Final Pics

Most of these pictures are from Jourdan Boyd, check out her blog at: http://ojguatemala.blogspot.com/

Day 7 — Free Day!

After breakfast and our morning time of worship and prayer beside the hotel pool, we loaded on the bus for beautiful Antigua for our free day. Antigua is a unique place because it was the Spanish capital for all of Central America from the 1500’s to the 1700’s. The streets are paved with cobblestone, and all the houses still look like they did during the Spanish Colonial times. Antigua very much has a European feel, and you see tourists from all over the world there.

The first thing we did, however, was to minister at a nursing home on the outskirts of town. Mike Lacy, Natalie Hoblitzell and Wendy Phillips led worship and the residents seemed to really enjoy it. Jillian Amos also sang a song in Spanish acapella. The Kirk family did their jump rope presentation too. The rest of the team went around and loved on the people. We also brought blankets, toiletries, and food for the residents.

For the rest of the day, we walked around Antigua, ate, and shopped in the market for souvenirs. Everyone seemed to be pleased with their purchases, and the ones who had never bargained to buy things, were amused by it. Ben Hart even made the observation that the men were quicker to budge on the prices than the ladies were. Pretty astute observation, don’t you think?

Tonight, we finished with our debriefing time. We gathered in our meeting room and each shared their Kodak snapshot of the trip, and then we finished with the Hotseat. That is where each person gets their chance to sit in the middle and have others share what that person meant to them on the trip. It is all positive and affirming. It is a great way to end the trip.

Tomorrow, our flight to Atlanta leaves at 12:35 pm (2:35 pm EDT), and we arrive into Charleston at 9:45 pm EDT. Please pray that everything goes smoothly at the airports, in customs, all of our flights are on time and every bag safely makes it home (not to mention each of us). Thank you!

God bless!

Hal & Lisa

Day 6 — Our Final Full Day of Ministry

This morning after breakfast we gathered in our meeting room for our usual team praise & worship and prayer for the day.  We also discussed what God spoke to us during our quiet time using the devotional book that Hal put together for the trip.  It’s amazing the insight God gives to the different team members.

We then loaded in our faithful yellow school bus (driven by Edwin, the most anointed bus driver in the world!) to travel to the center of the city and minister in the Central Park.  The Central Park is located right in front of the Presidential Palace (equivalent to our White House) and the Central Cathedral.  It was a beautiful day!  We squared off (made a stage) and began to play the music loudly from our sound box to draw a crowd.  And a large crowd gathered and stayed for the entire presentation!  (Not in the USA, people are too busy)

We opened with the Chicken Skit and the Kirk family did their jump rope performance, then Jim and Susan Kirk did the Heart Skit, followed by Connie Rhinehart giving her testimony and then the Chair Skit, followed by Micah Freeman giving her testimony and then the Everything Skit.  Mike Lacy brought in the net.  There were approximately 150 in the park to hear the Gospel presented to them.  Several responded to the altar call, but then our team went out in Ministry Groups and prayed with people.  They gave them tracts in Spanish and also handed out This New Life books to those who received Jesus. It was an incredible ministry time!  The team was so pumped about leading people to the Lord!  And for the kids, we had some toys left over to share with them. They loved it!

For lunch we headed back to the hotel to eat our trusted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with chips and cookies!  Yum!

After lunch we loaded in the bus and headed to a Junior High School in a poor section of town. There were several hundred students in attendance, and they were very excited about us being there! We started with the drama The Chair and Ben Hart explained it the crowd afterwards. The Kirk Family did their jump rope performance which was following by Wendy Phillips and Mike Lacy doing the Heart Skit. Mike explained it afterwards which was followed by our main drama Everything. Renee’ Ellis brought in the net (altar call).

It was fun watching our team interact with students afterwards. There were 3 rings of people in the courtyard. One group was jumping rope with the Kirks. The second ring was kicking a soccer ball around and the third group did dance moves to Spanish, Christian rap music. Interspersed throughout the mix were various people ministering one on one to the students. The principal of the school was so appreciative of us coming.

