Learning humility

I do not know about you but I am horrible when it comes to admitting need. I can tell you about the work that is being done or about the kids and families that we work with but when it comes to stating a need, I lock up. I remember when the doctor diagnosed my cancer 5 years ago, I did not want to tell my family. I did not want to admit that there was something in my life that was beyond my control. I knew that God was big enough to lead me through it but I denied the rightful place of believers to walk out the journey with me.

In missions I often find myself in  similar situation. I love the work that I do and know that God has called me to it. I do not doubt He is the one that initiated the work and opened the doors for me to be part of it. I even know that He is responsible for meeting my physical needs when I am doing the work He calls me to. Where I struggle is in admitting that it is not just my work. He has called and is calling people to partner in this work to advance His kingdom. I struggle to admit that I need them in order to do what I am called to do and that they need me to do it because God has put this work on their hearts. He has called us to partner together for His kingdom.

When I look around, I see a lot of missionaries doing great work. They are sharing the Gospel and meeting the needs of others and doing it with a servant's heart. They love the people that they serve and do it in order for the Glory of Jesus to be seen in the earth. I hope that I too am reflecting Jesus this way in my work. They have so many needs and I feel like my asking somehow cuts into their support and many of them are friends. I would not want to hinder them by telling my needs. I should just have enough faith to let God provide.

That sounds altruistic but really I am beginning to see that it is a form of spiritual pride. The Bible tells us to bear one another's burdens. To want to help others without being open and vulnerable about my life is a form of holding myself in spiritual superiority. In reality, it is pride and fear. How can I lead if I have unmet needs? How can people see God working through me if I need something other than Him? Put on the mask of strength and do not let people see inside. You and God will get through this.

The reality is that God sets us in a body. He does not call us to independence or even to depend solely on Him. While He is our primary source, He calls us to live in a body and for each of us to supply, support and strengthen the parts of the body around us. He could provide every need without the body but then we would not develop the healthy interdependence that He desires us to have. We would not have unity if we are all off doing our own thing without relationships with one another. He designed us to live in community and to learn to lean on one another. I do not have everything that I need to do the work that I am called to and neither do you. We all were created to work together as a living and dynamic organism to accomplish the purpose of evangelism, discipleship and serving the world.

With this in mind I wanted to share a little bit about my upcoming year. I will again be in Guatemala working in the communities of Zapote and Membrillal. We will be working with about 13 teams over 20 weeks doing construction, medical clinics and food production. We are serving these communities with the Gospel and with physical help as well with the dual goals of community independence and a thriving Church in the community. These things are already taking place and growing. Zapote has 200 students in the school and about 270 people in the Church. Membrillal is just beginning to see the Church take off and the school will have about 110 students next year.

As for me, I am committed to this work and know that God has called me to be there. For next year I will have several expenses. The government of  Guatemala requires me to have $12,000 of verifiable support to begin the process of applying for residence and so that is my baseline. It would provide for things like Spanish classes, daily living expenses and a few occasional luxuries like a weekend away from the work. It would also pay for my airfare to the States twice a year. Beyond that, I would like to raise $5,000 to $7,000 this year in order to buy some form of transportation. I considered a motorcycle because of affordability but there are to many limitations. Something with 4 wheels is much more suited to all of the things that I need it for.

I do not want to sound ungrateful for all of the past giving because I am not and I do not want anybody to give unless God is directing them to. I know many others that are serving also and want you only to give where God is directing you. I do want to ask you all to pray though and support fully the one or the few that God is calling you to support. In missions. we are happy to go and do the work that we are called to but we need the body to support that work for it to continue. Let God lead you but please support the missions that He calls you to.

If you are called to support me, you can mail your support to
Life Church Morris
C/O San Lucas Missions
P.O. Box 679
Morris, IL 60450

or if you feel led to support Jean and Lauren as they prepare to go you can mail support to the same address but C/O Santiago Missions.

Thank you all for your friendship, support and prayers.

If we want to receive love, we must be ready to give it away.

I am sitting at the school in Membrillal this morning watching the Capital Church team play games with the kids and I am thinking about the last 6+ months. I am watching the kids and seeing how much they soak in loving attention from any older person that notices them. I find that I constantly am the victim of hugs, fist bumps and pile ons. I am so grateful that God has opened the door for me to spend so much time at this school and to get to know the kids. They have taught me much about life and about myself. I have learned what our relationship to our heavenly Father is supposed to be. I have come to understand in a much greater way the need we all have to experience love from someone stronger and wiser than we are. It is the very reason for our existence. We draw a sense of security from knowing that we are loved by someone that knows more and has more strength than we do.

