Global Outreach Website

May 15

Blog for Thursday, May 13

Yesterday was another great day. We were blessed in many ways. First we saw the MMM team continuing to prepare the Mission Centre, washing glasses, arranging tables and chairs, etc. We\'ve never seen a physician washing windows before (\"We do Windows!\" is not a slogan you see in many doctor\'s offices). The real blessing, though is they are all working together willingly and joyfully - it\'s a great example of what God has in mind for the Body of Christ.

We also went and visited Mario Guerrero, a student from two years ago, who started a shoe manufacturing company after years of working for someone else. He now has 5 employees and they make about 250 pairs of shoes a day - by hand!

Here are some picture of Mario\'s latest sales people displaying some shoes, Roberto making shoes and the team praying. When we asked Mario if we could pray for him, he immediately asked if he could include all his employees. That says a lot about the man and his team.

The we got another God story from Luis, our interpreter. He is an agronomist and was General Manager for a Guatemalan company that grows ornamental shrubs, etc. on five farms throughout the country and exports them to the US, Canada, Europe and other countries. Last year, his wife (who is also an agronomist) was a student in our training and she told him that he should attend the seminar. When we came down for Phase 2 (where we need lots of interpreters so that we can work with groups of 3 or 4 on their individual businesses) Luis took part as an interpreter.

Although he hadn\'t attended the Phase 1 training, he picked up enough from the conversations to understand how you can surrender to God\'s will in business and that you can use God\'s design for business successfully. At that time, you may remember that Guatemala went through a major volcanic eruption, followed by major storms. On one of the farms the volcanic ash built up on the roofs of the greenhouses and when the rains came, the combined weight caused all the roofs to collapse. After evaluating the situation, they decided to take the insurance money and shut down the farm - leaving a lot of people without work.

A buyer from Miami depended on the type of shrub that was only grown on that farm and asked if they could buy it and hire Luis to bring it back to production. They said that they would sell the farm but they had plans for Luis. So, when Luis worked with us on Phase 2, he was wrestling with a very weighty decision; stay with a secure career or leave his long-term employer and take a risk - and save the farm and the jobs. Through his involvement with us, he decided to talk to our leader, David Pritchard, and he talked to his pastor.

He decided to leave and take up the challenge. They invested a lot of time and a lot of money in getting the farm back on track. Their projections showed that, if things went well, they would be cash-flow positive by March, 2011. God blessed their efforts and they went cash-flow positive by October, 2010!.

It almost seems anticlimactic to talk about this years seminar but the teaching is going well. We are seeing the same light in the eyes of the students that we have seen every year and the adjustments to the curriculum are working very well. We are truly blessed to be doing this and we thank our supporters for the opportunity and the prayers, which are being answered, big time! You are an integral part of the work that God is doing through this ministry.

May 12

Blog for Wednesday, May 11, 2011

We were up early at the Mission Center - preparing for the day and our teaching. It was still pretty early when Hermann\'s team started to arrive and they swung into action preparing the new buildings for the dedication on Saturday. There were three physicians, a dentist, Dietrich, Hermann\'s family and the interpreters all working on assembling furniture and all the other details that make a building habitable. They turned on the water and found that a plumber had put a cap on the end of one of the water lines without putting glue on it first! So, for a while, the Conference Center had an impressive indoor fountain (unplanned)! Mario (one of the physicians) was drenched and they all went to work to fix the problem and clean up!

Lance suggested to Hermann that the name of the ministry should be changed from MMM (Medical Missions Ministries) to PPP (Physicians, Pastors and Plumbers)! The only problem is that if you added a letter for every role carried out at MMM, you would have the longest acronym in the world.

The humility with which everyone serves in whatever manner is required was exemplified by a new member of the team, Gisela, who is a dentist. Gisela gave up a thriving dental practice to join Hermann\'s ministry full-time because she felt that her former patients could get good dental services from other dentists, whereas the people to whom MMM minister have virtually no options for dental care at all. That sounds somewhat familiar; \"sell your things and follow me\".

In the afternoon, we had lunch with Estuardo at Pollo Campero (for those of you who have been here) and then met to discuss the ministry and the past students and their businesses.

