Thank You for Helping Us Celebrate Christmas in Guatemala
Christmas in Cerro de Oro
Brandon Bachtel led the Christmas message in Cerro de Oro and our team served cake and sandwiches to close to 400 children and adults. We also distributed gifts and had pinatas for more than 200 children.
Christmas in Guatemala
It is Sunday morning and our team is about to begin our second day of ministry in Guatemala. Our team arrived safely Friday night with more than 30 checked bags full of humanitarian aid and Christmas gifts for the approximately 600 children we will share Christmas with over the next few days.
Our day began yesterday with a 4 hour drive through the mountains to the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala to the community of Santiago. It took 2 coaster vans to transport our team of 29 (which includes 6 translators) and 10 life size piñatas of Santa and Frosty, plus an additional van just to carry party supplies.
We held our first party at the Good Shepherd Christian School in Santiago, where Orphan Outreach supports 30 kids who attend the school. More than 200 children and their families attended the party where they heard that the gift of Christ was they greatest gift we have been given but it is not just a gift to be received but a gift to be opened. We then broke the children into smaller groups to the piñatas (a total of 4 piñatas) for all the kids, then we served them cake and sandwiches and passed out gifts to all the children.
It was a wonderful time with all the kids, just to see the smiles on their faces.
This morning, we begin with a party in the community of Cerro de Oro. Cerro de Oro is a small village near Santiago where there is a large amount of poverty. This will be the only party these children will probably have this Christmas. Please pray they will hear and That seeds will continue to be planted in this community.
After lunch, our team will head to Xela for a party tomorrow morning. We will take a boat across the lake where we will have a team worship time and then continue our trip.
This is a wonderful team from all across the United States. We have college students, young adults and families from California, Michigan, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, Atlanta and Dallas. The team has come together well with so many different gifts and such a willingness to serve.
Pray for the community of Cerro de Oro today as we share Christmas this morning.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sewed into his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” – Matthew 13:31-32.
Day 1 in Honduras
Day 1 – Dec. 8
We started with 9 departing for Tegucigalpa yesterday morning and only 6 arrived. For whatever reason the Lord had other plans and decided to send only 2/3 of our team. Our youngest team member’s passport expires within 3 months, which apparently prevents her from traveling…huge lesson learned to double check expiration dates before traveling! Thankfully Dallas now has a passport office downtown & she was able to get her passport renewed and fly this morning with her parents! Though we are hugely disappointed to not have them with us our 1st day, we trust in God’s greater plans & purposes!!
Last night was such a sweet time of celebrating what God has done in the lives of 5 prepa/Kindergarteners, 13 6th graders & 3 adult education grads who finished 6th grade!! What a huge accomplishment these kids & young people have made!
Day 3: AFE Graduation
We just got back from building 3 bunk beds for the Flores family which has 12 people living with only 2 beds. Some of the kids slept on the floor prior to tonight. Our team also built a crib for their 5 month old baby. We ended our time with a dedication and time of prayer at both houses we built furniture for (built furniture yesterday for another AFE family). The families were so grateful and gave glory to God. Our hope & prayer is that they’d be reminded of God’s goodness & love for them as they go to sleep each night and eat at their new table.
The time has come for AFE to celebrate their first ever graduation. In just a few hours, 8 young women and 1 man, who have braved and persevered over the past 11 years when AFE first started, will celebrate a huge accomplishment that is against all odds & can only be explained by God’s power and intervention. Orphan Outreach has the joy & honor of having a team here to witness this special moment! More to come on tonight’s party:)!!
Traveling Mercies
We’re finally here and we want to thank you for all of your prayers today. Â They were much needed and abundantly answered.
Today overflowed with traveling mercies! We caught flights we should have missed. We had seats that we were told had been given away. Bags arrived that we we’re sure would not make it. The most amazing part was our trip from baggage claim through customs with 15 huge bags. Knowing that the bags contained large amounts of vitamins, children’s pain reliever, & other medical supplies, we were all prepared to have our bags opened, inspected, and possibly confiscated after being x-rayed. There is no other way for me to describe it but to say that a guardian angel porter piled our luggage on a cart, gathered us together like a shepherd, and walked us past the long line of people waiting to go through customs inspection, right to the front. He then handed us off to a guardian angel customs agent. The agent asked 3 quick questions about the contents of the bags, smiled, thanked us for our ministry in Guatemala and dismissed us from x-rays and baggage inspection!  Even as I’m writing this I’m blown away.
