Grace Missions Blog

I appreciate Lindsey writing a post last night to share what has been happening in her life thus far this week.  I was going to do a follow up but the computer was used by a number of other folks and it just never happened. 

Here is a brief recap of yesterday:  Ross Genzink led a team which grouted most of the floor in the Rios de Agua Viva Church parsonage; Allen Glover with an assist from Audra Holst (translator) made huge strides in getting the electrical work done in the parsonage; Wayne DeYoung, Tyler Compagner, & Daryn Kuipers all led building teams while Derrick Wilkerson led a cement crew and we had one other cement crew too.  As it stands this morning, fourteen houses have been built with nine of those being completely finished.  Obviously, God has blessed and we have had a good first two days of ministry.

This morning we are meeting at 9:00AM for a brief time of worship and then we will go to the service at Rios de Agua Viva followed by our trip to Antigua.  Tonight we will go to the seminary for a service and then come back to the mission house for supper. 

I spoke to June Strickler via the phone this morning as today marks the anniversary of Stan Strickler’s homegoing.  I miss Stan and his involvement in GRACE Ministries.  Please pray for June and the entire Strickler family today. 

I also want to give a shout out to my cousin, Tony Gettig, in Michigan as he celebrates his 38th birthday today!  Hope you have a great one Tony! 

Pray for us and know that we are praying for you.  I will make no further promises on when the next post will come as I haven’t done so well in keeping those promises! 

What a blessing it has been to be able to serve God in such a fun and exciting way by joining college and carreer students from Alabama, Michigan and Wisconsin. Throughout the year some of us college and career keep in contact through Facebook. We look foward to reuniting here in Guatemala each August. We understand that our purpose here is to show through our actions the love of Christ to the Guatemalans, but we also enjoy having Christian fellowship with each other. It is so neat to me that even though we come from different states, churches, etc. that when we combine you can’t tell who came from where (that is until we talk). I know that so much prayer has gone in our preparation and it has been effective, for I have seen His hand in many situations already this week! Thank you for your prayers. From the moment we arrived here, I have not been able to stop thinking about how incredibly blessed I am. I have met such loving, hospitable people here-people who are so appreciative of the small amount of time we spend with them.The love of the children is so profound yet is minimal to the love that Christ showed on the cross for us. My eyes and heart have been opened and softened to see and understand a little bit more of God’s love for me and the world. Even though we cant speak each others language, we communicate through smiles and hugs, prayers and actions. Comming here to Guatemala definately changes my perspectives on life. I can’t stop pondering on how we serve such an amazing God! Our cultures may be different but our needs are the same. Our hearts are as one with God in the center.

I know, I know, I know that there wasn’t a second post yesterday.  Internet service down?  No!  We just had a long day as our team members got back to the mission house between 7:00PM and 7:30PM.  Caroline Ford & Kathy Genzink had prepared a great meal for the team.  I had kitchen duty but actually spent very little time in the kitchen as I had a local pastor waiting to see me about an important matter in his life.  Next news you know it was already 9:30PM here and the second update just didn’t happen.  Sorry about that! 

Here is a recap of our day:  the praise and worship was very good as Kristen DeYoung and Brian Cochran (I gave Leah Compagner her props yesterday but she threw me under the bus!) led us in three or four songs.  Several of the team members shared about why they were here and about their expectations for the week.  We spent some time in the Word looking at Luke 19:1 – 10 and then got our assignments for the day.

We had four building teams and they totally completed two houses, have one with the concrete poured but needing the front side put on, have six others ready for the concrete, and one more framed up.  So, it was the strong first day we needed! 

Today, we will go back to the village and continue building houses.  Also, Allen Glover will begin the process of determining the electrical needs of the parsonage at Rios de Agua Viva while Ross Genzink will take a few folks there to begin the process of placing the grout in the floor tile which was laid by our July team.  It is a little after 5:00AM as I am writing this and it has begun to rain in the last few minutes.  Obviously, that could affect our efforts today but we will work adjust and adapt to whatever we need to do.  “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape!”