When I go to the school every kid knows my name and most or the 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd graders clamor for my attention. They are saying “Do you notice me?” You cannot get away from the feeling that your attention is of vital importance to some part of their lives. Sadly, by the time that they get to 4^th Grade many of the kids, especially the boys have begun to retreat from many of the adults. They still will interact but it is not with the same degree of enthusiasm as the younger children. It is obvious not just that they are getting older but that they are also closing their hearts a little bit to people. They are not as receptive to the attention that they craved just a year or two earlier.

Many of the children in this community come from single parent homes for several different reasons. Others come from homes with alcoholic or abusive parents. Many come from loving homes but they have a dad that is gone several days at a time to make a living in a low paying job in another region. The reasons that the children have come to isolate themselves from authority are numerous but the results are usually the same. They are not limited to this small community in Guatemala but are everywhere. Kids that feel abandon, neglected, abused or forgotten will gradually begin to shut down to receiving love.

   

I am beginning to see that through much of my life I have done the same thing. Where I once craved attention from authority figures and older people, I eventually began to resent them and try to stay under their radar. I developed a mistrust for their attention to me. I became defensive and did not want to be accountable to them. After all, who are they to tell me what I can or cannot do? This attitude did not show up in 4^th grade but I suspect that it start to take root then. As I felt the sting of criticism from one of my teachers and began to develop my first ulcer. I am sure that it progressed as my parents, out of love and concern kept me from some of the things that other kids were doing. While today I can see that their motives were for my benefit and protection, at the time I just felt resentment. I felt like an outsider and it became a self-fulfilling view. The more I felt that way, the more I acted in ways that separated me from the people that I wanted to be like. There were times that I resented everyone and was angry at the world but only my family saw it of felt the resentment because a good Christian guy does not act out how I was feeling and to show it would just bring more isolation and resentment so I wore a mask.

For most of my adult life I have been actively involved in youth ministry. I loves kids and wanted to pour into them. It has not been until recently though that I have learned that what they need from is that I learn to receive the love of Jesus and allow that to fill everything I do. When I am doing a difficult or dirty task, I have learned to remind myself that I am l a son loved by my Heavenly Father. When I am spending time with the kids, I have learned to ask Jesus to fill my heart with His love, not just for them but for me. I realize that a person that is lives in and is aware of love filling their lives is able to serve much better. I have begun to serve from a desire to see the love that is filling me more daily to fill others too. Jesus loves us and it is in receiving that love that we are really able to show the world the power of God to bring transformation. I want Him to use me not just to transform individuals but towns and a nation so I need to live continually in the awareness of His love.

Jesus wants you to experience His love in real and deeply profound ways. He wants to fill you so that you can go and pour into others. He wants to use you in ways that are beyond anything that you can imagine and bring fulfillment to your lives. I also have come to believe that you will never experience more of God’s love until you let Him show you an outlet to release it. Love cannot flow into our lives unless we have a place for it to flow through. What is your outlet? How is God leading you to share His love? Are you called to join me or others in foreign missions? Maybe He is calling you to visit the sick or elderly in the hospitals and nursing homes. Possibly you are called to reach out to the young people in your community or lead an exploratory Bible study or Alpha group for your neighbors. I do not know what the specifics of your life or but I know this, If you want to receive the love of Jesus Love cannot flow into our lives unless we have a place for it to flow through. What is your outlet? How is God leading you to share His love? Are you called to join me or others in foreign missions? Maybe He is calling you to visit the sick or elderly in the hospitals and nursing homes. Possibly you are called to reach out to the young people in your community or lead an exploratory Bible study or Alpha group for your neighbors. I do not know what the specifics of your life or but I know this, If you want to receive the love of Jesus you need to let Him show you where to give it away.

I will be returning to Guatemala on September 20^th and will be followed a few days later from a group from my Church. I need to raise about $2,500 in order for that to happen. I already have ticket to go but need my return ticket and living expenses for 2 months. I would like to ask you to pray about partnering with me in this. God is faithful and I know that He is the one that has called me to what I am doing. He has always provided for my needs but He often uses people. I do want to make it clear that this is only for my personal living expenses. I am glad to provide you ways to give to our projects also but that is not what I have asked for here. In the tabs of the blog there are tabs for ministries that you can give through to support our schools and projects.

