A blessed Sunday!  We had our devotional time at 7:30AM and then left immediately for a church service.  I made the decision yesterday that we would attend a service at Pastor Max Lara’s house with his family and a few others.  This allowed us to see Estuardo and to pray for him.  The Lara family sang, our group sang a couple of songs, and Pastor Max preached.  Of course, this took place in Pastores which is where we got our start in Guatemala thanks to Evangelist Danny Lafferty.  Precious memories!

After the service we made our way to Antigua and Las Antorchas.  We were there early and Philippe Rambert and staff had us in and out in no time.  The group was busy shopping by noon and shopped until 3:30PM or so.  I came back to the mission house to pray! 

Samuel Acan has moved to the mountain temporarily.  He is staying in John & Laurie King’s casita for the next month or so.  This is a big help to him and us as he doesn’t need transportation from and to his house each day.  Samuel wanted me to be sure and give Betty Creech a shout!  Love is in the air?  He can’t wait until July 19th! 

Morris and Diane Bryant are right – Whitney is strictly a “need to know” person.  She doesn’t volunteer any information unless you ask her specifically.  Example:  I have “led” our musical worship for the first two mornings while lamenting the fact that this group had no one to lead us.  This afternoon Mary Hall tells me that Nathn Searcy is a gifted guitarist.  Nathan just happens to be Whitney’s boyfriend.  I guess she didn’t know he could play the guitar.  He is now our worship leader for the rest of this trip!  God is good!

I also learned tonight that Callie Wheatley is a pianist.  So, tomorrow morning she makes her debut as a pianist for GRACE Ministries!  God is good! 

Tonight was such a romantic night!  First, one of our batchelors (they have to remain anonymous) wrote a poem called “Jessica’s Sonnet” and he allowed me to read it to the whole group.  It was so sweet!  We have been playing “The Dating Game” in hopes of hooking the Hall twins up with Batchelor #1, #2, or #3.  We know they have boyfriends back in the States but this is just for this week.  The twins aren’t cooperating but we press on!  That’s the way we roll! 

Then, Nathan plays and sings this song he wrote just for Whitney!  Something about missing Virginia, Miss Virginia, West Virginia, whatever!  The ladies cried and thought is was just too sweet!  Please! 

Kevin Vice asked me to tell his daughter that he will be sending an e-mail to her in the next day or so.  He has read the blog. 

We did see a miracle today!  Kayla Brown, the one with the “severly” twisted ankle, the one who had to literally be carried everywhere yesterday and this morning, the one who missed her rotation on kitchen duty this morning because she couldn’t walk, the one who knows how to “milk” a situation, was remarkably healed just in time to go shopping today.  She walked with no limp and no ill effects from her tragic injury!  Hallelujah! 

Bro. Jerry sent me an e-mail saying all is well at home.  He complimented Kathy & Tammy for their ministry through song today.  Many members of our team send their greetings.  We prayed specifically for the services at Friendship today.  Pray for us Monday as we go back to the building sites. 

You had probably better get used to these GRACE posts coming late at night.  It is almost 10:00PM here and I just turned my computer on for the first time today.  It is actually the first time I have even been in this room since Bible study this morning.  I had kitchen duty tonight so that delayed me considerably – steak & gravy is a beast!  The ladies did an awesome job cooking today! 

We had a good Saturday with no rain.  We completely finished three houses, got two more ready to receive the concrete and a sixth one has the tin on one side.  Today took us back a few years to the days of pushing the vans up hills.  We are in some nice vehicles but the weight along with the wet roads made it impossible to climb a few of the hills.  Thank God for strong guys! 

It is amazing that we got done what we did today in spite of the fact that Kayla Brown twisted her ankle this morning and was unable to work at all today.  It was tough but we had folks pull her slack! 

It was really neat to listen tonight as the folks were just sitting around talking and enjoying each other’s company.  No one even brought a computer with them but cell phones are in abundance. 

Tomorrow we do church, Las Antorchas restaurant, and shopping in Antigua.  We will be praying for the services at Friendship and ask you to pray for us too. 

I know this entry is coming really late but it is honestly the first chance I have had all day to sit down and blog.  I just got my computer out and turned it on.  Sorry for the delay!  It has been a long day and if I weren’t trying to show Ryan Johnston (Faith Baptist of Bartlett, TN) up then I probably would skip today’s entry.  However, Scott from Arkansas and Jim Peters from Dalraida set the bar high so here it goes!

First, the Lord blessed us as we had 20 folks flying out of Gulfport, 15 out of Mobile, and 1 out of New Orleans on two different airlines.  The air travel went very smoothly and we all arrived in Guatemala separated by about fifteen minutes. 

We had the unexpected treat of seeing the Dalraida team in the airport.  I spoke to Jim Peters, met Dr. Cox, and saw Amy Dempsey whom I had not seen in several years since we were on a GRACE trip together.  We also saw Pastor Rodney Coleman and his wife, Rhonda, and their team.  (As usual, Pastor Rodney was trying to borrow money from Kevin Vice and me claiming he needed it to get home!  A man doing advertising like Pastor Rodney doesn’t need my money!)  Thank the Lord for this added blessing of being encouraged by those who have just finished very successful weeks of doing ministry here.   

The vans and the luggage truck were waiting on us and we arrived at the L.G. Camp, Jr. mission house around 2:00PM.  After a brief meeting, we hung out for a couple of hours before heading down the hill for supper.  Good food and greater fellowship! 

It is now 8:30PM and many folks have already called it a day.  It has rained considerably all afternoon.  Pray that the rains will come in such a way as to allow us to work between the showers (the 1st Lacombe team says “whatever”)  The rains have already played a part in one of the vans receiving damage.  Thank God Larry Whitehurst wasn’t the driver as today is his birthday – either 85 or 58!  I just say the the driver involved is a NASCAR driver at heart! 

We have breakfast at 6:00AM tomorrow followed by our morning worship time at 7:00AM.  Pastor Max and Juan Marcos will join us in our work efforts tomorrow.  Everyone is well.  Keep us in your prayers. 

Jim Peters and the team from Dalraida arrived safely in Guatemala on Thursday night, 6/19.  They were to be joined by two churches from Ohio on Saturday, 6/21.  The heavy rains continue so pray that this team can get their work done in spite of the rain. 

Jim is blogging at www.dalraidaguatemala2008.blogspot.com for those interested in following their trip. 

Don Tibbett and the folks from Foothills Fellowship Bible Church are staying in the L.G. Camp, Jr. mission house this week while doing ministry in Guatemala.  Pray for them!