HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! JANUARY 2012

Guatemala January 2012 is very real! Joyce and Ashly Rhodes are heading up this next group since Randy Woirol will not be able to go this time. We are penciled in for the week of January 21 and following. We have 6 people already showing interest and $250 pledged. If you are interested in going to Guatemala with our team please sign up with Joyce or Ashley Rhodes. A $100 deposit is needed soon! Please make your checks payable to "Grace Mission Team" and give them to Joyce Rhodes or Randy Woirol our Team Treasurer. This is an experience that will grow your faith and challenge you to change your life for Christ!

We did it!

Thank you again for all who supported us in so many ways.
We arrived home from Guatemala at 7:00 am Monday morning after a long flight and long drive home from Chicago. We were all quite tired but still excited about our experience with the Guatamalan people.
What wonderful things God is doing in Guatemala. Not just among the people there but the mission teams that go as well. A great BIG thank you to Kevin, Ginny, and the Guatemalan mission team.
You were all so wonderful, from guiding us to keeping us safe and all of the many things that you did for us. Thank you does not seem sufficient. We will never forget you and we will keep you constantly in our prayers.
I know that I speak for the group when I say that we sill see you all again some day. I hope very soon.

Dios te Bendiga!!!
God bless you all!!!

Randy

Silly Gringos

• Osito is not the same as lo siento
• Bueno = good , Guano = mui, mui malo!
• Oopsidaisio= a Guatemalan “uh Oh”
• Not everyone had the chance to go fishing (which is a good thing) J
• When you want fresh milk, look for the goats
• Some flowers only live an hour and a half- at night
• Fresh eggs come from the Juevo truck complete with speaker system
• Grass too long?  Try a machete! (Or borrow a horse)
• Stop signs are optional
• Drive off at the Gas station and don’t worry about losing your license- you won’t be alive to need it again.
• There is a place with worse potholes than Michigan
• Turn Right at the big tree
• Impassible road?  Nah- just fill the holes with rocks.
• For hot water, dig a well  near a volcano
• Washing dishes is a 4 cycle process
• Never forget your sun sauce and bug sauce
• Two lanes for traffic = space for 3 lanes of vehicles + 1 motorcycle lane
• Motorcycle capacity = 1-5
• Don’t make eye contact with men holding assault rifles
• Keep Connie in sight at all times (and you thought we had to worry about Marilyn) J
• And always, always choose wisely

Now let us rise for the Guatemalan National Anthem:

    12 fire crackers
    11 car alarms
    10 motor cycles
    9 diesel trucks
    8 public buses
    7 police car sirens
    6 dogs a barking
    5 mating cats
    4 roosters crowing
    3 Ice cream trucks    
    2 Gringos singing badly
    And a tuna truck -  
    yes, we said tuna truckJ  

We Found Him! AMEN! AMEN!

Seven days ago, ten very different individuals arrived in Guatemala…each
with a different "plan" for their week-long opportunity to serve the
people. Had any of them heard that it was the group that would be
changed rather than the Guatemalans, they would have laughed. They were
arrogant at best.

The week's journey was an experience in searching for God and learning
about who they were…as God intended. They began at the bottom of a very
steep hill. Day by day, hearts were exposed more and more. The sights,
smells, visions and emotions in each of the villages contributed to the
convictions of each person in the group until the depths of their hearts
were exposed. Old wounds were brought to the surface. Issues of shame,
pride and selfishness were dealt with. God showed his face to each one
of the ten members of the group.

What began as a trip to serve those "less fortunate" turned into a week
of introspection and personal change. God spoke to each of the ten
hearts loud and clear. Yes, change took place, though it was not as
anyone had anticipated. Those ten people who traveled to Guatemala to
make the world a better place will be returning to West Michigan in two
days. They will be taking back not only vivid memories of daily home
visits, bible studies and singing, they will return with changed hearts.
God spent a week pealing away all of the shields and road blocks in
their hearts, leaving raw and exposed people, ready to make a difference
in their own homes.

The most difficult challenge for the group will be to assume life as
usual as it was eight days ago. Their family members will have an
opportunity to meet not new, rather "improved" loved ones Monday
morning. The biggest blessing will be for friends and family to truly
accept these new hearts, and allow their own to be changed as well.

Well it is day number 4.

We are up early to get ready and leave once more for Amatitlan. We stop
and pick up Chochi and continue to the park where we will do our faith
lessons. We begin by divide up in groups to do home visits. There are
amazing stories that I will not go into here. I will just say that it
left most of us wishing that we could do more for each one of the people
we visit. Unfortunately, that is not always the right thing to do. So we
share Scripture and talk and pray and weep with them. God will take care
of the rest. We go to Francisca's house. She has prepared us a
traditional meal of beans rice, and tortillas. She has a very delicious
drink made from the jamaca flower, which they brew down and add sugar
to. It is kind of like fruit juice when they are done with it. It was
quite sweet but very tasty. The faith lessons were really great. The
adults listened intently. The children were the most animated and
interactive we have had yet. They truly made the girls weep when they
all needed hugs when we left. It is enjoyable watching the children
wondering back to there homes carrying their crayons and proudly wearing
their crowns. We all pile in the van and head for the mission house. We
stop in the middle of town to drop of Chochi. It is the first of many
goodbye's to come. We take a detour and stop at a beautiful lake. Kevin
takes pictures of the lake and group pictures of us all and also
individual pictures with the Guatemalan team. Kevin told us that this
was a special stop not usually included in our day. The Guatemalans
wanted to show us this sight. It makes us all feel grateful that they
think so highly of us. We return to the mission house exhausted as
usual. Ginny has supper started and we sit down to pancakes. Yah! Highs
and lows all around the table seem to be about the same. We have had so
many different emotions this week, it is hard to get them all sorted out.