Thank you all for your prayers and support in the past and I would love to get together with any that would like to hear the stories and see the pictures of what we have been doing.

Friendship, Ministry and Life

The last few weeks have been busy and filled with lots of work, friendship and fun. Early last Saturday we took the team from Hinton to the airport and said goodbye to our friends. They continued working right up until Friday evening. Because of their hard work, computer desks were built at both schools, one of the walls of the Membrillal Church is closer to completion and the playground on the Church roof now has a roof of it's own. They kept going right up until it was time to pack up and go home.

This team has become real friends over the last 2+ years. It is always good to spend time with them and work with them. They encourage me to work more, try harder and be more available to people that come to work with us. I am thankful for them and am already looking forward to their return next year. I am hoping that they are able to bring back a few more of their team from past trip.

While Hinton was still here the His Hands Support Ministry team came to begin the evaluation/registration process for the Membrillal school for next year. Because of the financial concerns at the school, they left with some unanswered questions but they still took time with each kid as if the expansion for next year is going to happen.The kids love the visit from them each year and there are always lots of hugs his week. I have to admit that I had a good time with these crazy ladies myself, though I might have blushed a few times.

My favorite part of the time with His Hands is that I get to spend more time with the kids at the school than any other week in the year. While I drive them around, I also got to interview kids and to play with them during their free times. I was able to laugh with them, get high fives, hugs and fist bumps frequently and occasionally pulled around the playground. This is an important week because it reminds me that I need to keep my focus on the kids and communities that we serve and that the call is to make the love of Jesus known to them. Sometimes this can get lost in the business of the work when we are doing construction.

I am excited for the future of both of the schools here and for the Churches that serve the communities. As I get to spend in these communities I see the heart of the Father for the people that live in them. Looking at the kids, I see the need that we all have to know that we are loved by a perfect Father and that this love is perfect, unconditional and free. If I can see His love in this way, I am sure that it is way greater than I an fathom. If His love is this great for them and for me, then He is going to bring breakthrough in the lives of the families in Zapote and Membrillal. He is going to bring healing and and deliverance to them and as long as I am obedient, I am going to get to see it.

Than you Jesus for your love to me and for that same love reaching to the communities that you have led me to.

Soon I will be returning to the States for a few weeks and while there I will need to raise the funds needed for my return. I will be spending another 2 months here this year and will need to raise $2,500 to $3,000 more to complete the year. Many of you have been a part in my funding already this year and I am grateful for that. I would love a chance to talk with many of you and share all of the things that we are doing here. The vision is much bigger than one person, Church or group and all of you can play a role. Thank you and see many of you soon.

Interviewing families for Source of Hope

Joyful faces of kids at play

Grumbling and Complaining

Last week was a busy week. We had a team come in on Friday, the 13th and start working the next morning on smoothing the roof of the Church building to make it more kid friendly since they are using the rooms and the open space more for Sunday School..We had to haul 35 . 100lb bags of cement along with countless buckets of sand and gravel to the third floor. The old surface had to be roughed up to accept new concrete and then we had to mix, carry and level all of that mix.

Throughout the following week, we worked on prepping for the foundation pour in Membrillal and building 2 stoves and a house in Zapote. The work is often tiring and tedious, whether you are digging and moving several dozen yards of dirt by hand or standing in one place all day tying re-bar for columns. I can say that in doing these things, the mind set on the flesh is death.

While I was working, I started noticing a pattern in my thought process. I always wanted to be doing what someone else was doing. If I was wheel-barreling, I wanted to shovel. If I was shoveling, I wanted to tie. If I was working on the house, I wanted to work on the stove. Contentment was never found when I focused on my work. The issue was, that I chose what I was doing. I would wait until all of the jobs were taken and look for what needed to be done so I willing chose to do what I was doing.

I started seeing how this plays out in all aspects of life. I frequently find myself comparing myself to others. What do they have that I do not? Why can they do something I cannot? Why did they get the job that I wanted? The devil brings these thoughts and jealousies in subtly. He does it in a way that we take ownership of them almost immediately and then dwell on them until they begin to consume us. Comparison is one  of the enemies worst schemes to destroy our lives.

