The theme for the conference was “He Restores.” A pastor from Texas came and spoke four sermons throughout the weekend all based in Psalm 23. It was such an encouragement and challenge to dig deeply into this one chapter. Here are a few of our notes from the sessions that hopefully have an impact on you as well.
1 The Lord is my Shepherd.
He Provides, He protects, He Directs (to point/to show), He guides
(to go with).
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet
waters
-God makes us lie down – sometimes He needs to use forcible
action.
-Our hearts are prone to wander – prone to leave the God I love so
He forces us to Rest
-We need God to make us lie down because we are exhausted –
physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.
-He will set the pace – Keep in step with the Spirit – perhaps we
need to slow down or maybe we are lagging behind His pace.
3 He Restores my soul
God restores us from:
-Our Guilt – it weighs us down. God doesn’t remind us of our
sins that is Satan. Jesus triumphed overall all sin by
carrying all of our guilt on Him on the cross.
-Our sorrow- Will yourself to worship God. Focus on what is to
come not on what was lost. I encourage you to read 2
Samuel 12:18-23 about the story of David and how he
dealt with sorrow. It teaches us a lot about how to deal
with sorrow.
-Our Bitterness – Bitterness is a root and we need God to
SHUB us. SHUB is the Hebrew word for restore and
it means to turn over or to turn around. God restores us
like a Shepherd toward his sheep.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear
no evil for you are with me.
-Valleys symbolize darkness, difficulty and struggle, but they are
passable.
-In valleys we tend to hear God the clearest and sense Him the
closest.
-When you are in the valley refuse to fear because God is with
you.
-Shadows can’t hurt you, and they aren’t possible without light,
which shows yet again that THE LIGHT is with you.
We also were able two seminars about “Leading Change” and “Storm Season.” The leader of “Storm Season” is a certified professional counselor and talked about the biology of what happens inside your brain as you go through storms and struggles in life. He referenced Acts 27 and the struggles and storms Paul went through as a missionary and follower of Christ. You have to be able to find what your anchors are in the midst of a ‘storm’ as well as staying on the ‘ship’ of faith – “Don’t abandon ship.” The other seminar about “Leading Change” the leader talked about how to find the root of the problem to change. We need to look for measurable and specific goals. He talked about how many missionaries come to a country looking to teach the value of education when the source of the problem may be malnutrition. For example: Kids are not learning in school because they their body cannot function without nutrients and food so in response their parents pull them out of school because the kids say they didn’t learn anything. Parents decide if their kids aren’t learning anything what’s the point of sending them to school when they can work and earn money for the family. So the root of the problem is not valuing education but instead is malnutrition. So the key to leading change is finding the crucial moment and root of the problem.
The entire conference was a blessing and encouragement to both of us. We also made quite a few connections with other missionaries here in Guatemala.
You have probably heard that we are living close to Antigua for right now while Andi takes Spanish lessons, but we are planning to move to a different area of Guatemala later on. We have taken some trips with Hope for Home Ministries to see some different places and to see if and how our ministries would fit in those areas, but other places weren't standing out to us and we were both feeling drawn to the city of Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela (pronounced shayla) even though we had never visited. We contacted a missionary family who lives up in that area and asked if it would be possible for us to visit them to see their ministry (Foundations of Hope) and the area. So after the intermissions conference ended, we picked up a shuttle to Xela to stay for a few days.
Quetzaltenango means "the place of the quetzal bird" (the Guatemala national bird) and the Maya name for the city is Xela so either name is acceptable. It is the second largest city in Guatemala although it doesn't feel like a large city like you would expect to see in the United States. The city is at about 7,700 feet altitude.
The first day we were in Xela, we got to go out and explore. We walked all over the city. We saw central park, a couple different market areas, many small parks, banks, tiendas, restaurants, coffee shops, schools, and more. It was a really good way for us to get a feel of what was available and what it could be like to live there, but we forgot to take into account the elevation difference from where we live (about 2,700 feet difference) so we both got some sunburn after a few hours of walking around. In the afternoon, we went to a soccer ministry that Foundations of Hope is involved with three days a week. Andi was able to get a lot of advice about sports ministry and see how this specific soccer ministry works. At the beginning of each practice, a Bible lesson is presented along with some discussion and prayer because this is the main point of the soccer ministry. They use soccer to draw kids in which gives an opportunity to share about Jesus.
The second day, we got to join Foundations of Hope at their after school program that they do two days a week. There are 12 kids that regularly attend the program. They feed the kids lunch, give them homework help and re-teach things that the kids didn't understand in school, help them to practice reading, music time, Bible lessons and activity, English lesson, and some fun at the end doing games or soccer. It is a great opportunity to show the kids in the community that they care about them and pour into their
lives. That evening, we drove around so we could see some communities outside the city, but close enough to still do ministry there.
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