They are new every morning.

Last week we took a team to the Guatemala City dump - and everyone had a very hard time processing what we had seen. No one from the team could figure out how to journal their experience. It's impossible to put into words how you feel the first time you see it in person, and pictures will never even come close to doing it justice. The whole time you're there you're trying to breath shallow because the air is so polluted - and not to mention the smell of the trash. The sewage runs through dirt paths in between the "houses" and you see children & adults both walking barefooted. People look malnourished, 5 or 6 people live in tiny a room made of plastic signs, tarps, and old tin, and they survive by scavenging through trash for food to eat or something that can be recycled to make a few cents. You see people who are broken physically and spiritually.
But then someone smiles at you...
and you remember that God has a plan.

You remember that His plan is not yet complete,
and that His plan is as perfect as He is.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I remember them and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind & therefore have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."  Lametations 3:19-24

Tomorrow I leave Guatemala but I'm already waiting in anticipation to come back. The past two months have been full of nothing but blessings and people who, like Danny & Kim, are giving everything they have to love the lost. God is so good, and it's almost funny how little we understand about His ways. It's easy to get overwhelmed and be discouraged, but we're commanded to be strong and wait. Even though His plan isn't complete, I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalms 27:13-14.

Becca

Visitors

 Riverchase Community Church - March 2011

 Danny's Parents - March 2011

 Fairview Church - June 2011

Danny's brother and family - June 2011

 The Woodard Family - July 2011

God has blessed us with many family and friends.  We have had 5 visits so far since we moved here over 6 months ago.  We have 2 more church missions teams scheduled for July.  Thank you all for the continual support and desire to see the ministry here in Guatemala.

Utterly Amazed.

"Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days that you
would not believe, even if you were told."
-Habakkuk 1:5

I've been to this part of Guatemala once before so I knew what the land & people would look like. I pretty much knew about what I would be eating, that I would struggle with the language, and about most of the work I'd be doing here with Danny & Kim. I started praying this past January for the Lord to prepare my heart for my time here, even before I knew for sure that I was coming! I felt very prepared for this trip, and still fully believe that the Lord had equipped me with the courage, strength, and patience to come here. But when I think about my experience so far here in Guatemala, I'm simply amazed.

I think this verse perfectly describes how I feel right now. The faith of the people here, including Danny & Kim, is unlike anything I've ever seen before. There hasn't been a day or an hour here that I haven't been overwhelmed by the powerful, loving presence of God. It was inevitable that I would pray with people here, I knew that was a given. But if you had told me how intense and powerful and passionate our prayer meetings would be, I would still be speechless after the first one. The first time you go into someone's home and pray for their physical & spiritual healing and, you will leave there speechless. When you go to pray with them, week after week, getting to know them & love them & cry with them, you begin to learn how to pray. You begin to learn how to pray continuously, and how to trust in the Lord's perfect, mysterious plan.

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe what Jesus is doing here. It's just utterly amazing. His light is pointing people down paths, His love is restoring broken hearts, and His faithfulness is bringing people to Life. Danny & Kim have been beautiful examples to me of what it means to trust & follow Jesus, as well as the church here. I still have one month left, and I bet that I will be just as amazed at what the Holy Spirit is doing then as I am right now!

--Becca