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

Give Thanks.

Jackie:

This has been the first Thanksgiving I have spent away from family but one I will remember. We spent a few nights up the mountain with the Kerrs as we watched the snow blanket the trees, roads and homes. The snowy mountains here are breathtaking and the quietness is almost loud...something I've never experienced on the east coast.

Andy Kerr read us a passage of a book he is reading and the author suggests that technically we could live the rest of our lives praying only one word, "thank you", and it would be enough. Oh if our lives could just be one long expression of gratitude how much more would we know God and know true joy.

Tis the season of thanks and I am extremely joyful tonight after hearing some great news that my darling cousin Perrin's cancer has not spread, the remnants of tumors have disappeared, her back is stabilized from the infusions and some enlarged lymph nodes are back to normal size. God is listening to our prayers and joy and hope fill my heart for what's ahead.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

A Wedding and a Winter Wonderland.

Jackie:

Thursday morning we flew south to Oklahoma for Suzanne and John's wedding. After filling two barf bags via motion sickness, we made it to Tulsa to help celebrate and prepare for their big day. Suzanne was gorgeous as usual and the ceremony was perfect for them.

Tulsa was 75 degrees on Sunday and when we flew in to Kalispell we landed with snow on the ground and gusts of 30 miles per hour...while snowing. It was a winter scene ive never experienced before..or felt- 5 degrees. We were supposed to get back to Montana Sunday night but instead we could not make our flight from Denver to Kalispell due to the plane being "too heavy". Brenden and I ended up getting a free meal and nice hotel room which was actually a blessing have one night to ourselves before we go south.

In 2 weeks we head out down to Guatemala. All 5 teams have been preparing as much as we can with the understanding that once we get to our destinations plans can always change. If you think about it please pray for us all. We have teams going to Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Haiti and of course, Guatemala. The situation down in Haiti has worsened (cholera outbreaks and rioting) so their team will need a covering of protection- physically and emotionally.

The photos above are from more snow, a beautiful bride and our team leaders whom we love- Brian and Mackenzie (If you know Mackenzie you will soon learn that good things come in small packages)

Winter Has Officially Arrived.

Today we all experienced our first official snowfall in the valley. Brenden and I had driven up the mountain a couple of days ago to get a sneak-peek but today we got the real thing. Everyone from the northwest part of the country..or Norway.. was not too interested but everyone else immediately reacted via snowball fights. It is still coming down at 11:30 and night and the roads are beginning to get covered.

Narnia

Jackie:

Well it's been a couple of weeks since we've been back from Washington. The fall colors have become more muted and snow is accumulating in the mountains. It feels like winter has really crept in and I think we can handle a bit of it before we find ourselves transplanted on the equator for a couple of months in Guatemala.

Brenden has found such joy from getting to work in the auto shop on the base these past couple of weeks and he is thinking there might be something there for him in the future. In our music track we are working on a few songs that were selected to be recorded in the studio. I am singing the female vocals on an original song written by another student in our school who is very talented on the piano and songwriting.

We've had two great speakers these past couple of weeks- Dan Baumann and Amy Sollars- both work at the YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii. Dan spoke about "life with Jesus" and told us many stories and experiences he's had traveling. Amy spoke about the Holy Spirit and shared some great stories as well. She grew up in the backwoods of Alaska living with no electricity or running water, and she and her siblings shot bears and wolves as young children. She reminded us through her teaching that Jesus left to send another, the Holy Spirit, to "aid you, assist you, help you, guide you, lead you, give you revelation of scripture, release his gifts through you, give you boldness, teach you, strengthen you, refresh you, empower you, anoint you, protect you, fellowship with you, help you pray, give you rest, give you wisdom, reveal Jesus in your life, be your friend, and comfort you." Pretty good news, I'd say.

Last weekend YWAM hosted a Masquerade Ball and students dressed up in various ways all covering their faces with masks. A friend of mine, Bethany, and I decided our entire costume was actually better than any mask so we took off our mask after 10 seconds. The photo above says it all.

This upcoming weekend we are Oklahoma bound to celebrate in the marriage of our dear friends Suzanne and John! In 3 1/2 weeks we are headed to Guatemala and look forward to seeing what the next couple of months have in store for us!

Oh, and the reason this post is called "Narnia" is because of the snowy photos. Brenden and I drove the faithful Saturn up Blacktail Mountain about 10 miles and these are photos from the top. It was amazing to be on base where its wet and rainy and then drive for a few minutes to find snowy tree tops in a magical forest!!

Brenden-

In most of our lectures within YWAM we have been learning many things about God. But, we haven't been learning just facts about the bible or how to become a good christian, we have been studying Jesus and his nature and character.

We sat in a lecture today with a man who was imprisoned in Iran for being a missionary. He lived in a 6 x 6 cell for nine weeks and everyday for the first week and once a week after they beat him. You might think what we learned today was how radical of christian he was or what a great thing he did. But, we didn't.

We learned about how God likes us. You may think, "okay, of course he likes us....he loves us." It took me a minute too. When was the last time you thought about God liking you, as in, wanting to spend time with YOU. Not, you praying for an hour and just continually asking God for forgiveness, but actually spending time with Him. It never occurred to me either until the speaker said it. It's hard to understand, but have we ever considered that God likes the things we like. I had to really consider what was being said here when the speaker asked us that. I guess I always picture God dealing with the world all day and listening to me but not actually interacting and wanting to be close. The truth is though, he likes us so much and wants to be a part of everything we do. And I'm not talking about little annoying Jimmy from down the street who wants to play, I'm talking about the God of the universe wanting to actually spend time with us and be close.

Being close, that one was tricky too. What do we think of when we think of the physical proximity of God? When I pray, I always feel like I have to pray for a really long time to get to him, or if I pray "hard" enough he might hear my prayers more. A previous speaker asked a girl in our class what she thinks she has to do to get closer to God. She said pray more and read her bible. He then spoke about how sometimes we envision God being far from us. In fact, at times that's always how we envision him. This idea of where He is makes it feel like we have to strive for him to be in our presence. But, the truth is he is truly close to us at all times. People often seem to think that when they make a mistake and sin that he leaves us. The whole purpose of the cross was that there would never be a barrier between us and God again. This blew me away. It changed my perspective on what he actually did for us. One of the coolest parts about this is that when we finally realize this, we can begin to be moved to do things for him, not out of obligation, but out of love. An example of this is when a husband needs to make an apology he might buy flowers for his wife, but a wife might appreciate flowers more when they come simply because her husband loves her and nothing is wrong. God is present. What is holding us back from knowing the closeness of God?