Mission Trip

A New Name In Glory

What an amazing couple of days we have had this week. On Monday we were able to work with MJ in El Arado.  We washed hair for lice and feet.  One one girl we found some problems with her feet.  Some worms had burrowed into her feet and laid eggs.  The local nurse and a nurse in our team were able to remove the worm and many of the eggs.  We were going to deliver food baskets for some home visits, but the rain prevented us from doing that.  Praise the Lord we were not able to. Because…

Today we worked at the feeding center in Sumpango with Pastor Jaime.  After we fed the kids the group performed a puppet show in Spanish.  Then, we were able to take food baskets to some of the families in the area.  Because of the rain the day before, we had an extra basket, so Pastor Jaime added 1 extra visit to our schedule.  What a visit it was.  The lady had lost her husband 5 years ago and was very bitter and felt the Lord did not love her.  We gave her the food and some ladies in the group were able to lead her to the Lord in Spanish!  Plus, another member of our team lead a 13 year old boy to the Lord.  So, because of the rain the day before, there are now two more names written down in Glory.  Amen.

Week 1 – Part 2

We spent the second half of the week at La Gomera and San Lucas.  In La Gomera we were able to hand out shoes to the kids and I was able to see the cooktop in use that my home church purchased last year on their trip.  In San Lucas we helped with the construction of a new church, and the women attended a Ladies’ Bible Study.  Then, we helped feed the kids and did a Bible lesson with them. Afterwards we were able to do more home visits and take them food.  I was really amazing. One lady had just given birth to a new baby the day before.  We were able to pray for her and give her and her family food. Another lady had also recently given birth and her husband had just lost his job, so they didn’t know how they were going to eat until we showed up with food for them.  We are so humbled to be used by the Lord in these circumstances.

El Arado and Orphanage

We have had several great days here in Guatemala.  The group went to El Arado and was able to tour the construction process on the church that we are building.  Then, we went and worked at the medical clinic.  We were able to do lice treatments on the children, wash their feet, inspect them for worms and infections, and give them a new pair of shoes.  Afterwards, we took food baskets to some families in the village and shared the Gospel with them. Yesterday, we painted the new building that is under construction at our orphanage.  I’m not sure if we got more paint on the building or ourselves.  LOL.

My Bags Are Packed

It is amazing how many things you have to get done when you are going to be gone for 5 weeks.

Please be in prayer as I am on my way to Guatemala today and Nicaragua in 3 weeks.  I’m very excited about the teams that are coming down.  We have teams with youth, we have teams from 4 different states, we have first time teams, and we have returning teams.  I know the Lord is going to use them in tremendous ways.

As an added treat, my week of this group of trips will be with our home church.  It will be a lot of fun taking them back to Guatemala to see the progress that has been made since their last trip.  I will keep everyone updated on the trips and progress.

The Bathroom Remodel Revisited

I read the other day that bathroom remodels are one of the top home improvements in America.  The average homeowner will spend $5,000 to $15,000 to remodel their bathroom.  My recent trip to Panama put remodeling in perspective.  Here is a picture of a bathroom used by an entire family.  It includes a shower too, and plenty of ventilation.  You don’t have to mop the floors either, the rain takes care of that for you.   It is downhill from a cemetery, so you can imagine what flows through their homes and bathrooms when it rains, every day.  Wow, the things we take for granted.

Back From Panama

It was a great week in Panama with the team from Lubbock Baptist Temple. The group was a tremendous pleasure to be with and we were able to get a lot done.  We visited MANNA’s nutrition center in Dolega, and several centers in David, Panama.  The bulk of the week was spent working at the orphanage in David.  We were able to tile a bathroom, put the ceiling in several rooms, move kids into a new room, assemble desks and work centers for the kids’ schooling, fix a swing set, repair plumbing and storage tanks, and love on a lot of kids.

On Sunday we were able to attend church in David and one of the group participants who is a pastor of a Spanish congregation in Tyler got to preach.  There were several people that accepted Christ and one person was baptized.  It was a great trip in so many ways.  I’m excited we were able to be used in these ways and look forward to going back again.  It has been neat to watch the kids in Panama grow up the past few years.

