Planning makes perfect

If you have ever tried to pull off any event such as a birthday party, baby shower, etc without planning it, you know how crazy that can be!  We often find ourselves spending almost as much time planning the classes and activities we host as we spend actually teaching them! 

The September 30th National Child's Day event is no different.  We have already started planning, writing up an exciting new class, and started shopping for supplies.  Chrissy brought some jungle scenery with her from Texas which we plan to use to decorate the room.  In keeping with this jungle theme we decided to teach about Daniel and the Lions... but with a twist.  This time we will tell the story from the Lions' point of view!  A couple of weeks ago Chrissy, Yolanda, and I set off down the street in search of a "Lion costume" in the used clothing stores that are on every corner of San José Pinula.

a look down a typical SJP street

These stores are actually the front room of local homes where used clothes are sold for anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar.  As we walked into the first store we felt almost as if we were suffocating among the racks from ceiling to floor jammed full of dirty, musty used clothes hung in no particular order.  After making a quick search we abandoned the area.  At a little more than a dollar per item we felt the store was waaaay over priced!!!  The next few stores were similar (although cheaper).  The clothes were stacked in boxes on floor, hung on strings along the wall, and small children played with dirty toys or emptly glass bottles on the dirt floor.  Finally, among all of this, we found an orangish Liz Claiborne sweater type thing with ruffles around the collar!  Perfect for our Lion look!  We bought it for less than 50 cents and went back to the base very happy with our purchase.

Chrissy and Yolanda went to the center of the city (zone 1) to shop for other scenery ideas.  They found a few really great animal figures made out of styrofoam.  They also found bear shaped water bottles that we will give to each child. Lastly, Chrissy went shopping on her own with her own funds to find several used stuffed aniamls that fit in perfect with the jungle theme.  

Piñata at last year's National Child's Day event

girls enjoying last year's snack

We are looking forward to instilling in over 100 children the desire to make a stand for Jesus, just as Daniel did.  He stood up for God and for what was right in spite of some very difficult circumstances.  This is going to be a great opportunity to bless our regular attenders as well as reach some new families.  God is good!

We are very thankful for the Faith Landmarks Youth group who allowed us to take up an offering totalling $500 to pay for this event. 

In November we will host our annual Vacation Bible School.  If you or your church would like to help us by sponsoring the entire event or just a portion, please contact us at info@crossculturejesus.org  We need approximately $200 to cover the week.

Making headway in the Mountains

As you may recall from an earlier blog, one of my heart's desires is to be able to reach the remote, mountain communities of San José Pinula.  This is not an impossible task, just a tad difficult.  One of the difficulties is the long standing friction between the catholics and the evangelicals.  Quite often just knowing that a person or group is not catholic closes the door of opportunity.  These communities are particularily close minded, distrustful, and difficult to gain entrance into.

Fortunuately, ABA (Asociación Brazos Abiertos- as we are known in Guatemala) has a good reputation and working relationship with the public school system of San José Pinula.  Using this relationship we were able to gain entrance into 4 public schools in the mountain area.

Our first outreach was actually hosting the Solid Rock Youth Group of Faith Landmarks Ministries.  It was an amazing time!  2 teams of about 30 people visited 2 schools each.  Each team boarded their perspective buses and we began the hour and a half journey into the highlands.  Travelling on dirt roads we passed oxen teams hauling lumber, cowboys on horseback sporting machetes, broccoli plantations, and a huge dairy farm.  The temperature dropped as we climbed higher, but as the day wore on, the sun warmed up even the highest regions we visited.

After going to seperate schools, both teams began by playing games with the school children to establish a relationship with them.  The kids had a blast!  These rural schools rarely have any type of special events and when they do have and event it does not compare to what the SRY teenagers brought.

After a time of games and fun, 2 dramas were presented, and then an altar call.  There were tremendous respnses in all 4 schools.  Nearly every student and parent went forward to say the prayer of salvation!!!!  Amazing.  From what I can calculate, this was the first time many of these people ever truly heard the gospel.  It just shows that we are all in need of a savior and we are all longing to have forgiveness of our sins.

Altar call

After the dramas and altar calls bags of food were given to each family.  Most of these children suffer from malnutrition, it was great to see them eating on peices of fruit as they walked the dirt roads home.  Over 100 families were reached on this day alone.  Glory to God! 

What a way to bless the communities.  Every school invited us back as often as we can come.  The next challenge????  Making room in our schedule to go back!  Oh, there is so much work to be done for the Kingdom of God.  We really need more laborers.  Pray with us for the Lord to send more missionaries to join our team and help us carry the gospel all over San José Pinula.  Pray with us for sponsors to pay for salaries, allowing us to hire Guatemalans to help us disciple the hundreds of children that have been placed in our paths.