Team building on the local mission field

Patrick teaching about the Acts 2 Church

730 AM The mission team gathered together this morning for a full day of team building. We began by bringing in all the supplies and getting ready for the lunches we'd be making to take down to Atlanta later in the afternoon.
After breakfast, we lifted our voices in praise and worship, and then a couple members each shared a 5 minute testimony. One of our youngest team members and a veteran of last year's trip, Sarah, went first and I followed. It is always so awesome to hear about the unique pathways God brings each of us along find His amazing grace.
Patrick then led us in a devotional centered around Acts 2:42-47 and what it looks like when the Church truly obeys God and meets the needs of people, how God's influence goes out and lives are changed.

PBJ-Fest

Then we shifted into serious assembly line mode and prepared 168 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagged each of them up along with a bottle of water, a juice box, a bag of chips, a pack of cookies, an orange and a Bible verse for encouragement with a hand written note on the back. The team worked together well and got to experience a little taste of what it's like to set up and take down a medical clinic in Guatemala -- lots of moving parts, sometimes small spaces, a little improvisation, and a lot of fellowship.
Before we left to make the drive to the 7 Bridges headquarters, we circled up to pray for the six things that we will consistently pray for each time we gather together before and during the trip. We prayed for:

1. The people of Guatemala, especially those whom we will meet while we are there, that we would be an encouragement to them and that hardened hearts would be softened to receive the Good News with joy and gladness
2. The teams who have traveled and sown seeds before us, helping to establish and grow the ministry there that is flourishing today under the light of God's grace, that they would contiunue their ministry wherever they new serve
3. The teams that will follow us, that they would hear the calling and go eagerly and earnestly to make themselves available for God
4. For the unity of our team, that we would function together a one body, with Christ at the head
5. For victory in the battles of spiritual warfare, that we would put on the full armor of God and stand against everyhting that would deter and discourage our service unto God and each other
6. For our awesome supporters, those who are making the trip financially possible and those who are praying for us daily, that God would bless them and their families with His peace, mercy and grace in incredible ways everyday

Then we hit the road and joined up with around 150 other volunteers down at the Garden, home of 7 Bridges to Recovery. There were at least 60 children there to serve. A group of 20 from a school in Loganville were on a 30 hour fast for the children who die every 13 seconds worldwide due to hunger. Those kids were awesome.

Busloads of young people praying in preparation for the
day of service

Doug, Tori, Jamie & Phillip reading out
the 7 Bridges to Recovery verses

We hit the streets under wonderful weather and there was much singing and praying and loving with the people from the community in the Bluff.

A great cloud of witnesses

Singing and praising the goodness of God

At our last stop, in a vacant lot across the street from a men's transitional rehab center, a man named Keith, who had only heard the Gospel for the first time a week before, came today to saving faith in Jesus. Surely we knew the angels in heaven were rejoicing when Jesus became Keith's Lord and Savior. It was the most perfect way to end an awesome day serving with 7 Bridges.

The valley of decision

Welcome to the family!

We headed back up north for dinner and fellowship, followed by debriefing from the day and then hearing a testimony from two more team members. Phillip (who is my prayer partner and a junior in high school) and Sandy each had a powerful story to share about their walk with the Lord.
I love days like today, even though they're exhausting and I missed Amy and Paxton. The fellowship and seeing God move so visibly in so many lives is just an incredible experience.
I usually get a group together to make lunches and go down to serve with 7 Bridges each month, so if you ever want to go with us, leave a comment below and I'll make sure you know about upcoming trips.
Stay blessed my friends!
Jason

Special Guest, Me & Billy

Praying together

Loving on the little ones

thank you thank you thank you thank you

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to provide prayer or financial support for my trip to Guatemala this summer. I have great news!! I've already received all of the $2000 I need to fund the trip.
I am still seeking members on my prayer support team. If you haven't already, head over to here to sign up. I'll be sending special prayer requests to everyone who signs up as the team prepares for the trip and during the trip.
You have blessed me beyond measure through your generosity, kind words, prayers and encouragement. I am praying for each of you and thanking God for each of you daily.
Please let me know how I can be praying for you - it would be privilege to do so.
Thank you:
Amy R.
Patti R.
Leslie O.
Jeff J.
Dave W.
Donna B.
Melissa E.
Mick C.
Marcia L.
Mark E.
Dave J.
Brian G.
Marye L.
Dan R.
Pearlina S.
Courtney C.
John T.
Joel B.
Tim T.
Bill W.
Annette B.
Steve C.
Jody S.
Imani B.
Greg S.
Gordon H.
Martha N.

