Posted in Missions
|
I seemed to have taken an unintentional blogging hiatus. Life is still really hectic for us at this time, and I just don't seem to think about it, or if I do, don't have enough energy! I still hope to get back to it regularly. I miss check in on you all and sharing our life. Ashley had a very tremendous trip to Kenya! She was so blessed, and it has taken her weeks to emotionally settle back in. Physically, she did great (except for one exception I'll share at the end!) Everyone on the team got sick, but her (love God's herbs and vitamins!),, and she did great with jet lag. I don't know exactly what helped, but I had read in a magazine earlier this summer to take Pine Bark extract to help reduce the severity and length of jet lag. She took that 3 days prior to flying and 5 days afterward both ways. Plus, she was taking Vitamin C, garlic, and Silver almost daily. Even after such a long flight, 4 weeks there, including a campout and a 3 day safari, a 28 hour trip home (18 hours of flight and 11 hours of layovers, and about 40 hours of being awake, except for a couple of hour long naps on the plane), she came in completely exhausted, slept about 10 hours, and felt good and pretty rested. She would tire out by the end of the day for a few days, but we were all in amazement at how rested and good she felt. I thought that instead of me trying to explain her experience, I'd copy and excerpt of her words here. Part way through there is a video of the kids practicing one of the praise dances she taught them. It always brings tears to my eyes listening to these children, who are all orphans, sing Shout to the Lord.
"To put it simply, the 4 weeks I spent in Kenya were, overall, amazing!! I was challenged and blessed, and I learned so much. Definitely left a chunk of my heart over there. :-) Being put in the position of leading the camp was a big, challenging experience for me. It definitely worked on my boldness and leadership skills! In reality, I met so many wonderful people in Kenya. Just the people in the village we worked in were great people, especially the kids! I'll get to that in a minute. But in addition to them... We met a beautiful, sweet lady who had been suffering with cancer for 3 months -- she has since passed away, but it was an honor to have the opportunity to meet her and pray with her before she died. We also met the members of a new Kenyan Christian band called "Broken Acoustic." They are a brother-sister team. We got to meet their family, as well, and let me tell you, they all are some of the sweetest people I've met, and love the Lord like crazy! :-) Check out Broken Acoustic here. I have to say probably one of the best parts of the trip, for me -- although it was all GREAT -- was hanging out with the kids in the orphanage, especially the girls. What a great group of kids! Like I said, they range from 3 to 22 years old. We (the other girl on the trip and myself) spent quite a bit of time just hanging out with them at their dorm, talking, playing games, having Bible study, taking pictures (they loved to use our cameras), and letting them fix our hair. They just need some attention and love... and they were very curious about our lives in America. :-) I was very blessed and changed by the time I spent with the girls. I really fell in love with one particular little one -- the youngest in the orphanage at 3 years old. Wish I could bring her home with me! :-) We got to go on a 3-day safari while we were in Kenya. We went to Ol Pejeta Conservancy -- what an experience!! We saw too many animals to list, including all of the "Big Five" except the lion. It was so neat to be out in the midst of God's creation in wild Africa, seeing all the animals in their natural habitat. God is good -- He really took care of us throughout our trip. There were times we were in dangerous or potentially-dangerous situations, but He kept us safe. I didn't even get sick the whole time, even after coming home, which is a big deal for me, because I always get sick coming home from international trips. Jet lag wasn't even too bad. God gave me an amazing opportunity, and I'm SO thankful for it.