Then we started the teaching of Phase 1 last night and, as usual, we were amazed at the attitude of the students. There were about 25 students and their intended or existing businesses include a bookstore, a recruiting firm, a mechanic shop, a business that sells needed products to prisoners, a corn tortilla business, a carpenter, technical sales, a sidewalk food business, a printing shop, organic foods marketing and some others that got a little lost in the translation. We also had a new type of student: 3 students (late high school and college) who wanted to learn how to become businessmen. This is a promising new audience for discipleship in the marketplace.

The teaching went well and the students were engaged - and seemed to grasp the key concepts (based on the heads nodding and the comments that were made). Tonight we start getting into the scriptural basis for God\'s design for business and we are looking forward to seeing the response.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue. Lance\'s wife, Nancy, reported that the air conditioning went out yesterday - and we gather it was hot. It should be fixed today but your continued prayers for the protection of our families would be wonderful.

More later. God bless you all.

May 11

We arrived safely in Guatemala after a safe and smooth flight and were greeted, as is usually the case, by Estuardo Perez and his delightful family: wife, Gladys; son, Javier; and daughter, Dulce. Estuardo heads up the Business Ministry at Showers of Grace but it really is a family effort. Javier and Dulce (who, as she grows into her teens, is now expressing a preference for her real name, Melissa) are both very mature, smart and have wonderful hearts for the Lord. That trait, plus love for each other, runs in the family.

We had lunch with the family which gave us a chance to catch up with each other on both family and ministry as well as discuss plans for the first phase of teaching for the new class of students, starting the next day (Wednesday). Since it was Mother\'s Day in Guatemala, we had a chance to celebrate with Gladys and have a lengthy conversation, since the restaurant was jammed with business. We learned that \"Cinqo minutos, maximum!\" means \" your food will be ready in about 30 minutes to an hour\"!

After lunch, we enjoyed shopping with the Perez\' for a few grocery supplies for our use at the Mission Center, which gave us an opportunity to learn some of their tastes. Javier picked out the coffee with an enthusiastic endorsement, insisting that we take a sniff to endorse his choice.

We then went back to the Medical Missions Ministry Center, where Dr. Hermann Alb gave us a tour of the new facilities that will be dedicated this coming Saturday. It is truly amazing to see what God has made possible and to hear Hermann\'s enthusiasm for the resulting opportunities to expand the ministry. It has additional rooms to double the number of Medical Missions teams and a conference center for equipping pastors from churches in villages and small towns from all over Guatemala. Hermann and his team (including all the GO journey teams from Perimeter and other affiliated churches) have already built productive and influential relationships with over 100 pastors and churches and they already conduct a pastor\'s conference once a year. The new facilities will provide opportunities to increase the depth of this equipping with smaller teams and more frequent sessions. There is also provision for a business training and development component in the new facilities, which excites us enormously.

We can all watch, with great interest and anticipation, to see what God will do with the facilities, the MMM and business teams and the churches in Guatemala.

We then spent a quiet evening preparing for the rest of the week and thanking God for the opportunity to be a small part of all this. We are also grateful to our prayer and financial supporters, who are a key component of this entire team. \"Amazing\" was a word that frequently escaped our lips. And we wonder what God will have in store for us tomorrow.

May 19

So back to Friday afternoon. sorry for the delay! After leaving Doris\' place we headed over to meet with Mario, a shoemaker who came to the training last year and one of the companies we funded. It was great to see him again and meet his family (wife and 2 kids). He showed us some of the material that he uses to make shoes and he had some very nice, quality looking shoes. He still needs more equipment to fully complete different size shoes but he\'s planning on that this year. We thought it was pretty funny that his son\'s name was David Estuardo and since we had David and Estuardo with us. We had a nice laugh about that. Mario is still working at a shoe factory but hopes to be working for himself fulltime this year once all the equipment is purchased. His heart is amazing and please pray that eveything goes well for him and his family.