The team members have been great thus far with super attitudes.  Pray that today will be another good day.  We are very quick to realize that God has graciously blessed us thus far and we give Him thanks for watching over us.  Thank you for your continued prayer support.  Pray without ceasing!

It is the beginning of day two and the only folks stirrring right now are the ones cooking breakfast.  Our day will begin in earnest at 7:00AM as we have our initial worship and time in the Word.  Kristen DeYoung, Leah Compagner, and Brian Cochran will lead our musical worship and I really appreciate these folks and their willingness to serve Jesus in this way. 

Lord willing, we will spend a long day building houses.  We hope to build a minimum of fifteen houses this week, grout the floor tile at Rios de Agua Viva, wire and finish the electrical in the parsonage, help ready a house for a missionary in Panimaquin, paint the exterior of the gymnasium at the seminary, spend some time at Casa Aleluya and Amor del Nino, and anything else God leads us to do.  So, we have our plates full!  That’s why we need to have a strong first day.

My plans call for another update after supper tonight and that will include a guest blogger.  The only known thing that will prevent that from happening is if our internet service is down due to weather, et cetera. 

My request is that the folks reading this entry would take a few minutes right now and pray for this team.  Pray for safety, for good health, for good attitudes, for us to see where God is working and then to join Him in that work.  Don’t just pray now but pray without ceasing throughout the day and this trip.  I believe in prayer!   

We love you folks in the Lord and thank you for being a part of this team!  More to come so check back! 

This post is coming really late for the folks in Michigan as it is 12:30AM there and I apologize.  Everyone has basically called home so I knew that folks knew we had arrived safe and sound.  Thank God for Callis Communications in Mobile!

I just want to thank God for a good day of travel.  He blessed us with no delays and safe travels in the air and on land.  Daryn Kuipers did a good job of getting the group from MI to Atlanta and the Mobile team had zero problems.  We arrived in Guatemala on time and were at the mission house by 2:00PM.  A couple of meetings later and we were in the mall area by 4:30PM for some shopping and supper. 

Allen Glover, our electrician on this trip, inspected the parsonage at the Rios de Agua Viva Church and will begin that work on Saturday. 

You can tell this is a younger group as they have been going strong tonight playing spoons, cards, and rehearsing for the musical worship for this week.  It is going to be great! 

Keep us in your prayers and thanks to all of those who have supported us in any way to make this trip possible.   

God is good – all the time!  Shortly before noon today the delivery service brought our luggage from the Pensacola airport.  I am assuming it is all here as they delivered forty-nine pieces of luggage.

Here is the recap of our trip:  God graciously allowed us to build and dedicate twenty houses, distribute food & clothes to one hundred families (381 folks came through the line), spend one day working at Love The Child children’s home with Steve & Shyrel Osborn, preach in the local seminary’s chapel service, preach/minister in Palabra Viva Church, preach in Rios de Agua Viva Church and do some needed stuff i.e. repairs, cleaning, et cetera around the mission house.  Glory to God!

However, the greatest thing to happen on this trip was that we saw at least twenty-five folks pray to receive Jesus as their personal Savior!  Hallelujah!  Thanks for Freckles (Sarah Longserre) for leading in the evangelism effort!  Folks, seeing people come to Jesus is the very reason we do what we do.

I want to thank each person who was a participant on this trip.  You were awesome!Special thanks to Pastor Eddie Burdette, Pastor Terry Rainey, and Pastor David Smith for leading their churches to join us in doing ministry.  All three of these churches gave money toward the building of the houses.  These folks were a great asset to the trip!

Special thanks to Caroline Ford and all who helped prepare the meals.  We ate very well!  I came home fat and happy!

Special thanks to Bret Hart for helping us replenish our tool supply and putting us onto a new screw for the roofs on the houses we build.  What a friend he has been to GRACE Ministries.  I had the opportunity to work alongside Bret one day and really learned to appreciate his heart for God.  He is not the worker Pastor David Smith is but he will do!

Special thanks to Liz (aka KK) Sisk and Pastor Rainey for leading our musical praise each morning.  Liz did a great job the first three mornings and Pastor Rainey did great the final four mornings.

Special thanks to Luisa Mason and Eugene Dighero for doing a superb job in keeping the mission house clean.  They make a great team and do very well!