We ended the day by going to Burger King and many in the team are playing games in our meeting room.(wearing their Burger King crowns)

Tomorrow is our free day in Antigua. We will minister first thing at a nursing home there; then it will be shopping time. Don’t let up your prayers! Thank you!

God bless!

Hal & Lisa

Day 5 – Another Great Ministry Day!

Another great ministry day! We started our day with praise and worship by the pool. We had another great day of ministry! We started in an elementary school just outside of the city called “Escuela Mixto.” The land the school is located on was donated by a wealthy businessman. The children and the teachers must walk to the school. There are no school buses that go down this muddy road. This school is not supported by the city. The teachers get paid a small salary by the government. Many of the students are sponsored by Christians. The gangs have not reached this area, so the children have a very good chance of completing high school eventually.

We ministered with the Chicken Skit, the Chair Skit, the Everything Skit, and the Kirk family jump-roping. Jillian sang a song in Spanish and gave her testimony. Ben also gave his testimony. Jim Kirk brought in the net (altar call) and we had several kids raise their hands to receive Jesus as their Savior!

After our ministry time we played soccer with the kids, blew bubbles, and passed out candy and toiletries. The principal and teachers were very appreciative that we came.

After lunch, we ministered in an orphanage that houses about 160 children. We again ministered with our skits, jump rope, and Samantha and Stephanie Kirk gave their testimonies. Susan Kirk brought in the net and, again, many children raised their hands to receive Jesus. We played with the kids and passed out toys, candy, and toothpaste to all of them.

Afterwards our team played their own soccer game outside and had a blast. As you can see, we had another wonderful day of ministry and we ended it by coming back to the hotel with pizza and games.

Tomorrow is our last full day of ministry. We will be ministering in the Central Park and a Jr. High School. Thank you for your prayers!

God bless you,

Hal & Lisa

Day 4 — Awesome Church Services

The first service this morning was at a church that Hal & Lisa have been ministering in since 1993. We have a great relationship with the pastor and his staff. This is the church of the youth group that traveled to the mountains with us yesterday. There were about 500 people in attendance, and they have awesome praise and worship. Their worship time here typically lasts about 45-60 minutes.

Lisa opened our time and greeted the people. The Kirk Family girls did their jump rope presentation first which was very well received. The people clapped even when they made a mistake, which wasn’t often. Then, Natalie Hoblitzell sang The Healer in Spanish, and they absolutely loved her. The pastor made a comment on how good of a singer she is. Not only that, but there was an anointing on her as Mike Lacy backed her up on the guitar.

After Natalie, our team performed the main drama we do which is called, Everything. There was an anointing on it as well. Hal followed the drama with his message titled, Are You a Friend of God. During his altar call, he had the team to come up and pray with him. You would have been proud at how quickly they jumped in and did this. Several team members even said they had never prayed for anyone before today.  They were pumped about it to say the least!

For lunch we had a special treat! Our contact’s mother, Carmen, made our meal which was served in a room at the church.  Ask anyone who was here; it is not an understatement to say that she is an excellent cook!  She even made Hal’s favorite slaw that he raves about every time he eats it. Trust us! We are not losing weight on this trip.

For the evening service, we traveled about a half an hour to Iglesia El Calvario. Once again their worship was great and very lively. They had young girls dancing in front with streamers during the praise and worship. Then, we did our dramas and songs again. Natalie sang 2 songs in Spanish, of which she received a hearty round of applause from the church. Randy Ellis brought the word on Gideon, and what a time of ministry we had at the end! The people came forward and knelt on the ground while our team laid hands on them. It went on for about an hour! The pastor was so blessed. He probably told us about 5 or 6 times how much he enjoyed it. They even served us a little snack.

When Randy and Renee’ debriefed the team, they kept giving testimony after testimony about what God had done through them today! It was awesome, and when we hear testimonies like these, we remember why we do these trips. Our bus driver even said that the Lord healed his back during the ministry time at the second church. Praise God!