Burma – Beyond Explanation

It is hard to even tell all that happened in Burma. We had so much favor. To even access this area of Burma we had to have a government official go with us for the entire trip. Everyone points and stares at us. One lady dropped a box and stared at us when she saw us walking up. The government heard we were coming, so they recently built a road to the Upper Village so that we didn’t have to do the 2.5 hour hike up the mountain. One day we were not allowed to go up because the military was concerned for our safety due to the war going on. However, after our official met wit the local police and military they determined it was safe for us to proceed. They told us that foreigners were normally not allowed to go to the village, but because we are teaching the Word of God and built a school, then they wanted to allow us.

The people wouldn’t let us help work on the water tank as we had planned. They said they wanted to build it if we would teach their people the Bible. Wow! So we taught the Bible while some men built the tank. In the Lower Village we started playing soccer with the kids. Little did we know the impact it would have on the village.  The people don’t play with their kids and others neglect their kids.  They could not understand people from another country coming to play with their kids and love on them for no reason.  We were told that Asian pastors don’t play with the kids, but we did.  The villagers noticed it and it may have been the biggest impact of the trip.  They saw that we came and loved on them because Christ loved us first.  It was the first time they had seen the Gospel lived out in front of them and they were different because of it.  They started looking at things differently.

More people turned out for the evening service than any other time.  They were all impacted by how we engaged and loved on their kids. The things we take for granted are amazing.  Just loving on a kid is so foreign to them. The importance of training up a child and teaching them is foreign to them. It seemed like they saw a difference and how it is real.  Our tour guide is a Buddhist and he told a person in the group today that he now believes there is a God.  His wife is a Christian, but he has not become one.  I think we have had a tremendous impact on his life.  The restaurant has been impacted by our presence even.  They enjoy us coming.  Everyone is amazed that these white skinned people from half way around the world are here in their village.  It doesn’t make sense to anyone.

Nepal – The Need

The airplane I was flying back from Nepal on had a camera mounted that allowed me to watch what we were flying over from the screen on the seat back in front of me.  As we flew over small villages and individual homes in remote areas the Lord showed me the great need.  The people in those homes have children just like I do.  They love them just like I love mine.  They are just as important as I am.  Why am I blessed and fortunate enough to have had the gospel shared with me?  Who will help them?  When their father dies who will hold their hand and pray with them?  I am so thankful there are people like Rob and Grace Robideau and Kevin and Cynthia Weldon for giving up everything and coming to Nepal to love them as I have been loved.  Our time was short, but impactful.  Thank you to FliteTest for investing in lives half way around the world and for Lee Kachner for taking the time, and physical challenge, to travel half way around the world to make a difference in the lives of people you don’t even know.  Here are pictures of the land and the need:

Taking Flite – 24 hours in Cambodia

Wow!  What amazing things can happen in 24 hours.  As you know, we flew down to Cambodia for a day because we were stranded in Bangkok and had an open door.  It was amazing.  We got to meet with a lot of kids and adults.  Cory shared with them what we do at MANNA and why we do it.  This allowed him to share the gospel with the group. Thank you FliteTest for allowing your planes to help impact the Kingdom.

Then Mara got up and shared with the group what it was like growing up as an orphan in our orphanage in Kampong Thom and what MANNA has meant to her.  Then Bimol shared with the group about her experience working at our projects and now going to nursing school with Kim and Mara.  It was hard to even keep my composure as they shared.  So cool to see what God is doing and how He is using them.  Then Lee took the plane to the air and the kids got to see it in action.  They really thought it was amazing. After Lee landed the plane, we took them and helped them make their own planes that they could glide.  The kids loved every minute of it and ran around playing with their planes.  It was so worth trip and investing time in the work there.  Here are some pictures of the day.

His ways are higher than ours.

I often tell groups that we pray through the planning of a trip, but once we get on that airplane, God takes over and sometimes the plans go out the window.  Such has been the case this week.  God has had much bigger plans than we have had.  Now that we cannot go to Nepal until Tuesday, the Lord opened the door for us to preach at a church tomorrow morning, then head straight for the airport and fly to Cambodia on Sunday afternoon.  Then we will spend 24 hours in Cambodia and use some remote control airplanes to do an outreach with a missionary there.  We will get back in Bangkok on Monday night, just in time to catch the first flight out to Nepal on Tuesday morning.  We have since been able to roll our flights back leaving Nepal to help make up for some of the time lost due to the plane crash.  So, a trip that was going to introduce FliteTest to Nepal has opened the door to make an impact in 3 countries instead of 1. I guess God has bigger plans than we do.  Praise the Lord for that.