Guatemala March Day 5

"La Basura"- The Dump. This picture was actually taken just around the corner from a home that we visited today. Can you imagine how bad it would be to wake up and look out your front door to see this?


This stove is next to Flor's house. It was not installed today, but we were installing a stove a few homes down from hers and Paula (pictured below and see yesterdays blog for more infot) saw us. She grabbed my hand and tried to drag me along with her somewhere. I was a little unsure if I should go, but a lady that was with us (who does not speak English either) somehow assured me it would be ok and that she would go with me. So, I went with her and the other lady and found out she wanted me to see Flor (her mom). She was making necklaces, bracelets, and rings for the Tabitha house and was glad to see me (she remembered my name and showed me what she was making). Then Paula took us outside and they showed me their stove and from what I gathered they share the stove with another family. It is amazing that I am able to communicate with Paula even though she has not spoken an English word to me and I have said very little Spanish.





This is Eddy he hung around us when we were delivering the first stove. Then he and one of his friends helped us carry the second stove up a big hill and to the next home. They seemed so excited to be helping us and we enjoyed seeing their bright shinning faces.

One more great thing that happened today is Larry and I went back to Blanco's house with Carol and Blanco gave her testimony to Larry (without him asking or Carol asking her to say anything). She said that yesterday she gave her life to Christ and she already feels different and wanted him to pray for her. Then Carol took us to many more houses and we met many others that we were able to pray with, give water filters to and we handed out bags of food today as well. I could write for days so I better stop and get some rest.

Joy in my Heart,
Benjamin

Guatemala Day 4

Today was incredible. I am going to let the pictures tell the story for the most part:





This picture is of Donnie, Joe, and I with Blanco her 3 children, and an orphan boy that follows us around often, Jesus. Blanco was placed in our path yesterday and again today and through Carol and Donnie witnessing to her she prayed to receive Christ in her life today. She was a joy to talk to and we later ran into her again and she had a big smile on her face when she saw us and gave us all a hug.



This picture and the next show the roof we completed on the top of the Tabitha house which is the house that is used to minister to the men, women, and children who live in the dump area ( in Spanish it is la basura). When we got here on Monday a man was working on the wall and it had no roof at all. Now, the wall is completed and so is the roof. Praise be to God.






The next two pictures are of Eric, Joe and I with ladies that we had put stoves in their homes the day before. They came to visit Tabitha house today and wanted to get their picture taken with us.



This lady was very sweet and it was very nice to meet her.




This is me with Carol. She runs the Tabitha house and is a hard working, faithful, Christian and witness to so many in the dump area.




This is Ed, me, Paula, and her family...they were truly a blessing to us as we were able to bless them. We gave them a stove, but after we set it up we were able to hear a moving testimony from Paula, I prayed for her, and then she asked her us to pray for her niece (who is vision impaired) and then her niece asked me to pray for Paula's daughers and it was all very touching.


Here I am posing with the stove we put in Paula's house



One of my favorite pictures from the day. Flor, her daughter (also named Paula), and me. Paula (which is my wonderful mom's name as well) has become quite attached to me over the last few days. The first day she just came up to me and sat right next to me at the Tabitha house while the children were playing (she just smiled and said a few words I did not understand haha). Then later that day she was watching a girl spin around in a chair and then that girl had to leave. So she got in the chair and I spun her around and she had the best time doing that. She kept grabbing my hand when I would stop and tell me Mas! Mas! (more, more). So, I would of course spin her more. Then today when we were walking around the dump installing stoves her mom and she joined us to help. Paula either would come into the house and stand next to me the whole time or would wait oustide the home for us and look at me and hold her hand out so that I would hold her hand as we walked down the street. We even spoke a little bit of Spanish to each other (what little I do know).



The woman in the Green Jersey is Monica. She takes care not only of her own children, but her sisters' children (who left the dump and left Monica in charge of her children). Joe was a part of a group that installed a stove in her house last trip and this time we gave her a water purifier. The other girl is Catalina. Her house was the first one we went to the day before and her companion, Julio, was a delight to talk to. He knew a few English words, but we mainly talked through translator. He prayed for us after we prayed for him and Catalina.

I could write soo much more about the day, but that is all for now

Joy in my Heart,
Ben

Day 3- Roof and Stoves

The top picture was taken after the first beam was put on the roof today. We made good progress on the roof and the hope is to have it finished tomorrow before lunch. Other things we are doing contrustion wise is plumming and lighting. I spent the afternoon helping our fearless stove leader Joe go down into the dump area to install stoves and invite men to our bible study. Eric, Eduardo, and a few others were on our team as well. I post a few pictures from it:



Here is Joe and Eric working together.



Eric putting some finishing touches on a stove, while Ed in the backgrounds helps us get to know the family we are helping out in order that we can pray for them and help the Tabitha House build a relationship with them.



The house where we were installing the previous stove overlooks the dump (in the distance on the left). The other houses that we went to today were just to the left of the dump in an area that used to be the dump but is now a group of very small places for people to live.

