An $1100 Miracle August 26, 2008

Standing the Newly Built House

Day 2 was a great day.  We spent the morning bulding a new house for a widow in the mountains of Guatemala.  The concrete foundation and verticle support beams were already in place, so we were able to get right to putting up the walls/roof of the house.  The day was filled with firsts for people.  First time swinging a hammer, first time putting on a roof, first time connecting with someone from a different culture.  The widow and her family mostly only speak Keche, not spanish.  So we had to communicate through 2 sets of translators (one to spanish one the keche and then back again)  That was a first for me!

After we were finished building the house we spent some time ministering to and praying with the family.  We were able to share with them that the gift of this house was not from us but directly from Jesus. 

In the afternoon, we headed up even further into the mountains and participated in one of pray america’s feeding programs.  This evening that fed and ministered to about 250 mountain residents.  It was great seeing the team play with the kids and spend some precious time with these people.

After our dinner back at the House of Prayer, we had some AWESOME time in worship and the Word.  The Holy Spirit really showed up.  At one point I heard Luke Jones say, “Looks like we are having a camp meeting”.  Which, if you know anything about VFC’s youth camps, that is a very good thing.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. BOLDNESS
2. That we would share about Jesus without fear
3. That we would be sensitive to all the opportunities He makes for us

blessings from Guatemala,

Pastor Justin and the Team

Day 1 In Guatemala – Hold the beans August 24, 2008

Monte Flor Family Center

Well, we are just now winding down our first day in Guatemala.  Today has been one of relaxation and fun.  We arrived in Chichicastenango around lunch time.  After enjoying a hearty soup and sandwich lunch cooked by our wonderful cooks here at the Casa De Oracion, we headed out to the Market.  There we found street after street of handmade textiles and other regional items.

After our day at the market we hiked about 2 miles up the mountain to tour the brand new pray america facility located on 61 acres called the Monte Flore Family Center.  It is an amazing facility that Pray America intends to use for the purposes of taking “unadoptable” children and giving them a hope and a future.  We learned a little lesson about the rain on the way back down the mountain – basically; it comes quick.  And one other lesson that Danielle learned – watch out for little boys pushing up water filled tarps as you walk by. 

We are now winding down by playing some team games before heading to bed.  Tomorrow will be an amazing day of ministry.  We will begin building the widow’s homes tomorrow – yeah!

One last thing – the quote of the day.  I asked Lucas (one of our Spanish speaking participants) to ask the spanish speaking waitress if I could take my coffee up to my room at the hotel this morning.  He walked right over and said, “Can he take his cofee up to the room” (in English) Funny.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. That we would bond and grow as a team
2. We would be sensitive to the directon of the Holy Spirit
3. We would have opportunities to share Jesus
4. Safety and Health.

THANK YOU!!!

On our Way to Guatemala – Day 1 – Delays and the Marleys August 23, 2008

It is currently 7:57 AM and here we sit at the Detroit Metro Airport.  If you were following along, you would know that we were supposed to take off at 7:20 AM.  Well, upon arrival at DTW this morning we found out that our airplane has some “mechanical problems”. 

Me and Julian Marley

Apparently, they are in the process of replacing a part on the plane.  As soon as it is fixed, we take off.  Okay, so what are ya gonna do?  The only bummer about this is that we will miss our connecting flight to Guatemala and will need to take a later one.  That’s okay, no biggy.

Okay, here is something cool.  While waiting at the entrance to the Gates, we came across a group of guys that were obviously from Jamaica.  Bob Withee got to talking to them and we found out that one of them was Julian Marley (Bob Marley’s son – Read about Julian HERE)  Apparently, Julian and his band just got done playing at the Olympics and are on their way home.  They happen to be on the same airplane as us.  He was super friendly and let some of us take our picture with him.  Well, I think it is about time for me to try to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s before it gets too late.

Be blessed, and thank you for all your prayers!

Good Morning from Mississippi! April 2, 2007

Yesterday was yet another good day down here in Mississippi.  The only bummer since we have been down here is that Amy hasn’t been feeling well.  She seems to have some sort of cold.  So please pray for her, that she would be totally healed and able to participate in everything that is going on.

So I woke up this morning, groggily tried to get some breakfast shoveled into my mouth and headed  back to our room to do my morning devotions.  The thing that caught my eye today was in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.  The main reason I put the text for the day as a link is because I do my devotions from Eugene Peterson’s The Message translation of the bible.

I really like how Peterson translated this passage.  It says, “…I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view”   Even in the early church, there was this tendency of wanting to build impenetrable walls between the church and the world.  And while Paul did value walking as “called out ones” he realized that part of the vary nature of our call as Christians is to GO!  Somehow this has become so contrary to how the church operates today.  Somehow we have become all about getting the unsaved to enter our world.  Paul was saying, we need to alter our attitudes and personalities in such a way that we can enter into the worlds of the non-believers and actually make an impact.