The Great Rift Valley The Mediterranean Sea |
"
Posted in Missions
|
Ashley is at 2 1/2 weeks of her 4 week trip to Kenya. She is having an amazing time so far. She has worn several hats during this 2 1/2 weeks, but her main job on this trip was to teach praise dance as a form of worship to the young people. They had a week long camp where she taught them dances, then they shared what they learned at a crusade in a nearby refuge village this past weekend. She was excited because she said there were several of the girls that she could see in their eyes that they "got it". She could really tell that they saw how to use the dance to worship the Lord. An unexpected and delightful opportunity Ashley has had while she was there was to spend a great deal of time with young teen and preteen girls (her calling), sharing with them, teaching them, and laughing and bonding with them. She spent 2 hours alone with some of them at the girls orphanage one afternoon, and she had THE best time. They fixed her hair.....lol.....I can't wait to see the pictures of that......asked her questions about America, asked her to sing and teach them worship songs, sang the ones they know to her, and shared. She is supposed to be teaching them a 6 day Bible study in the remaining time, and I hope that is worked out. I've been blessed to be able to hear from her often enough to keep me from worrying (who me??) and to keep me from missing her so badly!, although, because of the drought, they now do not have electricity from 7-7 each day. We communicate on Facebook every few days, and I've been able to talk to her on the phone 3 times. I've also been able to get a few pictures, although, not as many lately. The internet access they have at the missionary's house is vvvveeeerrrryyyyyy slllllloooooowwwww. For those of you who haven't seen them on FB, here are a few of the pictures. At the Amsterdam airport~  Orbit School of the Cross  I've tried to rotate this next picture 3 times, so it's anyone's guess as to whether you'll see it right side up or not! This is a class at the school singing a welcome song.  Hey! It's right side up for now!If you remember me posting a couple of months ago about our sponsor child and her tragic story, this is Ashley meeting Mokoi......her "Kenyan sister."     The medical clinic at Orbit. They are trying to raise funds to keep it open more. Right now it's just one day a week, since Mokoi's baby, Ashley, died. If the clinic had been able to be open, they probably could have saved baby Ashley's life.  Orbit Baptist Church  Ashley was able to attend with the missionary an American Women's Conference in Nairobi. There were women there from several countries, and their goal is to find ways to improve the lives of women in Kenya.   Esther, in the blue in the center, is our youngest sponsor child~ 12 years old. She and Ashley have had great bonding time this trip. So far, I haven't been able to get a photo of our 3rd sponsor child, Faith. Isn't Esther, and her smile, beautiful?  Ashley and Mokoi     I love this next picture~   One of the newer youngest residents of the little children's orphanage~  Ashley and Mokoi   Ashley's hand is on the bottom....so sweet.  Ashley teaching praise dance. The girl next to her is the missionary's daughter learning also. This is also a photo of the inside of the little Orbit Baptist Church.  Teaching Shout to the Lord  Teaching the little ones sign language to Jesus Loves Me~  The group sharing Shout to the Lord at the crusade  Ashley and Esther singing Shine Jesus Shine at the Crusade. Wow! Ashley has a gorgeous voice, but I can't believe *anyone* got her on stage to sing in public! : ) I am so proud of her!   Girls at "The Well", orphanage for young girls  Please pray for rain for Kenya. They are desperate for it. Edit..... I know why the pictures overlap my sidebar, but I don't know why the words are. Hope you can read it. |
Posted in Missions
|
This blog entry is written by my 21 year old daughter, Ashley.
Guatemala Mission Trip
July 1-11, 2008
Three days before the mission team was scheduled to arrive in Guatemala, my dad and I flew down to spend some time with my good friend Sweet Ruth and her family, who recently moved back to Guatemala after spending a few years here in the States. It was so wonderful to see them again, and great to spend a few days just catching up.
 Besides the visiting, one thing I particularly enjoyed was getting to see more of Guatemala City, the capital. It has been six years since I spent time in the capital, and even then I was only in one section of town. Spending a few days with Sweet Ruth and her family, I was able to experience some of what the "city life" in Guatemala is like (Americanized and lots of traffic! J)
On Friday, July 4, we made a big "Welcome" sign and went to the airport to meet the rest of the mission team. In all, there were 24 of us from my church, joined by 4 individuals from a sister church. It was a large group this year, with a wide range of ages (16 to 60's) and personalities.
 After driving to Antigua, we did some shopping and spent the night there before making the long drive up into the mountains the next day. That drive always, with rare exceptions, takes much longer than we are told it will! J Our hotel this year was the Park Hotel, a very nice place near Coban, Guatemala. It was a little further drive from the villages, but nicer and a bit cheaper than last year's hotel. I was able to room with Sweet Ruth and another good friend, Shannon. The three of us had a great time together.
