Planning 2010

2010
around the bend,
only God knows what lies ahead.

It's our aim,
to spread His Name,
and never bow our heads in shame.

Make a plan,
hold it open in your hand,
and watch God use you throughout the land.

Read His Word,
talk with the Lord,
and seek to learn from Him more and more.

My desire for you,
and myself, it's true,
is to live 2010 as He wants us to.

Reflection of 2009

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.
~Samuel Johnson,
in Boswell's Life of Johnson, 1770

Think about 2009. 365 days, 8,760 hours, over half a million minutes.
GONE! We can never reclaim them. We cannot purchase them. We can not reproduce them. 2009 is gone.

Possibilities are now missed opportunities. Dreams for 2009 have either been lived or lost. Accomplishments and failures have been defined and recorded.

It is gone. Think about it for a while.

Guatemala BOL Trip 2009

The day is December 7. The tradition in Guatemala is to purchase a paper mache image of a "devil", and together with family and friends, you "Burn The Devil" in the evening. All over town, people were burning the devil - shooting off fireworks (an extremely common practice in Guatemala), symbolizing their freedom from his involvement in their life.

We had the privilege of being there during this event, and it was a blast. The people we were staying with were evangelical Christians, so they did not participate in purchasing the paper "devil", but they did enjoy cleaning their house of the papers that they held on to throughout the year. The children brought out their school work (their school year just finished), magazines were brought out, old bills and excess papers from the family office were brought out to burn.

The gentleman we were staying with started saying stuff like, "Burn the swimsuit models that make us feel fat" and then he would put a picture from the magazine in the fire. The kids started yelling, "Burn my science homework", "Burn my social studies homework". It was a blast.

Anyway, it was a neat symbol to remind us that the devil is powerless in our life unless we allow him to remain there. He, and his companions, desire nothing less than to destroy us, the image bearers of God, and make us ineffective for Christ. Take some time daily to "Burn the Devil" our of your life. He is powerless because Christ is victorious.

Let us try to live in this truth!

Five out of 28 AMG Projects in 3 days!!

In the past 3 days, we have visited Verbana, El Cerro, Filadelfia, Alamedo and Amparo. In these centers, over 1500 children learn, eat, play and learn about Christ every day. We had the distict privilege of hugging, kissing, playing, laughing and giving gifts to the children. I watched children run across the play area just to hug one of the members of the team. I watched children hug team members so hard and long that I thought we might be taking another person home with us. Children speaking Spanish teach us a little about their language, so we go home a little smarter than we arrived. The children are blessed by the gifts, the hugs, the kisses, and they are sure to let us know.

The team is changed! I watched our team members tear up as they met sponsored children. I saw team members weep with joy as they hugged the children. I listened to the emotional struggle that our team dealt with as they thought about leaving these children that they have spent only a couple of hours with, but felt like they knew them forever. The team has learned much about the love of God for us. We have seen what it looks like to love the poor and destitute, knowing that if God himself were here in flesh, He would be activily involved in these children's lives. The team is humbled by God allowing us to be here and acting on His behalf, and on the behalf of the sponsors that monthly meet these children's needs.

Today is the party for the teachers. I cannot wait to bless the ones that do the work everyday. They are a wonderful group of people! As we visited their schools, we were able to see how they loved the children and how they love God. We were able to sing with them, dance with them, pray with them, and encourage one another. Thanks to gifts from many different people, today we will be giving them gifts of all kinds. From inexpensive home items to MP3 players we have gifts for all of the teachers.

Thank you for your prayers and gifts that made this experience possible. Pictures are coming soon!!

Philadelphia, PA blesses Filadelphia, Guatemala!

Today we had the privilege of meeting 4 new children that have no sponsors - except for a group of children at Cedar Grove Christian Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Right now they are in the AMG program, but they do not yet have a sponsor to cover the costs for their uniform, food, or education.

Due to the gracious giving from the third grade class at CGCA, these 4 children received "Bundles of Love" today. My 10 year old son Harrison had the privilege of standing in on behalf of this class and gave the bundles to the children. They received books, clothing, backpacks, and some food for the family. They, along with over 300 other children, were able to receive these gifts because of donations from around the world.

Yessica Amabilia Juarez Gonzalez, Sonia Veronica Macu Chonay, Yonatan Stevens Martin Chonay, and Diego Donaldo Coroy Sey were the happy recipients of the gifts from CGCA. I would love to post their pictures here online, but as I have already written this week, the internet is much too slow to upload pictures.

If a group of 3rd graders from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania can be used by God to bless the children of Filadelfia, Guatemala, you also can be used by God on behalf of the poorest of the poor.

Thank you 3rd graders of Cedar Grove for your sacrificial giving on behalf of these children. And thank you for allowing us to stand in on your behalf to love these children with gifts and with the good news of Jesus Christ.

God Bless You All!

Experience a Bundles of Love trip for yourself.

