With all do respect...indescribable emotions

25 minutes. 9 hours. 3 days. Just how much time does it take for God to penetrate the heart of a teen? We might never know. But what I do know is that it will not matter what our plan for the teen program was. In 25 minutes today Jeanneane shared her heart - and for the first time in a large group - a deep part of her soul. In 9 hours we were blessed with an opportunity to minister to a group of teens who may otherwise not ever hear about the love of Christ. 3 days - can they make a difference? Can our silliness, laughter, tears, hugs, and honesty shared reach 70 young souls?

Matthew 19:26 says "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." In the core of my being I believe that God went before us and prepared the hearts and minds of these teens to receive information about Him - to receive hope, forgiveness, love - knowledge of their true identity, purpose, and path. It would be impossible to explain in words how I felt when a group of young men pulled us aside this afternoon as we said our goodbyes to tell us how much it meant to them that we came to spend time with them, that they learned a lot from us and hope to see us soon. To receive a giant hug from a beautiful young woman and be told (if I understood her Spanish correctly) "God bless you and thank you for being here with us."
As Heather and Paula explained to us - we were invited into the school (a public, non-Christian school) to teach teens about some important topics and also to share some of our other thoughts with them. We weren't sure if we would never be invited back or if it would be a big hit. I believe God was working on the hearts of the teachers and principal as well. The principal expressed his gratitude to our team and we receive applause from the kids. Can you imagine? I admit I have bitterness in my heart toward American public schools where teachers are being persecuted and kids told to not hand out Christmas cards because it might be "offensive". Not in Guatemala. Not when God has a plan.  We can tell you more about the awesome time with the teens at a later date - but in the meantime, please pray for the teens to feel God's prompt to accept the free gift of grace and salvation.

Switch gears

Take a moment, right now, and think of the possession you own that is your most valuable, most prizes, most important physical possession.  Perhaps it's something you're really proud of.  Perhaps it's something that has been passed down to you as a family heirloom.  Do you have that image in your mind? Now picture yourself giving it away to a group of strangers you met last week. Hard to imagine, right?

I wish you could be inside my head to maybe better understand how I'm feeling right now about a special gentleman named Jose.  Jose was very shy the first day I met him - the helper on the construction site I was assigned to. The son-in-law of the couple we were building for.  A young man, about 25 years old, with a wife and 2 year old son.  A young man with a big smile, a tender heart, and tennis shoes so broken his feet were coming out the ends.  By day 2 on the construction site he began joking around with us more and telling us more about his family.  By day 3 he was showing us the ropes and felt comfortable enough with our (ahem...horrible) construction skills to take a step back and watch us pour some of the cement floor.  Fast forward to today.  Today he explained to us that he was finally able to complete his middle school education last year because he didn't have the money to attend school.  But during school, he had the opportunity to do some art-type classes and painted something he was very proud of and that hung in his home. And then he gave it away. A gorgeous painting you see in the picture below.

He gave us what was probably the most valuable thing his family owned, something very dear to his heart. But in his words..."there are no words to express how I'm feeling. How much I appreciate you being here and what you've done for my family. You will always be in my heart." After crying what felt like the last tear in my head - I accepted this amazing gift along with Cindy on behalf of High Pointe Church and our Mission team. I'm overwhelmed and was reminded today what true love is. That sacrificial, heart-wrenching, entirely humble, and completely selfless love that compels you to throw the entirety of who you are into your emotions and the way you relate to others.  I wonder if maybe I finally get just a small portion of how God loves us?

Indescribable emotions. Tears of joy. Goodbyes too difficult to say so exchanged for "Hasta Luego" instead.  It's easier to say "I'll see you later" than to say goodbye. Want to know the best part? It's true. Whether I see Jose, the families, the teens, the children, or others who have grabbed at my heart since last week again in this life - I know I will see many of them in heaven.

God is mighty, and huge, and all-knowing. He divinely placed our group here with these people and used us for His will.  For those who know me...you'll know that rendering me speechless is a pretty difficult task. So with a broken yet overflowing with joy heart I will leave you with this....you may never know why you are where you are or who you're with - but God knows. And that person, that situation, that moment, is exactly what He planned for you.  Lean in. No...jump in. Head first, heart first, with all of your being. And never look back.

~ Jenn

Our Hearts Are Full

Praying with Petrona after
 delivering medical supplies.

Some of the teen boys.

Today was full of God's work. I felt incredibly blessed to see all God did today. First we delivered medical kits to ten homes in Cerro de Orro.The kits supplied the families with medicine, vitamins, lotion and other supplies. I saw mothers with bright, joyful smiles as they received the kits. I heard from the families how they were healing since last visited by other High Pointe mission teams. One of the most inspiring moments of the day was listening to prayers in Tz'utujil, Spanish, and English while praying with each of the families. At one home we discovered a women named Isabella had injured her knee. We were able to transport her to the hospital in Santiago to receive treatment. She received medicine, was placed in a splint and learned some exercises to help with the injury. Isabella mentioned that her level of pain was greatly reduced. It is so amazing to see God work in such powerful ways.
We spent the afternoon teaching the teenagers at Paguacalin Cerro de Orro. The teens had a blast playing games with us. Victor taught today's main lesson which was discovering God's purpose for one's life. The teens also learned about the importance of internet safety. I couldn't believe the amount of laughter from all of the teens when we played one of Paula's games involving a balloon. The teens had to pass a balloon around in a circle without using their hands.  During small group time with the teens, many of them shared that God's purpose is important in their life. Overall we all had fun being goofy and connecting with the teens. Please pray that tomorrow will be a day that glorifies God as we wrap up our work with the teens. Pray the teens receive God's truth with open hearts and that lives are changed.