I'm going back!

The new team met for the first time today at our co-leader Annette's house.  We still have room for 8-10 more people, so if you are interested, let me know!

The meeting covered the basics of the trip, like the dates (8/4 - 8/10), costs, forms to be filled out, and the team's schedule in preparation for the trip.  We also watched a video from our trip last year. 

Our team leaders do an excellent job helping establish a solid team foundation well before we head out of the country together.  I'm really looking forward to spending time with fellow travelers from last year and getting to know the new ones. It's exciting to learn about the people God is bringing together for this trip.

Day 8 - Homeward Bound

Saturday, August 4th:
This morning we were up early to clean the mission house and make it ready for the next team. The image below is of one of the medical doctors, early on this Saturday morning, mopping the floor of the mission house. Think about that for a minute...especially if you know any doctors in the States. Having served with this is a man over the course of the week, I can say he is someone very much with his priorities in order and who has truly made himself available to God.

My official team role was that of luggage captain, so in support of our departure for the airport later in the morning, I staged all the suitcases and crates on the veranda for loading onto the trucks. Federico weighed them all to ensure we were under Delta's 50lb limit for each, and we discovered just a few instances where we needed to shuffle a few bags of coffee from crate to crate to even things out. He and I used this time together for one more round of practicing speaking the other's native language. His English, by the way, is way better than my Spanish -- for now, at least!

After all of our pre-departure chores and tasks were finished, there was still plenty of time before we would head out to GUA. It was during this downtime that I began having a down time, struggling again with the end-of-the-mission-trip blues. I thanked God again for Doug's message yesterday, and I remembered enough of it to just start talking to God about where I was mentally and spiritually. Having cleaned some cobwebs out of my mind, I spent some time on the top floor of the mission house overlooking the surrounding area, praying for the city and the neighborhood, that Jesus would make His love known to the people through His people all around that place, that the lost would be rescued and that light would triumph over darkness one heart at a time, all the while singing God Of This City in my heart.

Facing Southwest

Northwest

Northeast

As we conducted our final checks to ensure all was in order with the house and every bit of luggage accounted for, it appeared that even Nina, one of our two faithful German Shepherd protectors during our stay, seemed about as sad about our leaving as we did:

We headed to the airport, said quick goodbyes in front, said hello to a few members of the Guatemalan olympic rowing team, then headed through the process of our repatriation.

On the flight back, one last, bonus blessing from the trip was sitting next to nine year-old José. He was on his way back form Guatemala, where he had been visiting for past 3 weeks with his mother, father and sister, all of whom moved from Guatemala to Rhode Island before he was born. He was fascinated and amazed that we had travelled to Guatemala just to do mission work. He knew about Jesus personally and had a very sweet spirit. Perhaps someday he will become a missionary too...

And finally, we arrived back safe and sound on the ground in the ATL. After a brief incident involving an expat-repat apple, we cleared customs and officially disbanded the team. More fond farewells and off we went in separate ways, reminiscent of the final scene of the Seinfeld series. I definitely had the time of my life.

I was blessed to spend a little extra time with Jon and Rosey, getting them back to their car, and then slowly worked my mental and physical way back from such an intense and God saturated experience back home to Ball Ground where I received a warm welcome home from Amy and Paxton.

Over the next few days, I'll post a few selections of candids, landscapes and abstract photos taken during the trip.

Day 7 - Tourist Day

Friday, August 3rd:

Pastor Doug

I thank God for the devotions we had this morning. He used Doug to remind us all of an important fact that will be a crucial preparation for our trip back to the States tomorrow. As much as I have loved being here, and I love the people, and I love the land, and this time has been incredible and unlike any other in my life, Guatemala is not the source of my joy -- my joy comes from the LORD. 