We finished off the day with a quick stop at Taco Bell! Hey, we are south of the border, you know.

Tomorrow, we are ministering at an elementary school and an orphanage. Please continue the Psalm 91 prayers for us.

Hal

Day 3 — The Great Adventure in the Mountains!

What a great adventure we had today! After breakfast, we loaded on the bus and headed for Grace Church, which is the church our contact, Mayra Gamarro Couture, is a part of. Her sister and brother-in-law are the youth pastors, and about 20 of their teens joined us today for the trip to Tecpan in the mountains.

Tecpan had been hit hard by the recent rains from Tropical Storm Agatha. In fact, in the very village where we ministered today, several people lost their lives as the mudslides destroyed their homes. We actually saw where this had happened. It was so sad, but we were able to bring a message of love and hope in Jesus to the people.

It was great to see the Guatemalan teens and our group mesh together. They began to develop friendships as they laughed, sang and just had fun together. Their language may have been different, but they share a common bond in being followers of Jesus Christ.

After a long bus ride, we were greeted by a large group of people from the village. They were expecting us. We ministered to them through song, testimonies and dramas. Approximately 15 people gave their hearts to Jesus during our ministry time which was led by Randy Ellis

Afterwards we passed out blankets, groceries, toiletries, and toys to the people. They were so appreciative. These items were supplied by our team and through the money each person raised to go on the trip.

We ended the day by treating our new Guatemalan friends to their favorite restaurant–Pollo Campero!

Tomorrow, we are ministering in two churches. Hal will he preaching at the church in the morning and Randy is preaching the evening service.

Thank you for your prayers and God bless!

Hal & Lisa

Day 2 — Great 1st Day of Ministry!

We have a great team with us! They jumped right in to minister as soon as we arrived at our 1st ministry site. After breakfast and time of corporate worship and prayer, we traveled to the City of Refuge ministry which is located in one of the shanty towns surrounding the city. We went there to assist them in 1 of the 4 feeding programs they do in various parts of Guatemala City. We first ministered to the kids in dramas and testimonies. Then we were able to participate in feeding them. As each child left, we were able to give each one of them several pieces of candy and toothpaste that we had brought with us. Our team spent quite some time playing with some of the kids in front of the church afterwards. It was great to see them interacting and playing with the children.

As a way to thank us for coming, the family who runs the feeding program, fixed us an awesome lunch! We heard several members of our team saying, “Wow, this is the best guacamole I have ever eaten!” We agreed!

At our 2nd ministry site, we went to a Christian drug rehab center for men. There were only 8 guys there, but we had a great time of personal ministry to them. We again ministered with dramas, testimonies, and we prayed for them. It was so humbling to hear them talk about how much our visit meant to them. Several said that they rarely get any visitors, so our visit let them know that there are people who do care for them.

Tomorrow, we are traveling to Tecpan, a village in the mountains which was hit hard during the rains of Tropical Storm Agatha. Please continue to pray for us. And, thank you for your prayers!

God bless!

Hal & Lisa

We Are Here!

Thank you for praying! We safely arrived in Guatemala this morning without a hitch! The flights were smooth and uneventful. After settling into our rooms, we went to eat at a local favorite called “Pollo Campero”. Great place to eat chicken! Then we returned to the hotel to polish our dramas because we hit the ground running tomorrow! Everyone is in their room now and probably asleep. Please continue to pray for us.

God bless!

Hal & Lisa

Away we go!

Charleston Airport - WAY too early! (courtesy Randy Ellis)

Jourdan & Olivia (courtesy Jourdan Boyd)

Is that lady smothering her child? Fly safe, everybody! (courtesy Mike Lacy)

Guatemala Twenty 10 Mission Trip

Welcome! We are excited about our upcoming trip to Guatemala. The dates are July 15-22. There are 20 people going, and we are pumped about sharing Jesus in beautiful Guatemala!