11/30-12/9

11/30

This was our last activation day. So they told us that it was gonna look a little different. The teaching of that day was on the ministry of the pastoral/shepherd. The teaching was one of the best teaching, it was just so good. Kevin, the one teaching it, explained that pastoral isn’t necessarily being a pastor, but more like a shepherd. To be a shepherd is to care deeply about the flock and look after each one with special care. Kinda like if the 1 goes missing than the shepherd will go searching for that ONE and care for it afterward. He also touched on Christ being the good shepherd. It’s kinda crazy that we are compared to sheep because they are kinda stupid and they just wander off. Kevin told us about a time he got to shepherd a little and how it was so hard because they didn’t listen to him because the sheep weren’t used to him being their shepherd, and how we follow Christ and his voice because we are his flock and we are used to his voice. Anyhow I know some us this might not all flow together but that’s just a jist of what was taught. We than went to the square in Antigua to talk to people who spoke English and not Spanish, to get us a taste of using the 5 fold ministry with people that spoke the same language. There was one encounter that really stuck out. There were two guys about 18 or 19 sitting on a bench that we went to talk to. We got to talking about life and were chatting it up for a while, it was so much fun to talk to them because I feel like that’s the kind of ministry that we will be doing in Vietnam. It was just so different and refreshing to talk to guys our age about Christ. A lot more was involved in the conversation. After that we went to a coffee shop to debrief our day so far. After that we went to the square and started worshipping with around 6 people playing the guitar and around 100 people. It was really cool to worship right in the middle of everything. I struggle with what other people think of me a little bit, the Lord gave me a realization while we were worshipping in the middle, I am singing to my Lord and Savior, my friend, and the one I love, and I don’t care what others think of us because I am worshipping the one who created me and wants intimacy with me. It just felt good to be singing there and seeing other people see you but you don’t care what they think cause you are worshipping your friend who you deeply love.

12/1

This Friday we had a half day of ministry. We went to a turf field that had 2 soccer fields and we invited the kids of the 3 villages to come play. There ended up being around 10 teams or so for this tournament. And our part was to coach soccer for most of the day and to hang out with them. Around 1-1:30 we left and went back to our hosts house, where we were staying. We packed up our backpack and headed out for an 8hr road trip to Lanquin Guatemala. We got to our hotel there that night around 10-11.

12/2

We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel than got in the back of a pickup truck to go to Semuch Champey. We got there and hiked up real high to view everything. It was absolutely beautiful. It was a blue river in the middle of the jungle. We hiked down than went swimming. It was the clearest water I have ever swam in. It was so absolutely beautiful. After swimming we went and got lunch, after lunch we went to caves. These were just any ordinary caves, we were able to swim in them. We hiked up the mountain a little to the opening of the cave. Our guide than gave us candles and lit them and that’s how we saw through the cave. He went up the stream in the cave and got to climb up a waterfall. The water was gushing down on you and you just pull yourself up. We than walked/swam farther back in the cave to where we were able to cliff jump, in the cave. This whole experience was definitely on my top 5 things I have ever done. Outside the cave they also had this huge swing that we could go on into the river. After that we went tubing down the river. Than we went back to our hotel.

12/3

We woke up early to head back to our house. About an hour out, we stopped in Guatemala City to go to another one of the malls, which was more outside. Our host took us to the rich part, it was so awesome and nice.

12/4

One of the restaurants down here partnered with us and gave us like 800 meals to give to the villages. That only happened the first have of the day than the rest of the day we just rested which was well needed

12/5

It was our last ministry day, this day was kinda sad knowing that we might not see the kids that we had built relationships with ever again. We gave them all hugs and than said our goodbyes, good bye Santa Marta. We got home and for our supper, our ministry host took us to a place outside where we had the “last supper”. We had communion together and broke bread and drank. This was such a special time to think again of what Christ did for us on the cross. We played some games and lit some fire works than went back to the house for our last night in Guatemala.

12/6

We headed to our base around 8. Today was a day of cleaning and just making the base look better. It was a very restful day. Around 8 that night we took busses to go to the airport.

12/7 we left Guatemala at 2 in the morning to go to Texas. We had about a 11-12 hour layover in Houston so we decided to go to the city. It was kinda odd to see and hear people speaking perfectly good English. We got coffee and headed to the post office to send some things home. On the walk to the post office we stopped at a gas station, cause Ben needed to pee. We didn’t see it til after we got there that it was very hoodish and sketchy looking gas station. I was sitting outside while Luke and Ben went inside and this homeless woman came up to me and asked me if I could buy her food, so I agreed and got her some food and a drink. Than we started talking about life and eventually religion came up, I asked her where she was and what she thought on some things. She said she was a Christian so we got to talking for a while and she said she doesn’t really like to tell others about God. So I really encouraged her to tell others about what she has that others need it to. I also reminded her of the verse that says “if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father in heaven. I feel like it got her thinking, about a lot. It also was such a good reminder for me to give others what I have that can’t be contained without a relationship with the Father. She eventually left and some other homeless dudes came up to us, so what did we do, talked to them about Jesus!! This whole thing with talking to these men was such a fulfilling time. We got to pray for them and I sure hope the seek the Lord and his face so they can have so much more purpose and have a strong relationship with Him. After talking to them we started to walk towards the post office but than we found the woman in the beginning again. We stopped and talked to her again and she told us that she was scared for us because the part we were in was not a good part of Houston and she was scared we would get jumped. Anyhow we didn’t and the Lord protected us. Me and my friends were talking about it later and we came to the conclusion that it was God that sent us there, because we’re not called to be comfortable/safe. If we are called to be like Jesus, than we need to spend time with the oppressed the homeless and the wicked cause that’s what Jesus did. If we wouldn’t have told those people about Jesus who would, maybe no one else will and this was there appointment with us to hear about Jesus. One theme of the race, comes from Roman’s 10, How could they know if they are not told. Also it comes from a song called “How could they know” by MBL worship, if you have never heard this song I highly recommend listening to it. Anyhow I was very thankful for this encounter. We then headed back to the airport. Than flew to LA. We than took off for South Korea.

12/8

We didn’t exist on this date because of time zone

12/9 we landed in South Korea and took off for Vietnam and that is currently where I am writing this, on the plane to Vietnam.

Thanks for the prayers and please keep praying for us. Please pray for the people of Vietnam, that who we come in contact with that they would be open to hearing the Gospel, because where we are going, it will be there first time hearing the Gospel, what a privilege. Also pray that the secret police would not catch on because prison doesn’t really seem that pleasant and people need to know about Jesus.