As I recognized these thoughts, I started to see how to combat them. God is the one that has put me in this position. He has me there for a purpose. He is growing me into the person that I was created to be and I can praise Him for all of these things. He has not abandon me to be a manual laborer. He has made me a Kingdom builder. The work I do is all necessary for the building of His Kingdom in this place and it translates into a better inheritance for me as a joint heir with Jesus.

God does not need me, or any of us to accomplish His work on the earth. He could do the things that He has called us to more efficiently than we can do them. He brings us along like a Father bringing a child to work to learn the family business, assigning us tasks so that we can have the joy of accomplishment and a sense of belonging and ownership in what will be our inheritance. He gives us Kingdom building work because he knows it is important for us to learn that we have a place in His heart and in His creation. He calls us to do His work out of His overwhelming love for us. He does not need us to do it but we do need to do the work if we want to have assurance of our place in the kingdom of God.

If you get to feeling like me, remember that God is not using you because He needs you. he is giving you opportunities to grow as a son or daughter and learn to live in this community of family that is the Body of Christ. Stop comparing and complaining. Begin to praise God because he is making you into exactly what he has created  you to be.

Going Forward

As many of you already know, soon I will be returning to Guatemala for 3 more months. We will be continuing the projects that we worked on this spring and will hopefully see the completion of the Church in Membrial. I plan on leaving on June 2 or 3 and staying until about August 28. While I have not yet bought my plane tickets, these plans are tentative but that covers the dates that the summer teams will be there and gives me a few days before they come and a few at the end to take care of anything that I need to do to be prepared.

When I left in the spring, I said that my goal was to raise $7,500 to $8,000 for this years work. That covers airfares, food, some personal travel expenses and my other needs and would also leave about $3,000 to $4,000 to go toward projects. As of  now, I have raised about $2,200 in support and that leaves me about $1,800 short of my personal expenses and nothing for the projects that we are working on. I would still really like to be able to take a gift from here to bless the Church in San Lucas.

As many of you know, in February my Church hired a new pastor. At the time, I felt like I was suppose to leave my position as Youth and Missions Pastor because I would not have time to build a relationship with our new pastor. I was not forced to leave or even asked but did feel that it was the right thing to do for the sake of the Church. I am still in fellowship and am quickly getting to know and appreciate Jon and Heidi, our new leaders. Because of this, I no longer have a salary so that means my only support is from people that want to be part of what I am doing.

I am not asking anyone to do anything but pray. If God lays it on your heart to give then obey. If He does not, please continue to pray for the us and the work we are doing. Spreading the Gospel is a team effort. Not everyone can go all of the time but everyone has a role to play. I know that God has called me to what I am doing and He is faithful to meet my needs. Ask Him what your role, if any should be in the continuation of this ministry. If He calls you to go with me, that would be a great thing to. If you would like to know more about what we are doing, I have a video you can see on youtube @  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGQOYuiMC7E

I love you all and want to say thank you for your support over the years and all of the time in Guatemala. I pray that you see God's blessings on your life as you continue to seek and obey the callings He places on your lives.

George

f you would consider supporting me financially, as well as in prayer, it would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be sent to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 
Checks can be made out to MFHOP. 

Where is home?

It has been a strange two weeks. I got sick for much of my last week in Guatemala so I was not able to work with the team after Monday. I spent two days in bed and then two more days driving but not working. I did not eat for about 4 days and was miserable. In spite of my sickness, the team kept working and they accomplished a lot. They finished the sidewalk and drive at the school, finished the playground did food distribution and poured Rudy's roof and three floors in his house. I was grateful to Merari for taking my place one driving when I could not.

On the 15th, I left to come back to Illinois for a few weeks. The CYCM Annual Promotional Banquet is on Friday and there is always a lot of work to do in the days leading up to that event. I figured that it made sense to come back and work here rather than stay in Guatemala when there were no teams. I jokingly told my Guatemalan friends that I needed to come back for a vacation because they had worked me to hard.

The reality is that I have come to think of San Lucas as home also. While I have family and friends in Illinois and I miss then when I am gone, God has also given me a second family in Guatemala. t is as hard to leave them as it is to leave Morris. Wherever I go, I am away from people that I have become very close to. It seems like I am always wanting to be with someone and they  are inevitably 2,500 miles away.