 After arriving late Saturday afternoon, we were scheduled to be at an evangelistic crusade service that night. Our group sang some songs that we had learned in Spanish, and one of our men preached with a translator. We prayed with the congregation at the end of the service.
On Sunday morning, we returned to the church in Purulha that our team built last summer. It was so neat to go back there, see Pastor Jorge and some other people that we met last year, and worship with them once again. As someone else said, being there felt, in a way, "like home."
 It was a wonderful service. We sang again and our team leader preached a great message, then there was a sweet time of prayer at the end. After the prayer time, Tim (our leader) led us all in singing "How Great Thou Art," with the Guatemalans singing in Spanish and the North Americans singing in English, all at the same time. It was beautiful. I'm so thankful God isn't bound by language barriers!
Sunday evening was the second meeting of the evangelistic crusade, and it was great, too. Another of our young men preached, and two other girls and I danced an interpretive movement routine to the Spanish version of "Shout to the Lord." There was more sweet, strong prayer at the end... one thing about Guatemalan Christians is that they are not prideful. They are not ashamed to come forward at the invitation to pray and to ask for prayer. Some pray silently and others cry out audibly, but it's just such a blessing to be able to go up and put my hands on someone's shoulders and pray with them.
 Also that night, we laid hands on and prayed for a sweet young girl named Jesica. I had met her the previous day, but we found out that she has something wrong with her brain and the doctors have given her no hope. I'm continuing to pray for her, and would appreciate your prayers for her, too. (Jesica is the girl on the left in this photo.)
 Monday morning was spent running some errands and doing a little shopping in Coban before the work in the villages began that afternoon. The construction team got started on their various projects in the village of Mocohan -- putting glass in the windows of the conference center, painting, building doors on the bathrooms, and putting up siding in Rolando (the local missionary)'s apartment.
 The VBS team was transported back over to Purulha for day one of VBS, in the church we built last year. Our theme for VBS this year was "Children of the King." One of the ladies from our team taught the lesson, and the kids got to decorate paper crowns with crayons and adhesive-backed jewels. They were so excited about that! They also had a blast learning a fun dance that we taught them.
 On Tuesday morning, the construction crew went back to work, and the pastors' conference began. Approximately 45 pastors came to Mocohan from various areas of the jungle to be encouraged in their ministry. One man, who has come in the past, walked for nine hours to get to the conference. That's commitment, and I hope that they were all blessed by being there!
The VBS team spent the morning preparing craft supplies and goody bags. We also packed some bags for the pastors, and for the children in Mocohan, since we didn't get to do a VBS there this year. It was fun to hand out the bags to the people as we walked back to the bus for lunch.
  We stopped to meet with a local pastor and look at his church building, which was recently destroyed by a mudslide. The church is in the process of trying to buy new land for a new building. We prayed with the pastor and are continuing to pray about making that church a future mission project.
 That afternoon, we returned to Purulha for day two of VBS. After the lesson, the children made felt banners with the words "Jesus es mi Rey" (Jesus is my King). I enjoyed sitting with some of the little girls and helping them spell the words; however, it was sad to see how some of the 8-9 year old children didn't even recognize the letters. For Guatemalan children, going to school is a luxury that many aren't able to afford. I knew this, but had not seen the affects of it in reality until that day.
 On Wednesday, the pastors' conference continued, and the women's conference took place. We had a women's conference last year, too, but I was not able to participate, so I was really looking forward to being a part of it this year. I was put in charge of writing nametags. J The conference went really well. The theme was "God's Heart for Women." I believe the ladies responded well to the messages, and we were able to pray with many of them as they asked for prayer about specific situations in their lives.
 Since Wednesday was our last workday, we had a group "share time" that evening after supper. The team prayed together, sang some songs together, and shared special memories or lessons learned from the week.