Special thanks to Paul & Cristy Leytham for their behind the scenes help to me.

Special thanks to Michelle Rolls and Ben Vickers for taking/posting the pictures on the website.  Michelle does a great job of getting many team members in the photos and Ben is superb at uploading those pictures to the website.  Folks like to know what is happening and a picture is worth a thousand words!

Special thanks to our missions committee members who were on this trip – Rick Bradley, Cecil Guidry, Claude Landry, Carl Ray Moulds, and Raymond Wilkinson.  What a blessing these folks were to me during these past eight days.  (Clara Broadus was on the June trip and Morris Bryant is obviously just backslidden!)

Special thanks to Bro. Jerry and all who helped him to man the fort while we were gone.  It is great to know that things are being handled at home in an efficient manner.

A very special thanks to the Friendship family for allowing me to pastor the greatest folks on earth and for being so involved in doing missions!  Thank you for having a heart for the things of God.  Thank you for praying and for giving to GRACE Ministries.

This trip had it bumps i.e. delayed flights, missed flights, lost luggage, food confusion, et cetera but this team handled every glitch without missing a beat.  We learned early on in the week that you choose your attitude and this team chose a positive, God honoring attitude each day.  That made my job real easy!

I had the opportunity to teach Joe Cooley some things about pouring cement this past week and I hope those lessons serve him well in the days ahead!

Of course, we give the ultimate thanks and glory to God!  It is all about Him and all because of Him that we were able to make this trip.  Thank you Jesus!

This trip was my last one with our daughter, Deidra, being a Turrentine.  On August 11 she will become the bride of Michael Taylor.  So, it was special and a blessing to me to be able to spend eight days with Deidra Turrentine.  She may marry Michael and become his bride but she will always be my daughter!  I am grateful she took the time out of her wedding planning to spend with her dad!  I love Deidra and the other four daughters God has blessed us with.

We are going to use the month of August to sign up for next July’s trip.  I anticipate an overflow crowd so make plans to sign up and pay your deposit as soon as possible.  As always, members of the Friendship family will have first option.  After August, we will fill any openings with folks outside the Friendship family.

Pray for GRACE Ministries.  Our next trip will take place the dates of August 2 – 9 as a group of college/young professionals will go do ministry.  Pray as we seek God’s direction in replacing Derrick & Jodie.  God has a plan in place already and we simply want to be obedient in following that plan.

Thank you for keeping up with us through this blog and the website.  Beginning tomorrow, I will revert to using the Pastor’s blog to keep folks updated on the happenings within the Friendship family.

Safely home – praise the Lord!  We arrived in Grand Bay around 11:15PM last night safe and sound but without our luggage!  Prayerfully, Delta will deliver it to the church this afternoon.  I will post a more detailed final report later today.  Thanks for your prayers!

I am going to recap today’s activities but first Brianne Woods is going to share some of her thoughts from this trip. 

Hey, this is Brianne and I wanted to just  say that this week has been totally awesome. This was my first trip to Guatemala and I have really enjoyed it especially when we went to the villages and got to build houses for twenty families and got to play with lots of children. I have always seen the slide shows in church and have always been amazed at what our church has been doing down here but this week I have got to experience it for myself. This week has made me realize just how blessed I am. I am glad I had the opportunity to be a part of this mission trip as I have really enjoyed it and I can’t wait until next year’s trip.

Thanks Brianne for those words.  Today began with Pastor Terry sharing from the Word in our morning Bible study.  We then sent Pastor Rainey and a team to the Love the Child children’s home where they did all kinds of work and loved on those children.  A team went back to the parsonage where they completed the painting and almost completed the tile work minus the grout.  A third team dedicated the remaining ten houses while a fourth team poured cement into the twentieth house.  So, all twenty houses have been completed and dedicated. 

We mowed the lawn at the mission house, washed the vehicles, and had some guys build some additional shelves for the storage room.  It has been a great final day. 

I will recap the week at some point tomorrow or first thing Wednesday.  Pray for us as we travel home tomorrow.  Thanks for keeping up with this trip via the web.