An update of what's been going on this last week...

We have continued our childrens program but this week with the kids in Cuidad de Vieja, where we are staying. We have had 40 to 70 kids show up to play games with us and hear about God. There are always children who come up to receive prayer when we offer it. It is hard to hear story after story of absent or drunk fathers, but this is the reality in these kids lives.

We have been getting ready to celebrate Christmas here in Antigua , buying a gift for our secret Santa and special little treats to help bring a part of our traditional Christmas to Guatemala. We hear that on Christmas Eve at midnight the whole town goes crazy and fireworks last through the night. We look forward to joining in on the festivities.

On a sad note, Cassandra and I had to take a dog to the vet up the street to get put to sleep. Here in Guatemala there are so many stray dogs that just roam the streets, beat up, malnourished and trying to survive. There was one dog we named Esperanza, "hope", and the name of our street. She had a broken leg that was dangling, making it hard to walk, especially because other male dogs were after her. We took her in and the vet said she would need amputation at the hospital in town, very expensive. We all decided putting her down to end her suffering was the best thing. Not an easy thing to watch because the process took longer and was more primitive than how it would be done in th states. I did not expect to have to put a dog to sleep in Guatemala.

Brenden and I are planning to go to El Salvador for New Years weekend with our friend Carlos. We will be staying at someone's house on the beach and we will be surfing and helping Carlos learn. We are so excited to get the opportunity to go to the coast...this is the longest span of time we have gone without seeing the ocean. It will also be nice for Brenden and I just to get away for a little bit by ourselves.

Even though we do get homesick, especially this time of year, we are having such a great experience here in Guatemala. Caroling in the streets, decorated chicken busses and "Feliz Navidad" is on our lips!

Jackie:
While I have been sick in bed the past couple of days, along with 4 other members of our team, the healthy ones have been out in the city where we are staying. I wanted to let everyone know we are all recovering and should be back to normal by tomorrow hopefully. Brenden has had a crazy couple of days. Just last night he prayed for more faith to believe in what God is doing and how God can use him. This morning about a hundred Guatemalan kids showed up in this alley by a clinic playing games with four members of our team (the other six of us were back at the base sick). Brenden and another guy shared the way they started their relationships with Jesus and about 40 kids came forward to accept Jesus into their life or get prayer for healing. One 7 year old girl who had painful kidney problems was prayed for and she said the pain went away. Later that day the four of them went into Antigua to walk around and meet people. Bren decided to stay in central park and talk to some international people. He found himself on a park bench sharing his story with a guy his age from Sweden. The conversation then led to the man beginning his journey with Jesus. I love that while I was in bed recovering my husband was bringing such good news to people.

We have been here in Antigua almost a week now and have loved every moment of it so far. It has been in the upper 70s during the day and upper 50s at night, not a cloud in the sky. There are 3 volcanos that surround the city and one is active. It is so neat to watch a puff of black smoke come out every couple hours. We are staying at a YWAM base in a smaller village called Cuidad de Vieja meaning "City with a View".
All our meals have been prepared by a local woman, Florencita, and they have been some of the best meals I've had in a while.
The water is not drinkable here so we have to purify it as well as bleach everything we buy before we cook it. Not a price to high to pay to avoid getting very sick.

The people of Guatemala are very open and friendly. We have rode the "chicken bus" in town almost everyday which is always a good time. As the man comes down the aisle to collect our money we always say "diez gringos"'... ten white people. You can always count on a quiet laughter from the local passengers. We have seen one man come to profess a faith in Jesus already just from a couple of our teammates talking to and meeting people in the city.In fact a man came up to Gianna and Karl out of nowhere who was. Christian and spoke perfect English. The three of them approached some young Guatemalan men, Karl, a Norwegian who has previously served in the army, shared his testimony while the new friend translated and one of the men came to know Christ. Turns out his friend sitting next to him was related to the translator and they were just meeting for the first time! A couple guys with us have also befriended two drug dealers who live on the streets of Antigua and after talking with them and praying with them they invited them to church...and guess what? They were there this morning. God is all around us all the time.

We are excited to see what this week will be like. We have organized a kids program at a local clinic and we have no idea how many little ones will show up!

well, we made it to guatemala. after a pretty crazy flight, we drove through streets with no lanes going in all different directions making jackie ultimately vomit. but, we made it. it is absolutely beautiful here. we are surrounded by three volcanos and are living in a traditional latin american hacienda. the layout consists of two stories of rooms surrounding a central outdoor garden. there are walls on all sides and we have a very large door to the outside. we feel like we are in a fortress. there are also stairs leading to the roof where we do most of our pondering\admiring the view. every few minutes we hear fireworks celebrating some kind of holy week. it is a crazy place. we are looking forward to going into the city. we are overwhelmed with joy.

End DTS, Part 1. Begin Guatemala, Part 2

We have had an exhausting week getting ready leave for Guatemala this Tuesday and processing the fact that we will be moving out of the country for the next couple of months. We have met so many amazing people here in Montana and wish them well as they all go off to Haiti, Brazil, Thailand and Turkey.

Take a few minutes to check out this video from our Thursday night meeting. These are testimonies from all the students in our school about how God has changed their lives over the past few months.

Cardboard Testimonies FDTS 10'

http://vimeo.com/17472939