So the last 2.5 days in Guatemala were so crazy I did not have any time to update my blog. But, I am now doing it back in Alabama.
The Story of Blanca (long story that has truly touched my heart)
The third day in Guatemala we were installing stoves in some homes of the ladies that goto Tabitha. I saw this one lady (probably around my age). She was saying something to me as we were walking out and the translator had actually walked away. But, for some reason I felt what this lady was saying was important. So, the translator came back and said she was telling us that she wanted a stove in her home. We told her to contact Carol and that we would hopefully one day be able to give her one. We then walked away and I did not think too much about this conversation that night. Then the next day we told Carol about the story and she said she wanted to go with us to visit the lady because she might know her. Turns out Carol did know her because the lady (who we found out was named Blanca) had children that went to Tabitha day care. So, we went to Blanca's house and chatted with her. Turns out she was not a believer because of some personal matters that were holding her back. Well Donnie and Carol shared with Blanca the gospel message and that it does not matter what has happened to you in the past, but that God would forgive you of your sins and if you gave your life to Him and put your faith in Him he would take care of you (I am paraphrasing here). Well after talking with her some more, Blanca said she was ready to give her life to Christ and asked Joe via Carol to pray for her to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior. Before we prayed with her she showed us how she did not even have a roof to cover her bed (and children) at night nor did she have a door to keep her safe at night. Well we prayed with her thanking God for her decision that she was able to make and we also prayed that God would provide for her all her needs.
Well we got back to the Tabitha House and the roof was complete. Turns out we actually had three extra pieces of roof and some extra wood support that we did not use (amazing huh?). Well I suggested/asked if we could give the extra roof pieces and wood to give to Blanca for her house (after we shared with the group about her). Our head construction guy, Larry, said that was a great idea and that he would even go down to her home with us the next day and put it on. So, the next day we went back to Blanca's home and brought her the roof. Well we realized that the wood support she had in place would not hold the roof we brought down there and that we had no way of putting the roof up. However, Mario, a neighbor of Blanca, said that if we would bring him the extra wood that we had he could put the roof up. In the meantime we were not able to give Blanca a stove just yet, but we were able to give her a water purifier so her and her 3 daughters would have clean drinking water. Then Blanca shared her testimony with Larry and we again prayed with Blanca.
Saturday rolls around and we take the wood down to Blanca's home and we take our local architect friend with us. Well he informed us that the wood we had and the roofing we had would not go onto Blanca's house. However, after much discussion with him we found out that he could trade in our roof pieces and get cheaper, more material to cover the entire roof, but that she would still not have a wall to support it or a door to protect her. So, we discussed with him more about how much that would cost and if he could build it. He told us how much it would cost and that he had built something very similar that he could show us (we said we could provide him the money and that we would like to see the home he had already done). So, we told Blanca what was going on and she said that she and one of her daughters wanted to go with us. Turns out the home was actually in one of the worse parts of the dump and we had to walk a pretty good way. So, I offered to carry Blanca's daughter that she was bringing with her (the above picture). When we got to the home Blanca said that the home we saw was just beautiful (pictured below). So, Bob made the decision that we were going to give the money needed to put the necessary walls, roof, and door on Blanca's house.
You can see part of Blanca's story and images from her house and the other house with this video I made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_XI6bed3-k
Day One of Men's Bible Study
Below are pictures from the first session of our Bible Study. Joe gave his testimony and vision for the Bible Study. Steven, Johnny, and I shared Lessons 1-3 and Bob preached on the Prodigal Son (or The Forgiving Father) in Luke 15. David played music for us.
David (a local Pastor's son) had an Auburn shirt on and I wanted my picture with him. So, I mistakely asked Barbara to take our picture. The first two pictures she purposely messed up and then she took a picture of herself. So, I asked Bob to take the picture, but Barbara would not get out of the way so I tried to get Lucy to come over and help then Bob took the picture with my arm in the way. Finally after the 4th or 5th try (I am not good with math) we were able to get a picture.
After we cleaned up and went shopping for the next day's lunch, we took Carol, her son, and her mom out to a nice dinner at Nais (pronounced like our nice). Overall a great day. I will share more about our Bible Study in the next day's blog
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