Our afternoon was spent shopping for humanitarian aid items at the local Walmart. We piled carts high with diapers, wipes, & lotion to add to the other items that we will take to the children’s hospital tomorrow. This evening we arrived in Antigua, had a late dinner and a quick team meeting. In order to help us better prepare for tomorrow, everyone hurried off to bed for some much needed rest.
Friday’s main events include ministry in the morning at the children’s hospital and in the afternoon at the girls home. At both locations we will take tours, learn about the ministry backgrounds, and then spend a short time getting to know the kids.
In our meeting tonight the team asked for you all to pray for us in the following ways:
- pray against motion sickness while we’re on the road.
- for the “ice to be broken” quickly with all the sweet kids we’ll meet
- for us to know how to love on each child individually, even if it’s only for a moment
- for us to be guarded against distractions & focused on what He would have us do
- for even more of those beautiful traveling mercies, safety on the road and very little traffic
- for us to be able to fully rely on The Lord and not ourselves as we encounter what we know will be emotionally challenging moments
- please pray for direction and discernment as we gather information tomorrow that will help decide how we minister in the following days
Ladies Loving in Guatemala, Dec. 1-6
Please be praying for a team of seven ladies from First Baptist Andrews and team leader, Courtney Nowakowski, as they travel tomorrow to Guatemala. The team will be serving at a children’s hospital in Antigua, loving and praying over special needs babies. They will also serve at a girls home in Chimaltenango. Pray that the love of Christ would be evident in their words and actions. You can read more about their trip at http://wordpainters.com/.
Approximately 450 patients seen!
During our week in Guatemala, we handed out intake forms to 500 people, however, due to the storms, some of those people were not able to make it to the clinic. We trusted God to bring the people who needed to be seen. One woman has a tumor on her thyroid. Options are being weighed, but she needs surgery and there is not a surgeon willing to do it. Pray for her as she is probably facing her final months of life. Pray for her family as they do what they can to help her. Pray for God’s intervention!
What a week!
Maria and Delores after a day of making crowns, coloring and playing. We have made it safely out of Guatemala, thanks to God. What an amazing week of watching God at work.
We had a great time playing, doctoring, and conversing with the beautiful Guatemalan people. We had a small taste of life with unpredictable storms and lots of rain. We were blessed to be asked to be on call in case the Hospitalito Atitlan needed extra help Wednesday or Thursday. Though the team was looking forward to the adrenalin rush this would bring, we were thankful for God’s protection that there was not an over abundance of people needing help.
We were blessed to be able to tour the Hospital and make connections for future trips. We met missionaries Giovanni and Tina who are starting the Women of Hope Ministry. Donna, a missionary from Pennsylvania, joined us a couple of days to put her nursing skills to use.
The heavy rains meant instability in the mountains and along some roads. In some areas, the roads were washed away and in others mudslides blocked lanes of traffic making traveling impossible. We were blessed to be able to leave as scheduled. We realize we would have been blessed if we had been forced to stay longer as well. We took an alternative route out of Santiago to avoid areas where a mudslide was blamed for more deaths. There were sections of the road that only had one lane open so vehicles would take turns getting through. We gave some of the bottles of water we had with us to workers who were manually clearing the roads.
We were informed that if we had waited one more day to leave, we probably would have had to delay our return because the road in San Lucas was closed. God’s timing is perfect. We were able to experience weather like we never have before and have a slightly better idea of ways to pray for these special people.
We look forward to returning in a year for another medical clinic and to see what God has planned.
Thanks to everyone for their prayers. All praise to God!
It is 7 a.m. In Guatemala. We will bring our Suitcases to the bus in 30 minutes, have breakfast and head to Antigua for shopping. There is a stretch of our drive that only has one lañe open. Traffic going one direction will be allowed through for an hour while traffic going the other direction will wait. It is hard telling how long our drive will be under the circumstances, but at least we are able to head out.
We praise God that the storm went around us. We praise him for the people who Came to clÃnic this week. We saw 500 people this week in the clÃnic and played and talked to many children about Jesús!
Please keep these precious people in your prayers. It is hard to image the struggles they face every day. Pray for their salvation and for strength to endure. Pray for us as we travel back to the states!
I apologize for the errors I didn’t catch. Auto correct is on in Spanish! And I may have missed some manual correctins!
The portera are loading our bags, so I better get to work!