All of this has made me ponder life. We know that we are only here temporarily and that we have an eternal reward waiting. Unless we isolate ourselves and never build relationships, there will always be someone missing from our lives. If we have eternity, why don't we pour ourselves into building the Kingdom of God that lasts forever instead of building a temporary kingdom that will be destroyed. Why don't we choose a moments discomfort to build a treasure that an inheritance that can never be taken away.

Already this year, 2 more classrooms were constructed in Membrial, the driveway was put in, a playground was poured and then had play equipment build and the foundation for the new Church was dug. In Zapote, there was a clinic at the school that served 600 patients, The Food Machine received a good cleaning had the pump replaced and had work was done to balance the nutrients for optimal plant growth. There was a house and 6 stoves build and the Gospel was shared numerous times in many ways.

I will be returning to Guatemala in a few weeks and resume the work that we have been doing. There will be several more teams coming and by the end of the summer we should see the near completion of the Church and school in Membrial along with some good harvests from the food machine and other plant projects that Dennis Knutson helped us with in February.  I will be there approximately 12 more weeks. 

 If you would consider supporting me financially, as well as in prayer, it would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be sent to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 
Checks can be made out to MFHOP. 

In Unexpected Ways

This week has been a challenging week. With a couple of late nights always followed by early mornings. I was tired from about 5 o'clock Monday afternoon until I went to bed last night. I was having a hard time keeping up with this large team. The thing is, they were the oldest team that I have worked with. While there were many young and middle aged, there were several in their 70's and one, at least that was 80.

While the work went on this week, some of the older people were being worn down by the physical nature of construction work here. Everything is done by hand. They completed a pad for a play area and re dug the footers and poured them for the last of the first floor classrooms and the school office. They built columns and a cabinet and many smaller projects. It was a week of hard work.

The thing that stood out to me though was one man on the team. He is 80 years old, has had major heart surgery and both knees replaced. There were times when he would sit in a chair on the job sight and fall asleep. One day, he was shoveling sand into buckets for cement and could not stand so he sat in the chair and shoveled, taking about twice as long as it took anyone else. 

He has been faithfully coming to Guatemala for 14 years, working in Zapote and Membrial. I was wondering when do you say enough? By the end of the day, he could barely get in the van with his surgically repaired knees. What keeps him coming back when obviously he does not have the stamina for the work?

On Friday, I got to drive him along with about  or 9 others out to Zapote without any other members of the Church team. While at the school in Zapote, which this man helped build, I got a better picture of his motivation. He sponsors 6 children in the school and knows them all. He has been part of the work in that village since it began. While he was there, each of the kids was pulled out of class and brought to him. He had gifts and pictures for them. He also told them about his family and thanked them for their letters to him. he showed them the heart of a grandfather for the grandkids that he did not get to see often enough. His love and concern for them was genuine.

The reason that he keeps coming is because it does not matter how old you are. When we allow God to give us love for people, we love until there is nothing left of us. He may not be able to do all that he once did but he showed the love of Jesus as well as I am guessing anybody could. He is not going to quit demonstrating God's love to these children until he has no breath. Of this I am convinced so I just want to say "Thank You Dale for teaching me a valuable lesson this week."

Family of God

Yesterday the first team of the year arrived. It is always difficult when a team comes to get to know people quickly. This team is hard for me because they are the one that has been working longest with the Church here and over that last 13 years, their relationships have been cemented. They have been coming to work with Tono and Merari for many years. I was feeling like the outsider as we began the day.

When we went to Church this morning, the presence of God was incredible during worship. He spoke to me about family and the unity of the body of believers. I went along very well with a chapter in a book titled "Kisses From A Good God" by Paul Manwaring. I was reminded that family and relationship are God's idea. He created them and is bringing us into a family for all eternity.

As I look toward the coming week, I am excited. Tomorrow we will start by moving a lot of dirt and getting the ground ready to form and pour a concrete drive and parking area at the school. It may not sound like a great day but I am getting to do it with family. I do not know them well yet but I know that in a week, they will be brothers and sisters living in a relationship that is eternal. My back will be sore but my family will have grown by 29.

I am so grateful that God has been showing me recently how connected we really are as the body of Christ. He is making us into one united whole. Wherever He leads and whoever is there, I have a family. I love the people back home and I miss hanging around with them when I am not there but God has really shown me how He provides for all of our needs, even the need for family.

If you would like to contribute to my expenses for the ministry in Guatemala, you can do so by mailing a check to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 
Checks can be made out to MFHOP.