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit -- we are sealed by the Spirit -- joy is of the Kingdom of God -- we are to be joyful always -- even in our troubles this joy remains with us

If I am feeling unaware of my joy, it is not because it has fled away somewhere; it is still right here in my heart, I am only distracted from it for the moment. When I return to the throne of grace, I will there rediscover my joy and with it, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Our devotional time concluded with a time of prayer with Guatemalan family praying for those of us heading back North tomorrow. It was a great way to prepare us for our last full day in their beautiful country.

We headed to a coffee estate in the mountains outside Antigua for a zip lining excursion. It was a great time of fun and fellowship.

You can't keep cool like this hidden, so don't even try

Zipping over coffee trees

It was a great time of fun and fellowship. I shared my testimony with one of the translators for whom I felt a burden to warn him about the influences of culture that can initiate a slow and subtle side path from the way that can eventually diverge so far from where we belong that getting back on track is very hard for ourselves and those who love us.

Me and Kevin probably discussing the various merits of a Kurt Cobain conspiracy theory 

My Guatemalan Family

We then headed back down the mountain into Antigua proper for lunch at the local McDonald's, which was exactly like the ones we have in the states except for the fried chicken (Pollo McCrispy), fried cheese pie, espresso bar and the open air courtyard overlooking a volcano.  Apart from these things (and the waiters bringing food to the table and everything being in Spanish), it was just like home!

El McWrap de Jason fue sin pollo

After some shopping in the market, we headed back to the mission house for a great dinner and time of farewells. This group of lads from among our translator team found it quite amusing the apparent resemblance I bear to a character from The Office, which was fair because I said the twins looked like Justin Bieber.

Bieber #1, Dwight, Bo and Bieber #2

Day 6 - Last Day of Clinics ):

Thursday, August 2nd:
Job 42:2

“I know that you can do all things; 
    no purpose of yours can be thwarted..."

 Awesome story of miraculous healing in this morning's devotional -- the ministry's chief logistician, Dietrich, shared with us about his son's recovery from leukemia.  Lea Jeremías 17:7 y Romanos 12:2

 The people don't want to hear more about Jesus, they want to see Jesus

> How can our living witness show Jesus to the people God has put into our lives?

Later, Patrick used scripture and some rocking music to encourage us to be fully awake and fully alive, which was a good thing that early in the morning. Especially on our last day of full on mission focus.

From Ephesians 5, be imitators of Christ. 
Live a life of: 

• Love
• Thanksgiving
• Goodness
• Righteousness
• Truth

Make the most of every opportunity

Be filled with the Spirit

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ

Señor Super Cool: Dietrich

It was in some ways a difficult drive out to our last day of clinics, because it was our last day. And I started to get a little sad about the end of our trip getting ever closer. I felt like I could have just kept going out day after day indefinitely, but that was not and is not the plan for me (at least not as yet).

That last-day-of-clinics blues were swiftly lifted like a fog burning off during the drive out to our last village. Seven of us norteamericanos were privileged to ride with Luis, a member of the ministry team, whose testimony is so incredible that attempting to recount it in any particulars here would be entirely beyond me. But suffice to say his story is about the greatness of God's love for His children, how He reaches into the darkest corner of hell, scatters powers and principalities like dust to rescue us, carries us back from the enemy's territory, washes us clean as snow, gives us a robe and a ring and holds the richest of feasts whenever one of us lost ones arrives back home to be with Him. He and I had more than a few things in common, and  I count it a blessing to have heard his story. God is great and He can do anything!

El Guapo, Luis y yo

The location of our clinic today was not too far from yesterday's.  We set up at someone's home  and in fairly close quarters. As we experienced before, the people were warm, friendly and joyful. 

Entrance to the home where we ran the clinic

I was assigned to counselling stations in the morning with Sarah and afternoon with Jody. Aleida helped in both to cross the language barrier. She also has a great heart for sharing the gospel. I jumped out for a moment when I was drawn over this fellow who was sitting with one of our translators, Jorge, pictured below:

I had noticed the man earlier in the morning being assisted as he walked around the place very slowly. Turns out he is 80 years old and he is also the father of the man whose house where the clinic was being held today. His entire family knows the Lord (lots of praise!) and his only complaint was severe back and leg pain that made it difficult for him to walk. I love praying for healing. And I love praising God for His faithfulness at hearing our prayers. Both of these loves were fulfilled, and my soul was blessed. After we prayed, he stood up and walked away on his own at least twice as fast as he moved even when he had someone at each arm helping him into the chair. God is sovereign over healing, indeed!