I heard a song on Christian radio today that said something along the lines that you and I may be the only Jesus that some people ever get to see.  The point was to make the most of the relationships and opportunities that the Lord gives to us.  I must confess that these domestic mission trips are difficult for me.  For whatever reason it is difficult for me to empathize with the plight of the average American.  But this scripture reminded me that every opportunity that we have is a blessing from the Lord.  My prayer for all of us today is that we would make the most of every opportunity, but also, as Paul did, that we would enter into new worlds asking the Lord for even more opportunities to be Jesus to this world…

be blessed
-pastorj

A Quick Saga… But Arrived Safe and Blessed March 30, 2007

Okay, first I have to start by telling you of my interesting car saga.  I so wanted to be able to take the Cadillac on our trip down to Mississippi.  I mean, who wouldn’t?  It is big, comfortable, rides nice and believe it or not, not too bad on the gas.  But, alas, there have been a couple issues with the car of late that would make it a pain in the rear to take on the trip.  There was this weird thumping coming out of the front end and the power driver’s seat kept blowing a fuse (so it would be stuck in Amy’s position OR my position).  So I took it in before I headed down to Mexico a couple weeks back.  They fixed the thumping (some bad stabilizing rods – yeah, I don’t know what they are either) and they said that they fixed the seat (some corrosion on the connectors), but that they noticed some problems with the front breaks and we should think about re-doing the entire front end breaks.  I though, no problem, I have done that before.  So, I went ahead and re-did the breaks.  New rotors, new pads – went perfectly.  Only one problem, the shaking didn’t go away.  So I took it in to have the tires balanced and rotated.  This is when I found out that the tires were bad – at first I was sure I was getting hosed, but upon inspection they did need to be replaced.  I won’t even dare to keep a running total of how much this is all costing me.  Okay, now I have new tires, new brakes – the world is right.  Wrong.  So I replaced the front rotors, AGAIN, but alas, the shaking is still there.  Granted it is only like 10% of what it used to be so I am just dealing with it until I return.  But that isn’t the real saga…

The Joy of Travel March 18, 2007

Well, last night was an interesting one.  I knew that I had an early flight back when I left home, but I didn’t know that it was going to cause me the heart ache that it has.  The plan was that I would go to bed at a reasonable time last night, get up early to cross the border and get on my plane.  About 20 minutes before we were going out for our last supper we found out that the border crossing doesn’t open until 6:00AM…  My flight left at 6:30AM so this posed a major problem.  I had to quickly (in about 20 minutes) pack all my stuff and load it into the vehicle.  We dropped Hugh and our friend Gabriel off (Hugh is taking Gabriel to a drug rehabilitation center in Oaxaca, Mexico) and then headed for the border.  My AIM project leader said that AIM would have to buy me a hotel room for the night because of their mistake with my airline ticket.  No problem eh?  Problem – Spring Break.  Yep EVERY hotel room in Harlingen was filled.  It was ridiculous.  So my night consisted of about 2 hours of sleep on the tile floor in the airport.  I am not complaining, but it was quite an adventure.  Anyway, I made it on my first flight and now I am waiting for my last flight home.  I am so excited to see Amy and sleep in my own bed.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please pray for Hugh and Gabriel that the Lord would bless their journey.

be blessed
-pastorj

Ugghh… In Matamoros March 15, 2007

Late last night I started feeling pretty sick.  I think it was a little food poisoning.  So the short of it is this, I still feel pretty poopy.  I slept most of today and just tried to get up.  I had to drive someone to their house to get something and that about took it out of me.  I really wanted to head over to Reynosa tomorrow to see some friends.  Pray that I will feel better.

-justin

Made it to Matamoros – God is so good!!! March 10, 2007

Despite a very early morning start, my day of travel has been downright enjoyable!  Can you believe that they served breakfast and showed a movie on the flight down?  I thought those days were long gone!  I am now sitting in my room at the AIM base in Matamoros, Mexico using my cell phone as a modem and updating my blog from the comfort of my bed.  Technology is pretty crazy.  Now for how I see God moving…

I can’t really get into the details, but let me suffice it to say that God proved that I was supposed to be on this trip within 1 hour of me arriving.  There are some questions that I have been asking the Lord and he spoke into them right away.  It was so cool!  Lanny is our Project Leader and the we had an instant connection when we met.  I can’t really put it into words, but the Lord is moving.

From what I hear, Hugh had a pretty tough bus ride down here.  He has safely arrived and is sleeping.  Please pray for him.

For more information about the Gateway in Matamoros (where we are staying)  Click Here or on the picture above!

I am pretty whiped out.  I am going to try to get to bed early.  Thank you for your prayers.  Be blessed.

-pastorj

Off to Mexico… February 20, 2007

Can you believe it?  The 2007 Missions season has begun! I will be heading down to the Adventures in Missions Base Camp in Matamoros Mexico in just a couple weeks to serve on a Spring Break Mission trip.  I am pretty excited about this trip because I will be worship leading on the trip instead of my typical Project Leading.  What does that mean?  A lot less work and a lot more fun!!!  Anyway, this is still serious business.  We want to really find God’s will and walk right in the middle of it.  Please pray for me and all the participants.  Remember – these trips change people’s lives.  I’ll keep updating as we are down there!!

-pastorj