After supper we head up stairs for devotions and Jamie read from Matt.
25: 34 - 40. It is a sweet ending to another absolutely sweet and
astounding day.
To God be all the glory for ever and ever.
Only one more ministry day left. L

Good night to all !!
God's Blessings
Randy

Sweating with the Guatemalan’s:

Today we went South two hours to Buena Vista. It was a very warm one to
be sure. Even people who proudly said "I don't sweat" found themselves
dripping. The area was more jungle like with Cacau (Chocolate), Banana,
Rubber, Mango (and they are a lot bigger than the ones in the store ),
and papaya trees.
To get to Buena Vista you have to take a very bumpy, washed out in
places, dirt two track. There is no grass, very little concrete. "Main"
street is an abandoned rail road corridor which we walked to the river.
At the river we saw where they wash their clothes, swim, and bathe.
The people are mainly sugar cane farmers and some work outside the area.
The homes are made of old railroad buildings or the track parts, local
lumber, bamboo, tarps, or anything that can be found useful in
providing a roof or walls. There is some electricity but the makeshift
wood stove is still the major choice used for cooking. There is a store
of sorts that collects the wares from those on the bus that actually
makes it out there. It was a good thing Kevin and Ginny make us leave
our money home because when we were loading up to head back we saw young
girls caring ice back to there homes and many of us were quickly
thinking about an ice cold pop. None of us have had any pop since coming
down here. We drink room temperature water or Koolaid. We are even
starting to stink….Manuel who is our driver said to another Guatemalan
when we got into the van that we made the vehicle smell
Americano…whatever that means. He said it in Spanish but we caught the
drift or should I say whiff after the day of high sweat gland use. I
can't say I felt hot as I do in the states but sweat we all did.

We are all just so tired, most have headed to bed. I am the last one in
for the shower and then it is off to bed for me too. It is almost
midnight in the States,10 PM here. I was going to call Rick tonight but
we got back so late I will just have to try tomorrow.

God's love and Ours,
J Rhodes

Youngest Point of View

Every morning started out the same for me. Up at 5am (7am US) with my
buddy Rhonda (we always are the first ones up). Then everyone else
started to get up one by one, while my mom (Joyce) and I cooked french
toast for breakfast. After breakfast we headed out for El Rincon (the
corner) which is just outside the city of Amatitlan. There we did our
house visits and lessons. El Rincon is very close to the Pacaya, which
is the volcano that erupted not too long ago. On our home visits our
team was able to see the damage that the volcano ash did to Guatemalans
homes. We split up into groups and headed in different directions. My
group's first home visit today was with Sonia. She shared her story and
touched everyone in our group. This is her story…about 18 months ago
Sonia was shot in the spine and a friend of hers was also shot but
didn't survive. When Sonia got shot she wasn't a Christian, but that
quickly changed. Sonia started to attend church. After having surgery
she was put in a wheel chair and doctors told Sonia that she would never
be able to walk again. Even though the doctors told her that, her family
and church prayed for her. Prayers were answered, Sonia is walking with
a walker, that itself is a miracle which her family and her know. After
visiting the doctors again Sonia was told she needed another surgery for
her back. Again her family and church prayed for her and now she doesn't
need that surgery for her back anymore. God has truly blessed Sonia and
it was an amazing testimony. While everyone in our group was thinking of Bible verses to share with her; I thought about getting out of my
comfort zone and share a verse with her, but I hesitated. I closed my
Bible as I thought to myself we have already shared many other verses.
But then I was thinking to myself you just got to get over your fear and
read the verse. Then I couldn't remember what Psalm it was. Thinking I
had to go through all the Psalms again, I open my bible and was on the
exact page I wanted. I thought WOW! I must read this (it was Psalm
103:1-5). Now Sonia is walking with a walker, attending church and is
very involved in it. She said she feels God's presence and is grateful.

My second highlight of my day was the lesson with the children. After we
did our singing we split up the kids from the adults to do the lesson on
Esther. After we told the story of Esther to the kids we passed out
crowns for them to decorate. The kids LOVED IT!!! I was walking around
helping some kids peel off the back of their jewels so they could put
them on their crowns. Then this girl came up and said something to me.
Looking around I had no translators near by to translate for me. All I
could think was why didn't I take Spanish in high school. After some
time I figured out that she wanted me to help her with her jewels for
her crown. Then she was saying something to me again and I wanted to
know what she was saying, so I took her with me and hunted down a
translator. Then after I was done helping Amanda with her jewels I
moved on to help other kids that were sitting by her. Next thing I know
I have a hand on my hip. Then felt a hand move to my arm, I looked over
and it was Amanda. I looked at her with a smile and then went back to
helping the other kid, Amanda never left my side. I walked away for a
few minutes to help hand out coloring books. After Amanda got her book
she hunted me down. I thought Amanda wanted me to sit with her while she colored, but found out that she wanted me to color with her. Amanda made my day, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

-Ashley

P.S. Joyce….
The prayers of God's people are being answered here in Guatemala!
Opening the Bible to the correct page, words that are not our own,
People in need of God's touch, these have been everyday occurrences
here. We both wish to thank you all for your support. God be Praised!