The girls playing the balloon game.

En Cristo,


Bryan

God Can Do Unexpected Thinngs

Today was a great day because God allowed our team to go back and work with the families and finish building the houses. During the afternoon we went to a school named Paguacal. This was my first time working with kids that are close to my age. I was very surprised that things went very well. During my time in the school one of the kids who was in my group came to me and asked me to sit next to him. I was very surprised that he came to me and started to talk to me. I was not expecting that something like this will happen to me. God showed me there that he can do many things with out you knowing. I thank God for giving me this great experience so that I can do the work here  for God.

Buenos Noches,
Big Baudilio

A Day of 'Rest'

After devotions and breakfast we began the day with walking through Santiago and doing a little shopping. After lunch we gathered together to prep for the Teen Program that begins tomorrow. We reviewed the schedule, went over the games and learned the song "Beautiful Things "  in Spanish. We  got ready to go to church service in Cerro de Oro. When we got there we were greeted by Pastor Tomas. Entering the church people would turn to watch us, especially the children. They would smile and wave.  One little boy ran down the isle saying "hola" and waving at us. The service was a lot of worship of singing, praying and praising God. Even though we could not understand a lot of it, when we shared later that night all of us had felt God's presence and had realized that God is here, he is in the U.S. and in every country around the world hearing praises in every language. What an AWESOME God! Later, we had dinner with  Pastor Tomas. During dinner he shared with us and answered questions. While he said he was thankful for us being there and the work we were doing, we can't help but realize we are doing very little compared to what he is doing for the people and for God's kingdom everyday in Cerro de Oro. At the end of each day we share special moments that happened during the day. Tonight there was not a dry eye in the Hacienda. The experience is doing so much in the hearts of our team it is difficult to put into words.

Thank-you for your prayers and encouragement!

In His Love,

Cindy

Construction Day 3

Today we started with our devotion then breakfast, then on to the building site, day three, possibly one more day to lay the floor. Today is Saturday, 7 July 2012. We were able to get the big stump, that we had been working on for two days, out and another big rock.  We leveled the ground from the area we removed all the rocks and stump from, and then we had to move the rocks to another area.  Some of the rocks took three to four of us, and the other rocks took two of us to roll.   When we thought we were through with the outside rocks, Pedro our contractor told us that we also needed to remove two rocks from the kitchen area, fortunately they were much easier to remove.  By the time returned from lunch, Pedro and Jose had the roof rafters were up and the first sheet of corrugated metal for the roof was up.  By the end of the day the entire roof was in place.  Paula Darr is an amazing, strong woman.  She was busting rock and using the crowbar right along with the guys and sometimes more so.  Our translators, Cesar and Ranfis were right there helping all along the way.  The last hour of the day we sifted sand in preparation to make concrete for the floors.  The bus ride after lunch to the site was very quiet, as we all are feeling our muscles and fatigue.  But at the end of the day there was more talking with a sense of accomplishment from doing God’s work over the last three days.   Tonight after dinner for desert we had ICE CREAM!!  God is great! 
Signing off, this is Victor Shermer
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Community

Hola!
As we do each morning we began with devotions and worship. I love the time we spend in worship together, we don't always get the words or the tune quite right but there is still such beauty in the collective sound of our voices as we prepare hearts for all that we will see and do each day. It is such a wonderful way to begin our day in community and harmony with one another.
Today was day two at our construction sites and we are seeing progress both in the building of homes for the families we are serving and the in the relationships we are beginning to create. On the site I am on it seemed that as walls were going up others were coming down. It was such a joy to see Bryan and Baudilio reading and playing with the kids and also watching our team work together along side our construction leaders.
Tomorrow will be our last day working on the site and will be a difficult day as we say good bye to people we all feel we are just beginning to develop relationships with. Please be in prayer for each of us as we process our emotions and experiences, tomorrow will most likely be the first difficult day that we have had to face so far.
I need to sign off now we are about to loose our Internet, but wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, we have already been seeing how God has prepared the way here and continues to sustain and challenge us each day. It is truly amazing so far.



Buenos Noches - Jeanneane

The Work Begins

Buenas Noches,

Today was our first day building houses in Cerro de Oro. We divided into two teams and worked on two homes. The work is very hard but it feels so good to serve these families.

Victor & I mixing cement

 In the morning I was on the team with Paula. We made a chain and moved a large wood pile. You can imagine that we would come across some interesting critters in the process. Paula got to the bottom of the pile and let out a curdling scream. A crab welcomed her to Gualemala. She thought it was a huge spider wanting to sit down beside her. We didn't let that happen. Yesterday Cindy had a hard time with the long and curvy bus ride to Santiago. We were worried that she would struggle on our trip to Cerro de Oro but no more motion sickness. God is good. And since we left Seattle on Tuesday my achilles has not hurt at all. It's crazy. Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Bryan reading in espanol

The people here are so generous and the children are precious. Three little boys helped us sift sand in the afternoon. Little Charlie, Javier, and Emilito. Their presence gave us the boost we needed to finish the day. It was a great day!

Hugs & kisses to everyone back home, David