Happy 4th of July to my USA friends and family! I pray it is a great day of celebration of the freedom God has given to a nation that has been blessed in so many ways.
June was another great month of ministry as we continue to host teams and reach out into our community as well as other cities in Guatemala. We hosted a team from Louisiana and then had a YWAM Discipleship Training School team from Los Angeles stay with us for a week. The students were all from South Korea and were on their final weeks of their 2 month outreach and were looking for a place to minister so they contacted us on short notice and it all worked out for them to come. God has ways of fitting things together when we allow him to work in and through us. Only a few of the 9 adults spoke a little English and no one spoke Spanish so it was a bit of a challenge to communicate but it all worked out and their ministry was well received. We had a couple of days of Kids Club ministry with the team and the neighborhood kids really enjoyed learning about Korea. We enjoyed some of their Korean foods and were able to share with some of the families in the neighborhood as well. While the Korean team was with us we were also joined by 3 students from the DTS in Guatemala City who also came to finish their outreach phase. They plugged into our ministries and were a great help and blessing to us. We also had an intern, Dave Miller, from Philadelphia Bible University with us for 6 weeks. Dave is not a stranger to us as he participated in our discipleship school back in 2006. While here he met his wife who was studying Spanish in Antigua and they eventually married. He is finishing his degree and will begin full time ministry in a church. We have had a variety of people with different types of ministries working with us and we have truly enjoyed each one.
Currently we are hosting a group of 23 youth and adults from Georgia and will have one more team after they leave coming from Minnesota for a week of ministry before we begin the DTS at the base. It will be nonstop until December 15 for all our staff. We have 13 students coming for the DTS and we are looking forward to working with them. We have been blessed to have a new staff member join us who was a former student in a previous DTS we conducted. She will be helping with the DTS as well as taking on the hospitality of the base along with other ministries that we conduct. This has been an answer to our prayers and we thank God for his faithfulness to send the help we need.
Church Construction Update
Last month I sent out a request to help Pastor Antonio finish the construction on his church "Vida Real" (Real Life) in San Pablo La Laguna. Through the generous offerings of several people all the money has been raised and the new roof will be put in place soon! This has been a true miracle for the church to see God provide for their needs through the Body of Christ. I plan to be at the church when they have its dedication. I remember almost 5 years ago that we dedicated the piece of land that the church is now constructed on and prayed that God would do miraculous things through the church to reach out into the community. Thank you for praying and giving to help this church that is making a difference in their community.
International meal
One of the things I enjoy about YWAM is the opportunity to meet people from other countries and enjoy or at least try the foods they prepare. In this picture we had people speaking 5 different languages but our common bond was Christ.
Movie Night
Last Friday night we traveled to Parramos to show a film in the Central Park of the city. We were able to show about 10 minutes of the movie before the rains came and forced us to move to another location. We had four young men who had never gone to church or read a Bible come to Christ after the movie.
Helping the poor
Many of the children who come to our Kids Club live in very difficult situations. Eder and Carolina who head up the Kids Club make a point to visit some of the families each week. Often they find out the families have very little to eat and lack jobs to be able to provide. Some of the families have an absent father either due to death or abandonment. When we discover these needs we visit the families with some food and pray for them. We will be reaching out to the moms of the children who come to the Kids Club as well by inviting them to a special meeting to share a Christian movie and in the future help educate them on hygiene and nutrition for their children as well as share Christian principles for raising their families. Several of the children come to both the morning and afternoon session of the Kids Club as they are not attending school. One mom brought her deaf daughter to our meeting and asked for special prayer for her. She said her daughter could hear if she had a hearing aid but many who receive hearing aids are unable to pay for the batteries to be able to continue to use them. Please keep our Kids Club ministry in your prayers as it is such an important ministry for the future of the children.
Thank You!
I appreciate your prayers and financial support that have enabled me to be here. May God richly bless your life.
Contribution address:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Rd
Chico, CA 95973
Correspondence Address:
Bruce Ahlberg
3ra Av 1-30, Zona 6
Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala
No comments:
Post a Comment