Our First Four Teams

Well, we just said goodbye on Friday morning (at 4:30am) to our fourth team of the year! It has been a busy 7 weeks since we arrived in Guatemala on January 8th. Our first team was a church group from PEI. They were a huge blessing to work with as their leaders have worked with the ministry for many years already. With this group, we administered parasite medicine to all of our schools, under the supervision of Doctor Cathie!
Our second team was from New Brunswick and they too were a church group, although they attended three different churches. Some of their team members had been to Guatemala before, which is always helpful.
Our third team was from Regina. They were a group of Bible school students, but they ranged in age from 24 - 72! The leader was the youngest member of the team! With this group, we worked in a remote mountain village.

Our fourth group was from Linden Christian School in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was fun to have a group of young people, but certainly their energy levels and need for constant activity tired Rocky and I out! They had 3 amazing leaders, although, who were always right there lending a hand.

Today has been a quiet restful day! What a blessing! Tomorrow we leave for the capital to pick up team #5 from Estevan, Saskachewan. Les' brother, Ellery, and sister-in-law, Marlene, are on this team. We got to know them a little while we were home this winter and we are looking forward to seeing them again, and the rest of their group.

Please pray for us! We go straight through from February 27th to April 10th with no breaks between teams. We are working to ensure we get a day off with each group (every 10 - 12 days) but it isn't always easy to schedule that. So, if you could pray for good health and an abundance of energy, we would sure appreciate it! Also, it is so important to begin each team fresh - with a positive attitude and a sincere desire to serve. Sometimes when teams are back to back (and overlapping) we get tired. In our weakness, we need the Lord to show up! It is only His guiding and directing that enables us to have a successful time with a group. We believe that He has called us to this place to do this job and we trust Him to provide. We know, although, that your prayers have a direct and positive impact on our effectiveness here.

James 5:16b "...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
Thank you for your support! It is such an encouragement to know we are not in this alone!

Blessings,

Karren

Life!

Sometimes life is frustrating and confusing. It is at times like this that I have to work really hard to refocus my energies away from dwelling on the things - mostly external - that are causing me grief, and onto the things of the Lord. I wish I could say that is an easy task for me, but it isn't. When my feelings are hurt, or I don't like the way things are going, or I feel left out or misunderstood, it is easy for me to stay in that place of feeling sorry for myself.
This morning was one of those times. The past month has not been an easy one for me, for many reasons, some my own doing, others completely out of my hands. But this morning, I hit a wall and began to feel sorry for myself. I opened up my internet browser (what did we do before the internet?) and found an online concordence. I typed in "frustration" and it popped up Romans 8. God is so good! When I know I don't know - that is a great place to be! - the Lord steps in and provides the words of wisdom I need to hear.
It isn't that He is going to change my circumstances, but my attitude changes and that makes all the difference in the world. I have typed below the section of Romans 8 that I read this morning and pray that it will provide you some encouragement, regardless of what you are feeling or experiencing in your life today. The Lord knows and He is there to comfort you and help to redirect your thinking.

More than conquerors...And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined ... And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, netiher the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This morning, for me, this passage kind of put things back into their proper perspective. Thank you Lord. I know I need an attitude adjustment from time to time, and perhaps when you read this, the Holy Spirit will use these words to realign your thinking as well.
Huge blessings,
Karren

Just say yes!

Well, our third team of the year is here. They are from the Master's Commission Bible School in the Regina Apostolic Church. Although we do many of the same activities with each group, they are never quiet the same. For example, we do children's ministry with each team, but the location and the people group we are working with is always changing. With this group, we will be doing 3 days of children's ministry in a remote moutain village about an hours drive on a dirt road outside of Tactic.

Becuase today was Sunday, we were invited to attend the church service in the church where we will be doing children's ministry. The ride up was incredible. There were some spots in the road which had been washed completely away during the rainy season and now were slowly being rebuilt. On one side of the road was the mountain which went straight up; on the other side, the cliff! You guessed it; it went straight down! By the time we worked our way up to the church, we were almost at the very top of the moutian and as we looked around, all we could see were other mountain tops.

For those living in the village, we were quite a spectacle. I don't think any other group of North Americans have ever ventured this far into the hills. During the worship service, a little girl was stroking my blond hair! It was quite a novelty.

When we left the house to go up in the morning, we thought we were going just to be introduced and to allow the leader of the group to give a short 2 minute greeting.

Well, this is Guatemala, and things change! When we arrived, the pastor asked us who was preaching. It is at moments like this when we have a choice to make. We can say, "oh, no, I am not prepared," or we can say, "yes." Praise the Lord, He gave me the courage to say yes. I wouldn't say preaching is my gift; in fact, it is a bit of a stretch, but this morning, I preached. I asked the Lord to give me His Words for His people, and He did. It was such an honour to bring the Word of the Lord to His people.

On the way down from the village, I thought about what would have happened if I would have said no. Someone in that service this morning, needed to hear the very words the Lord gave me to share. If I would have said no, they would not have received the encouragement they needed this morning.

Everyday, we are given many opportunities to say "yes" or "no." How we choose affects not only us, but also those around us. For me, I think I get so hung up on being prepared and having a plan, that I say "no" because I am worried I won't be good enough. Boy, do I have it all wrong. I will never be good enough, no matter how much preparation I have done. It is only God and His Word that is good enough and if we are willing, He will use us as a vessel to speak through. The only preparation that is required is to be daily in His Word and then to say "YES" when the opportunity presents itself.

This is what I want - to live in a way that I am ready to say yes without any hesitation. This morning, the Lord had the rest already worked out. He just needed me to be His vessel to work through. Wow! What an honour; what a privilege!

