Ryan Johnston began the morning by challenging the team members to remember that we have one purpose in life–The Great Commission.  I can honestly say that Faith Baptist is a church filled with people who do not simply talk about missions but are involved in missions.  They continue to spread the gospel in their community, state, nation, and world.  I believe God is continuing to pour His blessings on Faith Baptist because of their passion to see people come to Christ.  They are passionate about Jesus!

The people of Faith Baptist presented GRACE ministries with a gorgeous banner.  It will hang in the mission house as a reminder of the one reason we serve the people of Guatemala–JESUS!  Their banner ministry worked extremely hard on the banner and we are truly grateful.

The teams finished a total of 15 houses this week.  The men and women worked hard, even in the rain, to complete all of the houses.  Fifteen families are thankful for the gringos who spent their time, finances, and ability to provide a “better” house for them.  My dad would say that Tennessee people don’t even know which end of the hammer to hold!  Regardless, the houses are finished even if they did spend the entire looking for the “board stretcher”.

Thankfully the rains held off this afternoon for some of the team to dedicate houses.  They blessed the families with clothes, food, and Bibles.  Our prayer is that the people realize an earthly home is temporary, but the unseen things are eternal.

The team hosted a VBS for the children in the village.  They had a great time playing with the children, making crafts, and sharing about Christ.  It was definitely a rewarding time for the children and team members.

“This mission trip has reminded me that it is the love of God that changes people, and it is by his grace that He uses people to show His love to others.” – Krystal Durfee

“God continues to be faithful!” -Robby Crafton

“This week has helped to remind me just how blessed and how much we have in America.  It has shown me just how much others are in need of and how God can use us to help fulfill their needs.  I feel that I have received more blessings than I gave.” -Brian Norton

“For where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21-Jenny Carter (adopted 2 Guatemalan girls)

Thank you Faith Baptist for serving the Lord in Guatemala!

-Deidra

Pam and Alisha arrived without any trouble this afternoon.  Miss Luisa is all smiles as she now has extra help and three washing machines!  We are extremely excited about helping Miss Luisa and serving the various teams throughout the summer.

Faith Baptist of Bartlett put in a long, hard day of work.  The team continued to complete houses with cement and prepare the remaining houses for cement.  They will finish the houses in the morning and participate in house dedications in the afternoon.  The pastors who work with GRACE Ministries always do an excellent job presenting the Gospel to each family who receives a house.  Please pray that the lost will come to know Christ and God will receive all of the glory for the houses!

Some of the group went back to Amor Del Nino to hold the final day of Vacation Bible School for the children.  Juan Marcos has complimented the group for the outstanding job they have done during VBS.  I am certain that it has been a week that the children will never forget!

Thank you for continuing to pray!

Deidra

Wow, we had another good day but it was a long day!  The medical team left the mission house around 9:00AM and returned around 9:30PM.  We now have twenty houses built and cemented.  All that remains is some minor additions i.e. a hinge here or there, et cetera plus 15 dedications.  We had another team go to the seminary where they painted the exterior of a house, broke up some cement sidewalks so they can be replaced and began preparing some ground for stone runners.  Pastor Bob Harvey preached in the chapel at the seminary this morning and then “slacked” off by going for coffee & dessert with Tico Vargas.  (Can you say slacker t-shirt?)

Normally, we have pizza on a Thursday or Tuesday night but we changed the schedule this year.  We took the team to Tecpan to Paulino’s Restaurant – it was a great time of fellowship and some really good food.  We left the restaurant and went to La Iglesia Evangelica C.A. “La Gran Comision” which is the sponsoring church in the village where we are building houses.  Their quartet sang for us along with some congregational singing.  Our team, led by Carla Mast, sang two songs for them.  It was a neat night. 

As we were driving back from the church service, Jeff Schuiteman called to tell us that his father had passed away earlier today.  Jeff’s wife, Cheryl, is on the trip.  So, I ask you to pray for the Schuiteman family.  Cheryl will stay here as they anticipate the service in Michigan will not place until next week. 

This is a good team.  We have had zero problems.  They are one of the most flexible teams I have ever led on a mission trip.  Everyone has been awesome up to this point and I have no reason to believe it will change before we leave.  I thank God for these folks. 

We are changing gears tomorrow as the construction team will leave at 7:00AM and the medical team at 8:00AM.  We will have our service time tomorrow night.  Pray that we will have a great final day.  Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. 

What a day. We left the mission house at 6:40 for worship at 7AM. Worship lasted from 7-8:20. I did not understand a word spoken, but the Spirit of God was evident.