After a few good byes and some photos we headed to the church to prepare for training. Again, we had a very large crowd with over 65 students coming to learn. I felt the team did a great job communicating the material and as always we had a great time of prayer. Terry and I both gave our testimonies of coming to Christ and how we are just sinners in Gods world just like them. However, we are saved and loved because of what Christ has already done for us. I think it means a lot to them to hear that from us. After many hugs and people bringing us gifts of all sorts (food, poems, tea, key chains, and lots of love) we headed back to MMM for some needed rest.

Saturday morning came early and Estuardo and the Perez family picked us up and we headed out for a real Guatemalan breakfast...at McDonalds. Its always so nice to have them pick us up and see the kids first thing in the morning. The room began to fill up around 9am and soon we had over 65 students again. We were all amazed. It\'s not an easy task to even get to the church much less take care of the childern and other responsibilites. It truly makes us feel that we are having an impact here and that we are doing exactly what God is calling us to do. It\'s awesome and very fulfilling when we actually do what God is calling us to do. David opened up the teaching with his testimony and Erin and Rolando did another great job of translating. At lunch we brought in Pollo Campero (our KFC) and everyone enjoyed chicken and fries and a nice break. During lunch David tells me to get the camera and come outside. I thought it was the kids playing or something but when I get out there I find one of our students (Giovanni) truly being creative with his business. He sells donuts and other bakery good and he had pulled his small, very old, toyota wagon right up to the door of the church. He tied up his banner and starting selling sweets. Now that\'s entrepreneurial! He was working to fill a need and it worked. We laughed and took some pictures and told him that he was very creative and had some great sweets too. As we wrapped up the training several students shared with us what the training actually meant to them and how thankful they were that we were here. This is always a very powerful and emotional time. Emundo (the head pastor) had also joined us and he came up and spoke about the importance of this training and thanked us again and told the class that we were the angels that he\'s been praying for for many years. We were very grateful and very thankful to them but most of all to our Lord that called us to be there. After many hugs and thank you\'s we headed out to have a great evening with the Perez family. We enjoyed a nice dinner but most of all enjoyed spending time with them. When we arrived back at MMM we were greeted by another team of smiling faces from the Atlanta area. These were all college students from UGA and Auburn excetp for two. One young man and his wife that we had met last year. He\'s now leading college students down there to spread the gospel in the villages and provide medical care with Hermans team. It\'s amzing to see the hearts of these young people and the passion God has put on their hearts. After a great debrief with the team we turned the lights out and hit the sack.

Sunday morning came soon and again we were picked up by the smiling faces of the Perez family. We headed to Showers of Grace for worship and Emundo preached a great serman on love and what it meant. Rolando translated to us on small headsets so that was very nice. We had a chance to see many others we knew from past trips and had a great time hugging and catching up them. As always its a bitter-sweet moment to leave. We shed some tears and then headed into the airport to head home. What a trip! So many \"moments\". As I said before it\'s an awesome experience when we do exactly what God is calling us to do. GO and enjoy!

The next team will be heading down in July so please keep them in your prayers and please pray for the people of Guatemala. Thanks again for your support. God bless!

May 16

Friday May 14th: So, how many \"moments\" can a team have in a week??? Here in Guatemala...a lot! We woke up Friday morning to another beautiful day. We spent a little time with our new friends from Fellowship Bible and Dr. Alb. We exchanged contact information then Rolando picked us up to head over to Hope for Guatemala. Hope is an amazing ministry here in Zone 18 (the hoods hood!) that is run by our dear friends Jose & Erin Armas. They provide meals, vocational training, computer training, bible studies and so much more for over 220 kids that basically have no other place to go. But more important than all of that, they provide hope and love. Most of the children here come from very, very poor, gang and drug infested enviroments that most of us cannot imagine. Most of them sleep in homes with dirt floors and no running water. It\'s a blessing to be able to spend time with them and serve them. After a nice tour of the facility with Jose we got to truly serve a group of kids by serving them a wholesome lunch of chicken, vegtables and a tortilla with orange juice. It was really fun. The smiles on the kids faces alone makes it worth it. God is here in such a clear way that it\'s overwhelming at times. After lunch we got to give each kid a Mizuno jersey that my dear brother Paxton donated. (I wish you could have been here brother!) I can assure you that you\'ve never seen a simple shirt have an impact on a kid like these did. It was Christmas in May! After lunch we had a very powerful time of prayer with Erin & Jose and we hit the road to meet the lead pastor at Showers of Grace, Emundo and his wife Berlin (his daughter Vienna joined us too). Remember the moments I was referring too? Well here\'s another one. When Rolando picked us up at MMM to come to Hope he came in the building to say hello. One of the guys from Fellowship Church, David Womack, come up to Rolando and asked him if they knew each other. Rolando said that he did not think so. A few minutes later David asked again, \"are you sure we don\'t know each other?\" Rolando asked what his name was and he told him. Rolando could not believe it! He said \"David, I tried to get back in touch with you years ago. You prayed over me in 2003 in one of the villages and told me that I was going to be called to work with children and that I would be a translator one day. I started speaking English right then (by the grace and hand of God!) and I now work in a childrens ministry in our church.\" Folks, that is a moment and these happen all the time in Guatemala. God is moving and so alive here! It\'s fun to see and hopefully be a small part of what God\'s doing in this great country. I encourage you to come one day soon.