Blessings,

Karren

I love doing children's ministry!

I really have a pretty amazing job here in Guatemala. I get to hang out with teams and do children's ministry at least 3 days a week. Last week, I got to sit with a group of moms who were watching their older children play games with the team. We visited back and forth and talked about being a mom and raising children. It was so much fun! You know, although our lifestyles and living conditions are pretty different, our concern for our kids is the same.

Yesterday, I had the chance to help out the team with their face painting. It was so much fun! There is something so special about the one-on-one contact and touch involved in face painting. It is like in the few minutes it takes to paint a fish or bird, you build a relationship with a child. It is quite beautiful.

Today, I got to colour with a little boy who had never coloured before. I sat beside him and asked him why he wasn't colouring and he said, "no puedo" "I can't." I helped him hold his crayon and colour his picture. The smile on his face when he picked each new colour was priceless. Then, when we looked at his finished picture, he said, "yo puedo" "I can!" How can you beat moments like that?

What a joy it is to serve the Lord! It is what He desires for us all, you know -to be filled with joy! Not just every now and then, but always. I love the scripture that says the joy of the Lord is our strength. It is His joy in us that gives us strength to reach out and touch lives for the Kingdom. It is that same joy that draws others to us and enables us to share the love of Christ with them.

Bless you, and may the Lord fill you with His abundant and extravagant joy!

Karren

On Monday morning at 4am, we said goodbye to our first team of 2011. It was a sad day, as we had really enjoyed our time with this fun loving group. They certainly were an amazing team to start the year with - so well prepared and so sincere in their desire to grow in the Lord. What a pleasure to work with a group like this.
We didn't land up having a moment of downtime, although, because we had already picked up the next team the night before these guys left. So after dropping off the team from Prince Edward Island, we had breakfast with our new group from New Brunswick and took off to tour the capital and drive out to Tactic.

It has been so good to be back in Tactic. We are completely honoured and blessed to be called by the Lord to participate in His Kingdom work here. We know that it is only by His grace that we are able to do the things He asks us to do, and we are so thankful that His mercies are new every morning. We serve such a faithful God.

The team that is here right now is doing children's ministry at our Chicoy school. When they arrived, they had no idea they would be even doing children's ministry, and they had to put together a program, literally, overnight. They had the most amazing attitudes, although. It was such a blessing. Yesterday, I was sitting in the back with a few boys who were busy talking while the team was telling a story. I asked them to be quiet and the boy showed me a tract he had received. You know when God gives you those "moments" that are divine? Well, this was one of those. I asked him if he could read and he shrugged his shoulders. So, I asked him if he'd like to know what the tract said, and he nodded yes. The tract was one that was meant to go along with a beaded bracelet that tells the salvation story through coloured beads. Right there, in the back of the room, I was able to outline the entire Gospel to these three boys and they received it with such joy. What an honour. I have been asking the Lord to increase my language capacity for exactly these kinds of situations, and yesterday, I was able, all in Spanish, to do it - PTL!!!

This afternoon, I will be looking for those boys.
I want to follow-up and see how they are doing. The Lord willing, I will have a chance share with them how to accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.

The work that we do here is pretty unique, in that we have the opportunity to work with the Guatemalans and minister to them, but we also have the opportunity to work with and minister to North Americans. The Lord is allowing us to speak into the lives of both those living here and those who come on short term teams. It really is quite amazing.

Please continue to pray for us, as Les has now left for Canada for a month, which means we really have little or no time off. Pray that the Lord will protect our health and provide time for us to meet with Him in the midst of our business. As we pour out to those we are working with, we need to be re-filled if we desire to be effective in His Kingdom.

Bless you all, and thank you for your continued support. We love you all a bunch!
Karren and Rocky

A Great Light!

This morning we went with the PEI team to the sink hole at Chicoy. For quite some time this location has been used as a site for Mayan worship; however, we really haven't seen much activity this past year. Today was a different story.

There were two large groups in the cave performing Mayan rituals while we were there. This isn't the first time we have witnessed these rituals, but for many in our group it was definitely a first.

As we stood in a circle and proclaimed the truth of God's Word and worshipped the one true God, both groups of Mayans stood still and silent and watched us. Our prayer before we descended into the cave was that they would see the light of Jesus eminating from us and be drawn into His presence. It happened! Usually the shawman is shouting and chanting and there is a great deal of noise, but today they said nothing and just watched us kneel and worship.

God has called each one of us to shine His light wherever we go and proclaim His truth in love. The rest is really up to Him.

Today, we did our part, and the darkness saw a great light.

Thank you, Lord.

Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

We are here! We arrived in Tactic on Sunday afternoon and have been getting settled into our house. We had meetings most of yesterday to discuss the upcoming year and get ready for the business to come. Rocky is out this morning with Les and Walter, going over all of the properties and discussing the work that needs to get done this year - and there is a lot!
The weather here is amazing! Between 25 - 30 and sunny! What a nice change from winter. We leave for the capital tomorrow to pick up our first team and we are excited to be a part of what the Lord is going to do here in Tactic this year. In church on Sunday, Rocky shared that what the Lord has begun in us, He will bring to completion. Boy, what an awesome promise. As most of you know, our life has had its fair share of challenges, but it is so encouraging to know that God is taking all of our experiences and using them to form us into the people He wants us to be. Nothing is without purpose and nothing is out of His hands. Thank you, Lord!
Please continue to pray for us; it gives us great comfort to know family and friends are keeping us in their prayers.
Blessings,
Karren