with a couple of slight twists.  We met for our worship service this morning with the musical worship led by Carlos Villatoro and the message delivered by Tico Vargas.  Afterwards, the team headed to Antigua to shop, then meet at the restaurant for lunch, and then shop some more.

Pastor Bob Harvey led the ministry of giving away clothes and food in a local village which is located close to the mission house.  That went well and everyone, villagers and team members, was blessed.

Tomorrow we resume the working part of the trip and will also incorporate a basketball clinic which will be led by coaches Mickey & Brian Cochran.

Thanks for checking on us and thank you for the prayer support.

This entry is coming late but I guess that is how it is going to be.  We had probably 25 guests for supper tonight and by the time we feed everyone and spend some time in fellowship the night is gone.  I apologize and appreciate your understanding.

We had another blessed day.  We were on a “normal” schedule today and were able to build 8 more houses and put cement in 8 more.  That brings the total houses built to 16 with 10 of those receiving the cement already.  This team could do more but I am restricting the number they can build each day.  Everyone worked hard but you could tell who the cement workers were when they came through the supper line – they were a bit slower than everyone else.

We will have our own service in the morning featuring the music ministry of Carlos Villatoro and the preaching ministry of Dr. Tico Vargas.  Tomorrow night will be an evening of village ministry.

We will pray for our respective services tomorrow.  I think we have 16 or so different churches represented on this trip.  We appreciate you checking on us by reading this blog.  Pray for us!

Sorry for the lateness of this post as it is already 10:40PM central time and 11:40PM eastern time.  Our first official “work” day of this trip was good.  We actually did not get to the village until noon as we started our devotional time thirty minutes late due to the arrival time of the Delta folks last night.  The devotional time was long as we introduced ourselves and spent some time in fellowship.  One of the vans had a mechanical mishap on the way to the village and that cost us some time.

So, did you get anything done today?  Yes!  Eight houses built with two being completed with cement and only lacking hanging the door and installing the hardware.  Everyone did well and the attitudes were great!

Good fellowship tonight.  Most folks seemed tired but the games are going strong even as I write this entry.  Thanks for checking on us and thanks for the prayers.

The entry is actually being posted a little after midnight here in Guatemala.  The 20 folks from Michigan arrived safe and sound around 9:00PM.  The 23 Mobile folks arrived around 11:30PM.  Those Yankees are great friends – not a single one waited up to make sure we arrived safely!

So, even though our Delta flight was an hour late arriving from Atlanta into Guatemala City, we are thankful for God’s watch care over us all day.  Thank you for praying and, Lord willing, we will post again tomorrow night (Friday).