One Week In Guatemala...

Well Guatemala is pretty amazing! It´s always the people that make the place, and Ive been incredibly blessed by the family of God over here. Kevin (teammate) and I have been very blessed to live with a family of five who cook us AMAZING food and teach us Spanish and LOVE us. Two parents Javier and Ana and four children Sarah, Carlos, Sonja, and Roodie. Each of us on the team have a different responsibility every day. We´re either on construction, evangelism in Antigua (half hour away), or working in the school with the kids/helping the teachers with school projects. If you´re a white Canadian visiting this school you will literally get bombarded by hugs. It doesn´t matter if its the first time these kids have seen you, they´ll simply pour out love on you because they believe you´re made in the image of God and that you represent their sponsors over in Canada. Anyways, BLOWN away by the love for God these kids have. They are absolutely PASSIONATE during worship/devotional times in the morning before school and two of the kids preach a short sermon every morning. Tough sermons too!! E.g. What happens when you die, baptism in the Holy Spirit, seeking God´s face, the antichrist...and I´ve been impacted by every one, and it probably helps that whenever the student speaks he/she has a testimony behind the words they speak. 

So the team´s been working really hard to prepare a powerful vacation bible school programs for kids around the country. As well as working with the school in Tizate, we´ll be traveling around Guate and doing these VBS programs for the remainder of the summer. I´m currently writing this blog entry from the city of Huehuetenengo which is about 1 hour from the mexican border and about 7 hours away from our home town in El Tizate. Last night the city here was having a "celebration" LITERALLY declaring that the demonic spirits of darkness have dominion over the city...those are the words they use. Spirits of drunkenness, homosexuality, prostitution, and abortion. It was kind of creepy driving in seeing everyone wearing these weird masks...there was just a heavy presence in the city so it was GOOD timing that we came here to be a light! So please pray for these cities we enter, pray that our VBS days impact the kids we love on, and that our evangelism times are more and more filled with the love and authority of Jesus Christ!! Thank you!!

By the way, I made OVER the amount of funds I needed=ALL of which are going towards work with the school in Tizate and its ministry. WHoohoo! I seriously love all you guys and am praying for you. Hope this was a good update for ya! Post a question on here and I'll answer it for you:) Post a prayer request and I would love to pray for you:)

The first part of Revelation 3:3 hit me pretty hard last night as our team got done listening to Pastor Omar here in Huehuetenengo. He finished telling us testimonies of God's power. One testimony included him praying for a man about a week ago who was dead for 3 days because he had hung himself...committed suicide. After Omar prayed, the man was raised from the dead. Pastor Omar told us that its not because hes been fasting, or living a perfectly righteous life, but it was because he and those in his church continually BELIEVE that there was nothing in the bible that said we should put limits on our prayers. God is ready and willing and DESIRING to make His kingdom come, but he is waiting for those who are ready and willing to pray, believe, and put God's name on the line. God can handle it:) Above all, lets walk in LOVE!!

Revelation 3:3 "Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent..."

Much love,

Braden