(Week 1 in Guatemala)

Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His presence continually! Psalm 105:4

We have just finished our first week in Guatemala and returned back to the city yesterday to send our first team back to the states and prepare for our second week in Guatemala. We pick up our next small team this evening and make the journey back to Poptún tomorrow. I could write for days on everything that has gone on throughout the week, but will only share a brief highlight in this email. As always, we went to the market to buy food for the families we visit. Some of the families we went to visit and pray with were not home so the pastor took us to different houses than we had originally planned on. At two of the homes that we showed up at unexpectedly on two different days the women had explained to us that God had given them a dream that someone was bringing them food. The first house the mother had told us that she had a dream that someone was bringing her cookies. Cookies, something that seems so simple to us, yet is so extravagant to families like this. They live in a tiny shack with a dirt floor, yet she knew that the Lord had spoken to her about cookies. How silly she probably thought that was as she looked around her home knowing that she needs a lot more than cookies. But, what a beautiful confirmation to her to know that she knows God's voice and that He loves and cares for her and her family more than she could ever know. God provided so much more than she would have ever thought, asked, or imagined. The other woman that we had visited unexpectedly had told her two year old daughter that morning that she had nothing to feed her with that day. Yet, the Lord had also told her that He was sending someone to her. Later that day is when we showed up at her door with a food bag providing a way for her to feed her children. When you give money to help us purchase food for these families you're not just feeding them. The food is only a tempprary fix. It provides us the opportunity to meet these families. Yet, what you're really doing is providing the opportunity for the non-believer to encounter Jesus and the believers to be equipped and encouraged in their relationship with Him. God does more in a single home visit by us simply showing up than the food could ever do for their bodies. This week in Guatemala God reminded me everyday how small we are yet how big He is. He reminded me how He cares about the big stuff and the small stuff. He reminded me that He is always faithful and always present. Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving. Thank you for sending us. You may never truly know or see the impact you have in Guatemala, but please know that God is using you for the glory of His name as we partner together to go where He leads. Please continue praying as we begin our second week in Guatemala tomorrow. We love and appreciate y'all more than words can say!

Serving Him Together, Harry & Shelly