Thursday, September 30, 2010

Guatemala September 2010

From Jim:

Where can I start, this trip was such a whirlwind.

Friday was basically just a travel day without much in the way of issues but it was a long day non the less. We are two hours ahead (time wise) of Guatemala which made for the rather long,tiring day. We were up at 6:00 am and arrived around 7:00 pm our time.

Saturday was just a time of fellowship with Pastor's Josue and Raul, we needed time to talk with pastor Raul who is the pastor of the Father's Heart Church in Guatemala City. It has been two years since I had been there (because of the cancer I was battling), and there were a lot of things that needed to be talked about along with some encouragement that was badly needed. The people of the church were very concerned because of not hearing from me in such a long time. Pastor Josue took us into the city and blessed us with a couple of really nice meals and some relaxed atmosphere for our talks which seemed to ease the time we spent together.

Sunday morning brought us the privilege of ministering at the Castillo Fuerte Church where we spent an awesome time of worship led by the pastor's wife Lesly, David was able to minister with their worship team and then allowed to lead worship for a time as well.
After David led for a short time I was given the pulpit to speak about totally surrendering to God in every area of our life Pastor Josue told me (as well as others) after the service that they had someone else the week before who ministered almost exactly the same thing, he also told me that he had ministered another part of the message on Wednesday evening during their regular service.
During the alter call many repented and sought Jesus for healing as well, there were many who received their healing along with a little girl (she had heard me testify about how God had healed my torn rotor cuff during a time of worship) who received her healing with child like faith. I prayed for her the first time after which she told me she still has some pain so we prayed again, then she held her arm up and said "It's Done!" What a awesome thing to watch.

Sunday evening we went to The Father's Heart church and ministered much the same way (with a different message) and watched the people repent at the alter and then they lined up for prayer for healing. Many received their healing including a man who had been carried in by two men in a plastic lawn chair. He didn't even have a wheel chair! This man could not talk either. I laid hands on him with the help of the other pastors in the church (more on this later) and we lifted him out of his chair, helped him take a few steps, and watched as he tried to leap and dance. Not only did he walk but he started talking as well. What an awesome night.

Here is the later part: When David and I walked in, there were five other pastors there who are from many outlying ares of Guatemala (one from the Honduran Border) who are also under the covering of The Father's Heart Ministries as well. These all came to welcome me back, to say I was touched is an extreme understatement!

Monday was a little different as we had no definite plans for Monday evening but did have a really good meeting with six pastors and some of their families for breakfast. We were able to video them with a short discourse of who they are, where they pastor, and what their vision is for their church. We have some who are building new churches in Aldea's (small villages), those who are working with broken families, some who are doing evangelism (buses, parks, even in the stores), all with a hunger for working for the kingdom of God, not to build their selves up or their personal ministries.

After lunch we were asked what we wanted to do for Monday evening, David and I prayed for divine appointments and were later picked up by another pastor and his brother who (after another meeting) asked us to come to their cell group meeting. They were very apologetic because they only had ten people coming to the meeting and wanted to have us minister to more. But God!!!!! had another plan, when the cell group found out we were coming, they called one another and the church was full! David led worship and I spoke to them. The service was awesome, after the word I was able to lay hands on most all of the church and on those who were sick, to received their healing. This was one of the most powerful services I have ever been in.

God has been so good to us to let us be a part of the work going on there and we can't wait to get back there.

Please be in prayer for our next trip which we are planning for early April.

Want to go? Give us a call, Jim