Overall the people in the dump area were very nice and very appreciative of the gift we gave them. We prayed with each of them and let them know that the stove is a gift from God and He deserves all the Glory and not us. All of the people we talked with thanked us and gave thanks to God for us allowing Him to use us in order to bless them. One guy prayed for us and I had a short conversation with him about his work and son. Words can not describe how poor the conditions were of the people we met today, so I am not going to try and compare the conditions to anything.

God bless you and pray for the families in Guatemala that the Tabitha house is reaching out to and we are able to take part in helping.

Joy in my heart,

Ben

Guatemala Day Two

Here is our construction crew for our trip (more people coming for the long weekend). We spent a good portion of the day today prepping for building the roof and unloading the materials we are going to use for the stoves. More pictures and updates to come later. Falling asleep as I type this

Joy in my Heart,
Ben

Guatemala Day One

Well today was our first day for our Guatemala trip. The top picture was taken from the plane ride in and is just North of where we are. I am so thankful that we were all able to get here safely and all of our bags made it as well (if you knew how many bags we had you would be amazed). I am thankful for the group that is with us during the week and looking forward to more coming to join us this weekend, Lord Willing. Today we went to the House which we are going to put the roof on top of the patio of. Below you will find some pictures:






Today we did not do too much due to the fact that we did not get here until this afternoon. Hopefully I will have more to update you on as the week progresses and hope to have many more pictures. The bottom picture is where we ate lunch

Friday Update # 1- Joy in My Heart

So, today I have joy in my heart for the Lord has blessed me and I am eternally grateful for that. This week has been great. I preached at my church this past Sunday night. I preached on Acts 2:36-42 with the title "Cut to the Heart". The Lord blessed me and I hoped that He blessed others through me with the message that if we are going to go out to the world and reach the lost for Christ, we must humble submit to His will, set ourselves apart from the world in service to Him, and we must commit to the scriptures daily. Then spent Monday working on my Psalms paper on Psalm 41. I will not go into what I wrote, but I encourage you to read it because it is a great prayerful Psalm and it shows how the heart of David, even though not perfect, was after the true worship and praise of God. Monday night I was fortunate to eat sushi with one of my cousin's and his wife and I got to hear about a ministry opportunity he is involved as a leader of. Tuesday I went to class and after class heard Eric Metaxas who has written a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer a martyr during WWII standing up for his Christian beliefs and conviction.

You can find out more about him here: http://www.ericmetaxas.com/ We have been blessed this semester to have to be discussing in our chapel services the German Confessing Church during the Nazi Regime and the Barmen Declaration. You can find out more info on this here: http://www.beesondivinity.com/communityworship



We have truly been blessed by this series not only through our chapel services, but also through an ongoing film festival with films on the same topic. Last movie we watched was Sophie Scholl which if you have not seen it I recommend it. I recommend it if you want to see a movie about a girl who truly lived out her faith even to the point of death and it shows a resistance movement to the Nazi take over. Here is a website on that movie, watch it if you enjoy movies that convict, encourage, and inspire one to keep their faith.




Anyway, the rest of the week included spending time in class, reading, taking tests, writing, and visiting friends talking about my upcoming Jman opportunity. I am excited about my Jman opportunity and next week I will hopefully post more about it. For now Keep the Faith and find Joy in your heart that can only come through Jesus Christ.

Things I am thankful for:
My school and its commitment to standing for Christ in the midst of persecution
The fact that Lord willing will be going on the Jman trip for 2 years
The Lord is using me to preach the Gospel and has given me strength and ability to do that.

Ways you can pray for me:
Endurance as school continues to get busier heading toward graduation in May
Patience in awaiting to hear the specifics on my Jman assignment
Middle brother and his back

Day Three-I respect those who demand respect

I had a professor today that told us several things that he expects out of his students dealing with respect. I am not saying I goto school with a lot of disrespectful people. Nor am I saying that I am always the most respectful person. But, I enjoy when someone is open and honest about expecting people to respect them especially in class. Some of the things he talked about were eating during class, chomping on ice during class, leaving your cell phone on and it ringing during class, etc. I don't think his expectations are unreasonable. In class we talked about places in which the bible speaks about and that was neat and how that is often important in reading and teaching the Bible. He also gave us some examples of verses that have been taken out of context in different English translations of the Bible. I know these things may not interest others, but hey it was cool to me.

After lunch I went to the first pray for the nations of this semester in our Global Center (the place I had pictures of yesterday). Each Thursday a different person or group of people talk about a certain nation that we can pray for and mainly tell about mission trips that they have made. This week was a group that had been to Mexico. One girl spent 13 months there. The others spent two weeks there. It was very interesting and the girl that had spent 13 months there was one of my friends that I had not seen since right before she left for Mexico.

So, I am making this blog mainly about school, but every now and then I will share things that happen outside of school. Tonight I made some new friends and one of them told us about the World's Largest Cheeto. It was very funny! :) We had some other funny stories, but they would be hard to tell.

With much joy,
Ben