Thursday morning, we loaded the bus and made the drive back to the city. It was one of those "rare exception" days when the bus ride actually went faster than expected! J We were able to do a little more shopping in the city, then spent the night in Antigua again before flying out the next morning.
This year's trip was somewhat different from last year's -- we didn't get to spend as much time just "hanging out" with the people. But it was good and I do believe God was glorified in the work... which is what it's all about! I'm thankful that God allowed me to go again, that He protected us, and that He is sovereign. I'm thankful for the time to "catch up" with some good friends. I'm thankful to know that I have brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, for the opportunity to spend time working and worshipping together with some of them, and for the things we can learn from each other. How great is our God! Cuan grande es nuestro Dios!
Thank you so much for praying for us.
God bless,
Ashley
   "You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12
A few more photos that Mom added~
sunrise in Antigua
  Yes! This is the bus going down the wrong side of the road.
 On to the Purulha area~
Praise dance to Shout to the Lord~
Ashley is on right
   This photo is a little blurry, but I love it. This man had just shown the lady the picture he had taken of her.
  
|
Posted in Missions
|
James and Ashley had a great trip to Guatemala. The little girls, Briana, and I had a nice time while they were away, too. We went swimming a couple of times, went on a picnic and hike one day, went to some yard sales, had a campfire one night, and went out on the lake a couple of times. Briana is still at my parents' house at musical theatre/acting/dance camp--a 2 week long, all day camp at their local playhouse. We will go see her performances on Friday. Even though I didn't get to go to Guatemala personally, I live it through my husband and daughter, and in my heart. So I wanted to share a few pictures with you. It was so hard to choose. If I thought I wouldn't bore you death, I would have posted tons more, especially of all the sweet little children's faces. Ashley wrote a great report on the trip. Go HERE to read it. If you're short on time, the mission part of the trip starts on Saturday. The first 4 pictures are in Antigua. The others are in villages about 4 hours north of Guatemala City. Volcano seen from Antigua
Yes, that is a SMOKING volcano.
Woman in Antigua using a traditional backstrap loom.
The cottages James and some others stayed in.
Ashley with some of the children.
VBS
Line for the dental clinic
New church that James and the other men were finishing
Binoculars made in VBS
Banana tree
Ashley with the area missionary. He took all the ladies for a spin.
A Guatemalan cemetery
Look at all of the houses on the side of that hill. They are very poor houses--dirt floors, tin or thatched roofs...
They had been to the market in Antigua and one in a village called Tactic. They told them they were going to go to a market in nearby Coban. This is where they ended up. Some market, huh? Guatemala is one of the ultimate pictures of extremes. This is only about 40 min. from where they were working.
They took a hike to a waterfall.
Blowing bubbles
This is my husband's hand. He was surrounded by children during the services. One little girl sat in his lap during one entire church service. Ashley speaks enough Spanish to communicate decently with the children, and 2 or 3 others on the trip speak Spanish, and they had translators, but you find out very quickly that love and friendship can be communicated in many ways--playing ball, blowing bubbles, hugs, tickles, smiles, and holding hands. Ashley talks more about this, especially related to the church on her blog. Stop by for a couple of minutes and read about the trip.
|
Posted in Missions
|
Please pray for my husband, James and our oldest daughter ,Ashley. They will be leaving at 6:00 in the morning to go to Guatemala for a mission trip. They will be traveling with about 25 others from our church and one other. The group will land in Guatemala City, then travel by "chicken bus" to Purula, a village about 4 1/2 hours from the city.
James will be leading a building team in completing a church that another group started. Ashley will be part of a group of 5 ladies working with 400 children in VBS (approx. 200 per day). Some of the group will be leading a dental clinic, and a few others will be leading in a pastor's training conference. They are also taking books, treats, small toys (frisbees, jumpropes, necklaces, stuffed animals, etc.), crayons, pencils, etc. for all of the children.
Please pray for safe travel in air and on land. The roads there can be pretty adventurous. Please pray also for good health for everyone, and that they will make an impact on the lives they touch.
Letitia
|