After returning to change into more casual clothes we drove to ANTIGUA for shoppinig and lunch. Following that we loaded a pickup truck with supplies of food, clothes and toys. We drove to a remote location an hour away that is so very hard to describe. We went from poor to pooer to poorest. When we arrived the villagers were waiting. Each family had been given a ticket to receive a food bag. We set up an assembly line much like our Brown Bag Ministry through the Food Bank in Auburn. 644 people came through the line. One family had 13 children. Several with 6 or 8. After receiving the food each child was given clothes and a toy. Then all were given toothpaste and a brush. So sad, yet very rewarding.

Tomorrow we will divide into 2 locations. 1 doing medical missions, the other building houses. More later,

Blessings,
Pastor Bob

We are having technical difficulties uploading photos to this website, although you can visit http://caravandam.blogspot.com to view photos of our trip. We will do our best to update each day. 

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 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

Greetings!  I want to thank Miss Kittie Camp for blogging for me as I was definitely under the weather.  I’m not totally well, but I am determined to do what I must to finish our course.  I have to say that this team has been absolutely wonderful as they work tirelessly to accomplish the task set before us.  I was very hesitant to ask them to arise early to go to work but they nearly begged to do it even today.  I am astonished at their determination.  I thank the Lord for them and their great spirits.

Bro. Eric preached with an interpreter at the Seminiary today.  Tico said that he was “the Man!”  I believe it was Tico who interpreted for him.  They both are “the Man” as I so appreciate Tico and his dedication to the Seminiary.  Several of our folks painted the outside of a house while others worked on plumbing.  They plan to return tomorrow to finish the job.

The rest of us including the medical team when and worked hard building houses until around 11:00 a.m.  At that point, we took the medical group to the seminiary to do medical work and we also took those who desired to go to Casa to see the orphanage and kids.  Several have sponsorships there at Casa and they were able to see their sponsored children.  Very sweet!  Our plans were to go on to another orphanage but were cut short for lack of time.  We hope possibly to go to Steve Osborne’s tomorrow.

Today is Bro. Paul Leytham’s birthday, and we were so happy to have him and Cristy eat supper with us.  We sang  “Happy Birthday” and presented them with team t-shirts.  We do appreciate Paul and Cristy’s continuing contribution to GRACE Ministry. 

There will be a big final day tomorrow.  We will probably not blog again this trip.  We have lots of great pictures and am sorry we have been unable to get any online.  We will fix that when we get home. 

Please continue to pray for us, as we are praying for home needs.  Pray for Tico and a Seminary need today. 

Signing off, Bro. Jerry

In spite of our leader, Bro. Jerry, being somewhat incapacitated (the vertigo he had experienced after his accident returned with a vengence), team members led out on the early morning (6 AM) building tasks.  They were strengthened by participating in a huge circle of prayer in the upper room before they left.  Bro. Teddie preaches “flexibility” to us on these trips and this team has exemplified flexibility.  When the rains came in the early afternoon, a total of ten houses had been completed or nearly so. 

Bro. Kerry delivered the medical team to the church were they were scheduled to work.  Because their clinic was set up inside, they worked a long day and saw 152 patients.  The Gospel was shared and reviewed with each patient.  One lady with three children had lost her husband twenty days earlier.  Team members stopped to lay hands on and pray for her.  Another was saved ten years ago, but backslidden, was prayed for and turned over to the local Pastor who dealt with her.  She promised to be in church with her family next Sunday.  The medical team came back tired but excited over the results of the day.

Our kitchen crew, Sharon and Louise, worked all day and set out a great meal at 5:00 PM to the team and guests from the Seminary, Juan Marcos and his band, and local guests.  The building rang with talk and laughter as the fellowship was as good as the meal.

We gathered in the upper room for a full Christian concert by Juan Marcos and his seven member band.  They set up their equipment, including English words of every song projected on the wall.  The vocalist sang almost every song in English.  We were touched and humbled at the amount of work and effort that went into their presentation to us.  Bro. Jerry, up and about (carefully), asked David Bosarge to share after the concert.  David gave his testimony, coming back to the Lord at the Ken Freeman service, and serving Him throughout he summer with Dale and Karla.  He thanked God for Christian parents who never gave up on him.  David received many hugs and handshakes and vows to pray for him.

Bro. Kerry had been to the Seminary to evaluate the needs there to see if we could complete any project in the time left.  Plans were formed for Thursday morning.

Wednesday night.

Wednesday was such an awesome day!  Bro. Jerry laid out Thursday’s plans–the day needs to be 48 hours long, but the Spirit is positive and the team has a mind to work.  Pray for us.

Submitted by Kittie Camp