Our lunch with Emundo and Berlin was great and we discussed the business ministry and how it\'s impacting the people of of Guatemala. They are so greatful for the teams coming down and sharing biblical business practices with their members and they really believe that it\'s having an impact for His Kingdom. Emundo recommited to supporting the business people in his church and said that God has really put this on his heart. Estuardo picked us up and we headed over to see a past graduate, Doris. Doris owns a beauty shop and really has a heart for the Lord. We got to spend time with her listening to stories about her true Kingdom company. In the first week she was open she lead two ladies to Christ. What??? in the first week? Now that\'s a kingdom company. Unfortuantely Doris was robbed last year at gun point and they stole all of her money and products. She told us the story but more importantly she told us the story of forgiveness she had for the robbers. I\'ll finish up the rest of the day and evening on the next blog. 

May 14

Wed night our in country partner said that he really felt lead to have us rest on Thursday morning. I don\'t think any of the team really wanted to do that but we agreed without too much resistance. As usual he was right on the money. We had a very powerful time of prayer with Dietrich, Mario and several other Guatemalans and our new friends from Atlanta from Fellowship Bible Church. it was another \"moment\" for sure. They asked if they could pray for/with us about the mission and especially for my back problems. It was amazing and we experienced a very powerful time of worship and fellowship. Shorty after Herman came in and he gave us the royal tour of the new training center at MMM. It is going to be an amazing home for training, resting and sharing the gospel. We always learn and grow so much while we are here.

Estuardo and his family picked us up and we had a great lunch at the world famous, Pollo Campero. It\'s the Guatemalan version of Kentucky Fried Chicken with a waitress. We ran a couple errands and then had the opportunity to stop by and visit with one of the first year\'s graduates, Maria. She is amazing! Her faith is so strong and something to admire. She shared with us the story of her being robbed at gun point. the robbers stole her merchindise and what little money she had and left her with nothing. Nothing but hope! Hope in a Saviour! We asked if she was scared. She said no. We asked if she prayed for them.....she said yes. We asked if she forgave them....she said yes. Wow! I\'m not so sure I could say the same. We had a nice visit and ended our time in great prayer. She is a gift from God.

On to the church to prepare for the evening training. Before we got there Estuardo asked if he could pray for us. No problem. Yes, you guessed it. Another \"moment\". The chairs began to fill and we had over 70 students eager to learn. The training went ver well as we shared with them God\'s Will for our business/work and how we can work and still serve our Creator. Several students brought us treats that they had made and they were very tasty. God is moving in Guatemala and we are so blessed to be a part of it. Hopefully we\'ll have some more \"moments\" to share tomorrow.

May 11

It\'s Tuesday, the hour is near... and the team is ready to serve! I think we have all the logistics of the trip prepared and we had a great night of prayer with Larry and the others on May 4th. Our flight departs in the morning and we are looking forward to seeing the smiling faces of the Perez family as we walk out of the airport in Guatemala City. It\'s such a joy to servce down there and we are excited. We\'ll keep the blog up to date (hopefully no connection problems) and please keep us and our families back home in your prayers. Adios and God bless!