July 17- Today caps another incredible week of ministry. We worked all week in San Miguel. We worked in the morning doing a VBS at both of their schools. We had over 400 kids total in the morning. In the afternoon part of the team repainted the entire middle school. We also had a construction team that worked all day everyday building the school a new kitchen. The kitchen had 2 complete walls and the other 2 walls were made of flake board that had more holes than solid pieces. Inside the cook used blocks as a stove. It was very sad sight. So this week we were able to complete a new kitchen with a brand new gas stove. It was amazing to see the kids at the school and the excitement they had for a stove.
Today we finished the week with a block party. It was great. We had at least 600 people there and the entire street was packed. I will warn you the next part of this story requires a Kleenex. We had a little old man that was walking through the crowd with a rick of wood on his back. He had a leather strap on his head to help him carry this 70-80 pounds of wood. As he walked through Amy Jones our intern noticed that he had no shoes. The way Amy noticed him was every time he took a step he left a trail of blood because his feet were worn out. This little man was about 80 years old and as Amy started to talk to him she found out this man had not had a pair of shoes since he was 4 years old. I was blown away when they told me this. So Amy, Carla and Hilmar went to the man’s house to give him a pair of shoes. As they got to the house they saw it was made of just Bamboo walls and a tin roof. They had a small table, 2chairs, and a bed. When they got there they explained to the man that they wanted to not only give him a pair of shoes but that they also wanted to wash his feet as Jesus did for the disciples. One thing to share with you about Amy is she does not like feet of any kind. When she got up this morning she said God had already let her know that she would be washing feet today. As they started to wash the mans feet Carla shared that it was much like the foot of an Elephant. His feet were very rough, his nails had rotted off, and he had dirt that had grown to his feet. They washed his feet for about 20 minutes. I was so proud of Amy and the way she worked through her fear to serve God. Carla shared that he had walked barefoot so long that his feet were totally flat and so wide the shoe would barely fit. As they finished washing his feet they shared about Jesus and Amy then prayed for him. I must tell you that when we moved in March we had no idea what our ministry was going to look like. I feel that today we finally know what our ministry is. It is a package deal. It is to minister to the children to have a chance to reach the entire family. As I sit here tonight I tear up just thinking about how awesome God is to allow us to go into a house and give a man shoes that has not had them for over 70 years. This is not the end of the story though. I am not sure how many of you remember me writing about Carla wanting to start the shoe ministry. We had seen a lady in San Lucas that needed shoes. Carla tried to get me to stop the truck so she could give this lady her shoes. I of course did not stop and I told her I would stop next time around the town square. We drove around again but I did not stop because of parking. We then made a 3rd trip and by then the lady was gone. This has haunted both of us for months. Well today at the party guess who was there? You guest it the lady we saw in San Lucas. It was so awesome. Carla was able to take her on to the bus and put a pair of shoes on her feet. Today was a day we will not forget. God showed up this week in a big way. We saw so many needs met for shoes and saw over 130 people come to know Christ.
Tomorrow we will be taking the team for Mt. Pisgah and Magna View Baptist to Lake Atitlan. We will spend the day enjoying the views of God’s creation. It is one of the most beautiful places in all of the Americas. I will be posting pictures from the past few weeks this weekend so please check back to look at our pictures. I want to ask that you pray for us. Right after we came back to Guatemala in the spring we bought a vehicle. We bought this not knowing that it had some major problems. We are now looking at about $2500 to get it drivable and tags on it. We were hoping to already be using this car for ministry because our Suburban is on life support. God has blessed us with the Suburban and the fact it is still going but we really need to get the Toyota running. If you would like to help with this need please email me at . We are hoping to get some parts from the states to save some money so please pray that this will happen and we can get this vehicle on the road.
We appreciate your prayers and your support so much. As you know when God is working so is satan. Please help us pray for protection for our ministry, our family, and our friends. We are so excited about the doors God continues to open and we are ready to run through them. Finally pray for us as we will meet next week about some property for our camp. This is just a meeting to find out cost so we can set our goals for 2010 and beyond but please pray that God will provide what we need to move forward in building His kingdom.
His Servant,
Mike
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