It is nine o'clock in the morning, and you enter a larger room with the rest of the team. As you enter you see 300 or more glowing faces of parents, grandparents, and friends of the children that go to school at Verbana, Guatemala. Most of the children are outside looking in. Some have made their way into the room. All are ecstatic about your arrival.

You are asked to sit in the front of the room, as you represent hundreds of sponsors that could not make the trip. You are not the sponsor of their child, but as they look at you, you give them a face and a voice, of their sponsors. The parents glow because they know you (or the person you represent) cares very deeply about their child.

The festivities begin with speakers welcoming you and telling you how much they appreciate your gifts, your prayers, your encouragement, etc. They want you to know how important you are to their child. You begin to realize that you are not worthy of the accolades they are ravishing on you. You are humbled by their gratitude. The teachers and the children sing songs and they put on performances for their parents and you. Most of the presentation is in Spanish, so if you don't know Spanish, much of the communication is lost, but the excitement is not. Your translator helps you through most of it, but still, it's not the same as understanding the language.

Following the ceremony, you are asked to leave before any of the parents or children, so you can get set up to give the gifts to the children. Again you are humbled by the fact that you are going to give gifts that you did not buy, but the children will always remember that you gave the gifts to them. You will receive the joy of smiling faces, tight hugs, and kisses on the cheeks from the children happy to receive what you are giving them. Literally hundreds of smiles, hundreds of hugs, hundreds of kisses for YOU! It is overwhelming.

The children walk into the room, you ask them their name, their age, whatever you would like to know to help you remember them. They give you a hug or a kiss. You give them a bag with their gift in it. Their parents/guardians often stand proudly at the door. You wait for a picture that the workers take for the child, and then you say goodbye and hug them as they leave.

Outside, children wait, looking through windows or doorways, for their chance to come in and talk with you, sit on your lap, hug you, kiss you, thank you! You are their sponsor for the day, and they are thrilled that you cared enough to come to visit them. Eventually, all of the children get their turn, and the head for home. You, however, are overwhelmed by the day. You are amazed by their thankfulness for such a simple gift.

As you leave the school, you wish you could stay here with the children. You thank God for what you have, and for the opportunity to give to these children. You are changed forever.

Now I realize that there is no way to briefly express this experience in a way that you can fully understand what happens here. Even the pictures (which I would love to load, but the internet is way too slow here) do not do justice to the emotions and experiences you would have if you were here. All I can say is, make a plan to be here next year. Join us for a Bundles of Love trip, and you can share with someone else the experience you have. I will be loading pictures when I return, or get a faster internet connection. Thank you for your prayers.

Four Children without sponsors

Today we had an interesting experience watching God provide in the most unusual way. I had written ahead of time to Brian Dennett regarding unsponsored children that we would like to give bundles to as a result of some of our friends giving money. There was a little miscommunication, and four children came today expecting us to have special gifts for them. Since the bundles were not ready yet, and they were from another child care center, we did not think we had anything to give them. However, just the day before we left, I visited Covenant Bank of Rock Spring Georgia, where one employee gave money for bundles, another gave gifts for a sponsored child that she sponsors through AMG, and just before I left, a final employee gave me a bag of gifts for children - just because they love to give. These gifts were perfect for the 5 year old boys that showed up today, and so we were able to pass those toys directly to them. I am sorry but the speed of the internet here is so slow, that uploading pictures is not working. I will try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be handing out bundles in Verbana and El Cerro Child Care Centers. This is when we will begin to see the faces of all of the hundreds of children light up as they receive the gifts that supporters of AMG provided.

Wednesday is a big day as we will visit Filadelfia, Guatemala, and hand bundles to the children there, and we will have a special meeting with 4 children that Cedar Grove Christian Academy in Philadephia, Pa helped support with their donations.

Please continue to pray, and I will see about uploading pictures tomorrow. God Bless.

The Bundles Of Love Guatemala Team

On Friday at 9:30 in the morning, 11 team members boarded the plane for Guatemala City, Guatemala. From 10 year old Harrison, to 81 year old Ruth, our team covered the age gamut. Our team consists of the Phil, Jen and Megan Wilson, missionary appointees to Guatemala, Fred and Grace Wielinga, dairy farmers from Canada, Linda Ivins and Ruth Reed from Pennsylvania, Megan Reese from Delaware, and Ken, Dee and Harrison Ivins from Chattanooga, Tenessee.

So far, we have visited with Brian and Mary Dennett, AMG missionaries here in Guatemala, and spent Saturday visiting Antigua - seeing old Guatemala. Sunday was spent at a Spanish speaking church in the morning, and at an English speaking church in the evening.

We are studying II Cor 5, and today's messages (both morning and evening) reflected our devotional for the day - our mission as a Christian is to reconcile people to God.

Tomorrow we begin making bundles and visiting children. Stay posted for updates and pictures...