One can never have too much VBS!

Well folks, I have decided that I am going to be a career VBS'er! I mean think about it, does it get any better than learning about Jesus, making a craft, playing games, and eating snacks all in one morning! The VBS Lifeaid is putting on is in the village of San Jose. We were a few minutes late this morning and as we were driving down the street that the church is on kids started running from evey direction to meet us at the van. The kids in San Jose are fantastic, they love everything the team does! San Jose also has some amazing parents that have been helping the team, the team members learned real quick that the adults wanted to participate in everything the kids did! When I say everything, I mean everything! Today one of the dads wanted to make one of the necklaces that all of the girls were making. They are so thankful for everything the team does.
The Bible studies this week have been so great. Bro. Teddy, Bro. Terry, and Bro. Eddie all can lead a mean Bible study! Some of the best quotes from Bro. Terry have been "If you have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ then SHUTUP! You don't get the right to decide what you want to do with your life!" and "None of us are worthy enough to not go to Hell, but thank goodness God thinks we are worth it!" Of course he usually quotes "You may not agree with me...but oh well, I'm doing the preaching!" at least once during every Bible study. He has an amazing ability to show a roomfull of people the word of God.
I am including some pictures of the VBS that Bro. Terry and Lifeaid are leading. The village where they are working is just amazing. It can't be put into words how sweet the people are, you really can see Jesus in them. One of the girls said as we were leaving today how she just wanted to cry about how sweet the kids are, you can't help but notice how much they love the Lord. I think they understand the grace and mercy of God better than we do. They are at an advantage, they don't have all of the junk in the way like we do. They truly have been a blessing!

The team that is here now is comprised of people from Motlow Creek Baptist (South Carolina), Shady Grove Baptist (South Carolina), and Faith Baptist of Bartlet, TN. So far, they have been an amazing team. Bro. Terry Rainey and Bro. Eddie Burdett are here and it has been great spending time with them. Bro. Terry's team is doing a Vacation Bible School in a local church here in one of the villages. I got the chance to go with them on my off day yesterday. It was incredible! The team spent a lot of time preparing for the VBS, which always pays off! The kids, all 100 of them, had so much fun! I have a feeling their favorite part of the morning was seeing Bro. Terry lead the group in the song Deep and Wide! Tonight, the whole group is going to a church service in the same church where they are doing VBS. After church we are going to eat at a restaurant. Mrs. Carolyn has gone to the lake for a night of relaxation and it seems that no one can fill her shoes for even one night!
It will be lonely around here next week after this team leaves. I have many good friends on this team. We have done trips together before and I was happy to see them on this trip! They told me yesterday that I must come to South Carolina sometime soon to visit my family!

Thanks for all you do, y'all are the best!

So much has happened in the past couple days! It was a busy weekend. Saturday Mrs. Carolyn Ciak picked me up at the mission house to bring me down to Casa for my off days. I got to help my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Rodney with the VBS for two days. It amazes me how 15 gringos can keep 200 kids under control...talk about help from the Lord! Haha! During VBS the morinings and afternoons are spent with kids ages 12 and under and the nights with young adults, 13 and over. The man who is leading Bible studies at night is an Irish man who was a missionary to Africa for 10 years. Bro. Terry is an incredible man of God with an awesome sense of humor, so of course all of the kids and teenagers loved him! The kids were very surprised to see me there to help with VBS, they didn't believe that I was helping until I put on one of the famous VBS team shirts. It was such a blessing to be able to spend a few days with family. My Uncle Rodney is one of the godliest men I know, it is always encouraging to spend time with him.
The rainy season is definetely upon us here in Guatemala! It rained from sun up to sun down Sunday and for most of the afternoon today. All of the rain slows down the building teams. Tomorrow morning the teams will leave in two waves, one at 6 and one at 9. They are being flexible, which we all know makes Bro. Teddy happy! Tomorrow the team is working as fast as possible to finish homes and then dedicating all of the homes. It is crazy how fast this week has flown by! Thanks for your prayers!