Later in the afternoon, I was able to share with a young man who had come to the Lord, but hadn't yet been baptized, although he had a goal for that this year. His name is Victor, and I was able to use my eBand to share with him about the things in addition to baptism that we do to live out our new life in Christ.

Me, the eBand, Jorge and Victor

There were many more awesome encounters with God and the people there, and lunch was, of course, better than just about anything I can get in the states. 

There was a sweet little kitten under the table being fed by Aleida

The children were beautiful and joyful beyond measure. It was a little sad as the day drew to a close, but I found great comfort in mastering this little bit of español, "¡hasta el proximo año!" Until next year! Certain that, God willing, I would be back soon, it was still bitter sweet, but a lot less biting.

Shout out to my two biggest supporters!

This guy had never heard of Francis Chan
but he definitely knows Jesus

Day 5 - Y ahora, ¿qué esperas?

Wednesday, August 1st:
de Hechos 22:16

"Y ahora, ¿qué esperas? Levántate, bautízate y lávate de tus pecados, invocando su nombre.”

And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized wash your sins away, calling on his name. 

What are you waiting for?

Our excellent devotional time was led by Dr. Hector. He shared with us from song and scripture and his life about freedom, about strain, about strength, and the process of renewal through faith and by the sovereign power of God.

Patrick, our team leader, also shared with us about being a new creations, being called and committed to the message of reconciliation and of being Christ's ambassadors. 

Filled and fueled by the Spirit we set out for our third day of clinics.  Today's location was around Jerijuyu at Cruz Queada, a school not too far from the Pan American Highway (see GPS track at bottom of the post) and situated in a strawberry plantation of sorts (shown immediately below).

I knew my first shift was going to be serving with Sarah in the children's ministry, so I wore my One fish, Two fish... Dr. Suess shirt in Spanish, thinking the kids would like it, which I believe they did, but I also think they were a bit disappointed that the blue-eyed stranger's language skills didn't quite match the t-shirt. Not by a long shot, actually. These kids were adorable! And there were A LOT of them. Every one of them sweet as can be.

After giving a presentation of the gospel based on the UpStreet model (that's me in the picture below playing the part of Vanna, illustrating the public testimony and confession of faith that is baptism by the "We Show" and lurched Zener-esque water card), we helped them each assemble a little paper cube with the presentation's message in Spanish. Then we gave every little one a pair of flip-flops. Their patience and good behavior would put the average American child to shame.  

After lunch (which was awesome!), I moved over to the counseling stations, where I was paired up with Rosey. This turned out quite well because even though each of the translators were already in active stations, Rosey is fluent in Spanish, so we got along very well. 

This little girl needed medicine for her eyes that we didn't have in our pharmacy, and her mother was not sure how she would be able to get it. We weren't able to solve that problem right then and there, but it was a great opportunity to put our faith into action and call on God to take care of His children. We prayed for healing, a way to get the necessary medicine and most of all for mom and daughter to have hope and confidence in the Lord's provision. The smiles on our faces below are what that sort of hope and confidence look like.

This is Luis. He was the first man to come through a counseling station that I was in all week. He also didn't know about what it was like to have a relationship with Christ based on grace alone. Rosey and I had the privilege and blessing of sharing the good news of Christ's perfect and finished work on the cross and of His free gift that is the bridge across the gap separating sinful creature from perfect Creator. After some discussion about his true spiritual condition and a review of the scripture behind what we were saying , he placed his trust and faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and he prayed to receive Christ in his heart. That was the first time I had ever been on that side of the sinner's prayer. ¡Luis, Dios te bendiga! 

And lastly before heading back to GC, I showed off my son's picture of smiley face people holding up the letters "I ♡ YOU, PAXTON" in the picture below:

The Trek out to Cruz Quemada: