Greetings! Sorry for the lack of information but I could not get on the internet. The week has been great! The folks on the trip have been great! The weather has been great! The Lord has been Great!

We had a group of 8 folks from Knoxville, TN join us Tuesday and Wednesday as their mission projects did not materialize. They were a great group of adults and a lot of fun to be with as we worked together to build houses. We finished all our houses on Monday except for the fronts. The concrete was mostly finished Monday night. On Tuesday, we completed the houses and dedicated all 15 and were done by 1:30 PM. We took the group to Antigua and had a late lunch. Then we went back to Alotenago and did our second food distribution for 100 families. (The first was on Monday night in the same village but in a different location.)  We got home and had pizza at 7:00 PM. This was a great day as we shared the gospel, dedicated the houses, and gave gifts including blankets made by the group from Oak Grove Baptist Church, King’s Mountain, North Carolina; Bibles for each house, and other items for the families. The evening was topped off by a wonderful fellowship time.

Today (Wednesday) has been spent going to the seminary for a tour, going to the Mall nearby, and then off to a special needs orphanage. We are now back at the mission house and have washed a van, truck, and will do the last van after we take it somewhere to get a tire repaired as it is going flat.  Bro.Paul is taking a large group around the property and showing them all the coffee plantation and buildings.

Tonight, we will have a great meal and then a time of fellowship before we begin our preparations to return to the states.  We leave the mission house tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM and both groups will fly out about 12:30 PM but on different airlines.  It has been a great week but we are ready to get home.

P.S. Tena found her anniversary gift as I was talking to her on the phone! It was great!

What a great day today as we began our day with a wonderful devotion lead by Miss Kittie Camp. She inspires us to greater heights whenever we hear her share about the Word of God. Her devotion was about Grace!

We met the ministry team with Bro. Parker and went to the village and had a block party for a couple of hours. It was fantastic. We had balloons, cotton candy, giveaways, beads, and just a great time with the people, especially the kids. It truly was a blessed time. Many of the men wished to continue the building projects so by the end of the day, we have 10 built ready for concrete and 1 house framed.

Our folks are working like it’s the last day and have been absolutely terrific in ministry and actions. Bro. Travis Northcutt was able to preach with the help of an interpreter today at the church nearby the mission house. This was a real blessing to him as well.

We plan to go to Bro. Walter’s church and then to Antigua tomorrow instead of the lake as a landslide has blocked the road to the lake. It’s all good!

Someone call Tena and give her the next clue: 66 star-like diamonds (tiny, tiny, tiny chips! :-)) all in the dark!

Greetings! I tried to blog last night but the internet went down. We had a very slow and unusual start to the day. The Spirit of God moved in during our devotion and folks started to share. My flesh was telling me to stop and go to work but the Spirit said not to touch it! So I didn’t! Can you say, “Please pass the handkerchief?” Stopped at the local store and picked up some water, exchanged money, and we were off and running. Tire problems on one of the vans. Seems you can only put so much weight on one tire. I won’t mention any names here but it wasn’t a man sitting there. LOL  Going down the main highway and the traffic stopped. Two major wrecks blocking traffic. Both were trucks turned over. One was a cement truck filled with bags of cement. Thank the Lord for His direction and we were late and not early. God is good. We eventually made our way to our destination. Built three  houses and working on the fourth. Spent the afternoon working in the rain. Our folks never complained. Great group of people. Went home and had a wonderful supper. Worked on luggage.

Today we are doing a block party with Bro. Mike Parker in the same village we are working. This will be my first and I’m looking forward to it. Got to go and get ready for devotions.

Someone call Tena, my wife, and tell her that I have left a love gift for her (our anniversary is on the 18th) in a secret hiding place. Her first clue: .925

Blessings,

Bro. Jerry

We had a great trip to Guatemala. Our flight in Mobile was delayed an hour or so but otherwise, the trip went smoothly. Willie Johnson was the only one who got motion sick on the plane as we did go into some rough clouds.  He was fine after a couple of visits to the back of the plane!  It probably was that taco or maybe all the stuff he ate with the taco?  Today will be a day of organization and adjustments but we are looking forward to a great day.  Bro. Travis Northcutt’s group from Oak Grove Baptist Church, King’s Mountain, North Carolina, Gordon Young from Virginia, and Becky Thompson from Arkansas  has joined with us (Friendship)  and we are looking forward to working together.  Bless the Lord!  All is well!

It is 4:00AM and the team left the mission house about twenty minutes ago headed to the airport.  Teams drag out the door for these early morning flights and I would imagine most of them are asleep as they make that ride.  Pray that everything will go well as they are all scheduled to arrive in their respective airports around 3:30PM today.

This team was great!  Their attitudes were superb!  Their work ethic was second to none.  I was most impressed by the folks from Thelma Baptist and their pastor, Bro. Doug Chappelle.  Those folks reminded me so much of the members of the Friendship family so you know I fell in love with them.  Matt & Anna Michelle Turner from Pascagoula were great too.  Paul Clark worked really hard and cultivated such a great relationship with the children in Alotenango.  Of course, the folks from Friendship were more than a blessing to me!

The team built 20 houses in Alotenango and was able to help build 6 more in San Miguel.  What a joy to work alongside the folks from Tennessee.  We appreciate the opportunity.

Good week!  I hope to see many of these folks back on future trips.  Team members, thank you for enriching my life!  Blessings!

Again, an entry in the morning.  I had company until late last night and just did not post.  My apologies.

Yesterday was good.  Matt Turner brought us a good word from the Word.  Pastor Doug, BJ, Heath, & Matt have all done very well in teaching us this trip.  Heath is a good teacher and worker.  The other three a much better teachers than they are workers – LOL!

We basically finished the houses yesterday.  One needs cement today as the ground was not level so the family was going to add dirt last night.  We need a handle there and a barrel bolt there but basically the houses are done.  We will dedicate them this morning and then have VBS this afternoon.

This team has worked in the rain every afternoon.  I mean some hard rain.  Their attitudes have been great.

This afternoon we will go to San Miguel to help the TN folks again.  They have been hit with sickness and it has slowed them a bit.  Hopefully, we will also visit Casa Aleluya.

All is well.  Pray that this final day of ministry will go well too and we will be right where God wants us to be.  Thank you for checking on us.  Keep praying!

This entry is actually being written on Tuesday morning.  I simply forgot to post an entry last night – my apologies!

Our Monday was good.  Heath Reese blessed us with a strong word from the Word to begin our day.

Seven houses are completely finished, nine others are ready for the cement, three more have the frame in place, and one more needs to be started from scratch.

The first day of VBS went well I am told.  I do not know the numbers but I do know the folks from Thelma are well prepared!

Chad, Brent, & Samuel did an excellent job of leading/teaching the TN folks.  They built four houses and put cement in three of those.  Good day in San Miguel.

Thanks for checking on us.  Keep praying!

This will be short & sweet as it is almost 10:30PM and morning is going to come quickly.  Normal Sunday for one of our teams in Guatemala.  The musical worship was a blessing and then BJ Parson (aka Clint Landry) brought us a good word from the Word.  He had us conclude by praying with one another.  Good stuff.

We did church at the seminary, lunch in Antigua, some shopping, and then just spent time in fellowship.  Good day!

Tomorrow will see us continue building houses, do VBS, and go show a team from Tennessee how we build houses.  My hope is that we can at least teach them what a hammer is by noon.  LOL!

Pray for us.  Thanks for checking in!  Blessings!

We had another wonderful day.  It began with another awesome time of worship led by Bill Lee.  We had no power but that did not prevent them from using the guitars to lead us to the throne in musical praise.  Pastor Doug Chappelle then brought a challenging word from the Word.  I so appreciate Pastor Doug.

We built houses all day.  I think that 13 are now up with 10 of those having received the concrete.  Three more are almost ready for the concrete.  Soy, Callie, & Austin finished a few houses but I do not know the exact number.

As 5:00PM rolled around the rain began to come heavily.  We got drenched!  I mean drenched!  My cell phone was a victim of drowning in that storm as it no longer works.  I got back to the mission house and decided to jump online to post this entry to find that my laptop has died too.  (Unless Dr. Doug can fix it but he does not give me much hope!)  O well, God knows!

The good news is that we did get the electricity back on this morning.  The hot shower after being soaked was a blessing.  Supper was great and the fellowship even better!

Thanks for checking on us.  Keep praying!

P.S. – I am using Soy’s laptop to post this entry but he does not know it.

It is almost 10:30PM as I type this entry in the dark.  We lost electricity somewhere around 5:00PM or and it is still out on the mountain.  The valley has electricity.  We are told that it could be tomorrow before we get it restored but we are hoping for tonight at some point mainly due to the fact that we need to charge batteries.

The team has handled this “bump in the road” with a great attitude.  Dr. Tico graciously allowed us to come to the seminary to get showers.  Caroline & Deidra had a great supper ready for us so we enjoyed a candlelight/flashlight meal – very romantic!  (I sat by Soy!)

Our day went well.  We got 8 houses up with four of those receiving concrete.  We have a lot of first timers on this team and they did great!

Of course, our day got off to a great start as Bill Lee, BJ Parson, Callie Chappelle, and Michael Taylor did a great job of leading us in musical worship.  Awesome stuff!  The preaching was weak but the musical worship more than compensated for it!

Everyone was in bed early last night and the same holds true tonight because there is basically nothing else to do.  Thanks for checking on us and keep praying that we will be obedient to God!

Clint, BJ says “hey!”