It is so nice to be in the presence of friends from home! The group this week is comprised of people from Friendship, First Baptist Freeport, Texas, and several other churches. It is always nice to fellowship with fellow believers, but there is something about spending time with folks from home. Today, Deidra and I spent all afternoon in the kitchen with Mrs. Carolyn. I underestimated how hard it is to cook for that many people. Steak and gravy is delicious, but I am pretty sure if it were left to me to do all of the cooking we would eat sandwiches for every meal! Tomorrow afternoon Mrs. Carolyn Ciak is coming to pick me up so I can spend a few days at Casa Aleluya. My Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Rodney are there with their team from Canan Assembly of God doing VBS this week. It is a sight to see, my Aunt Rhonda doesn't do anything half way! Please pray with us for a productive and eye opening week. Thank you for all you do to continue furthering His Kingdom!

Help in Praying

I am writing tonight for one reason, to ask you to join me in prayer. When I moved to New Orleans I asked God to give me friendships that would build me up as a Christian. He did just that. He gave me a friendship with the most amazing couple I have ever met, Dr. Taylor and his wife Mrs. Sheila. They took very good care of me and three of my friends this year. We all rejoiced to find out that they would be grandparents and rejoiced even more when we found out that their grandbaby would be a little girl. Caroline Taylor was born June 8 into an amazingly godly family. Caroline was born with hydrocephalus and an anomaly at the base of her spine. I ask that you would lift up Caroline, her parents, Justin and Jennifer, and Dr. Taylor and Mrs. Sheila as they go through this tough time of surgeries and hospital stays. They are a precious family and I have no doubt that they will glorify God through this entire situation. Thanks for all you do!

Not many exciting things have happened so far this week. Just scrubbing toilets and mopping! The team went to the lake today, so it is quiet around here. Oh, we did have some excitement last night. We realized late yesterday afternoon that some of the rottweilers that act as guard dogs at the auto hotel, (No explanation there, you either know what it is or you don't, haha!) had gotten lose and had made themselves comfortable up at the mission house. We were all warned to be cautious around the house but nobody thought anything about it. That is until B and Pam attempted to walk home last night. The dogs were right outside the house and quickly ran them back inside. So, Mr. John was quick to offer to drive them home. My house is right next door so I thought I could make it home, a few steps into my walk and I chickened out and ran back to the mission house. Thankfully, one of the men from the group knew exactly what was going on when I rushed back into the house. He offered to walk me home so I happily let him. I thanked him for walking me home and than told him I was sorry if he got attacked on the way back!
I am going to post some of my pictures from this past weekend, some are from Casa and some are from the house dedication.

⁸ "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
defend the rights of all those who have nothing.
⁹ Speak up and judge fairly,
and defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31: 8-9

First off, I need to wish my Momma a Happy Birthday! I think she thinks I do summer missions so I can skip out on her Birthday, I have missed the last four out of five birthdays. That belief is untrue of course! Haha! I mean tonight I missed out on a chance to eat at Felix's! Not that I would have been invited, it was an "adult" dinner. For some reason my Momma, Daddy, Mrs. Diane, and Mr. Morris just don't consider me an adult yet!
This morning it was back to work at the mission house. All of the kids at Casa that saw me leaving this morning were very confused. They all kept asking why I was leaving already. When we got up to the mission house Olga Ciak said "You leave already?". I guess we didn't make it clear why we were coming up to the mission house. No worries though, I will get to spend my off days at Casa next week helping with the Mississippi VBS!
This afternoon I got to run errands with Ms. Louise. She took me to the fruit and vegetable market, always a fun place to go. People are always hustling through the very narrow, winding aisles at the market. You look one way and there is beef hanging, another way and there are bags of colorful beans. I did see a whole chicken cut open, and I must say I saw parts I never knew chickens had!