Written by Jenny Doane, College Ministry Intern

I’ve heard that to write an interesting story for yourself, you have to face your fears. My fear? Although I don’t really want to admit it, is flying. The idea of being in a flying metal tube, seven miles above the earth, does not sit well with me. But to get to Guatemala, stepping on an airplane is exactly what I had to do. And it was worth it. After a long wait at immigration and realizing our bags did not make it on our plane, we left the airport, and our feet touched the Guatemala ground for the first time. We hopped in the van and headed to lunch. If you’re looking for a quiet, leisurely, smooth ride, you won’t find it in Guatemala. Guatemalans drive very fast and very daringly. All the sudden flying did not seem so scary anymore. Driving around the country was a thrilling adventure, but that is not all Guatemala has to offer. The landscape is beautiful and it was easy to stop and get lost in the beauty when one should have been carrying piles of wood down the hill to the tool shed. The only thing more beautiful than the landscape were the people, dressed in bright clothing and full of character.

To write about everything we experienced, saw, and learned while in Guatemala would be a very long post, so here are the highlights. We spent several days working with Engadi Ministries doing construction work. We wheel barreled materials up and down hills, moved a shipment of wood, worked with rebar (that will later be put on the roof of the guard house), and spent some considerable time in some mud. The other part of our time was spent with children. We went to a school, made bracelets, crafts, and handed out gifts. Handing out presents to children who have next to nothing was humbling, watching their faces light up and getting excited opening gifts that included clothes and tooth brushes. One day we went into Zone 18 in Guatemala City, known as Paradise. This Paradise is far from any vision you may have of that word. It is the slums of the city; it is dirty, and very dangerous. On this day, my favorite day, we got to go into the homes of several families, hear their stories, and play with their children.

It was an amazing week for us in Guatemala. We were challenged early on to make the most of the week we were given, and that if we didn’t let our experience there change us, what would have been the point of going? We no longer can claim ignorance about the poverty, violence, and pain in Guatemala. Now we must ask ourselves not, should we do something to help, but rather, what are we going to do? It is our turn to share Nathan Hardeman and his family’s story, (the man behind Engadi Ministries) about how they are reaching out to young boys in Guatemala, to give them a better hope and future than the one currently before them. Every time Nathan told us stories, I cried, about the violence he had seen, the process to grow Engadi Ministries, how God had changed lives, provided, and the restoration that has come from the Lord. His obedience has spread the love of God and given hope to so many. That is something I / We should all be a part of.

Posted in Guatemala, Guatemala 2012 by Matt Robertson No Comments

We had an amazing day yesterday getting to visit a local school and sharing presents with kids.

Posted in Guatemala 2012Tags: Guatemala, missions, RH College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments

Posted in Guatemala by Matt Robertson No Comments

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” – Matthew 9:35-38

Wow! An amazing week is drawing to a close. I am writing this while in a plane looking over the beautiful country of Guatemala. This week has been full of hard work, laughs, tears, and heart breaking moments. As you have read in other blog posts, God is doing some incredible things here.

One of the things the Lord has placed on my heart is to encourage those who have been reading our blog from the beginning. We came to Guatemala as ten Americans who had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We walk away with 11 members (we added one down in Guatemala, who is staying for 6 months: Kory) unified, ready to share the story of the boys of Guatemala. We have been given the task to be in prayer for Engadi Ministries and the lives it will effect.

As a brother in Christ, I encourage you to begin to pray on how the Lord wants to use you to carry His name to all the nations. Ask the Lord to place a passion on your heart for an organization, people group, or a nation. A nation isn’t necessarily just somewhere overseas. I believe that a nation is where we are living now as well. This can be Franklin, Knoxville, Birmingham, Denver, or San Diego. We are called to take the gospel to all nations. This includes the places we are living now.

I encourage you to give. This is not limited to just financially. We have opportunities all around us to get involved. We can all give up one week night or one Saturday each month to serve along side other brothers and sisters in Christ. Time is one of the most precious things we have. Why not give it to the Creator of everything?

I encourage you to go. This is my third international mission trip, and I have also been all over the States serving in some awesome ministries. Many times we get scared because we think that we are not ready. I challenge you to be bold and go for it. Go and let God use you in a way that you have never imagined. Proverbs 3:5 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” When we trust God with all our heart, He can use us as tools to further His glory. With full confidence, I say that God will show Himself to you through a huge hug, warm smile, or joyful tears.

God did big things through our team in Guatemala. Let Him do big things through you. God can do big things through a willing heart! “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” You never know where He will take you or the passions He will place on your heart to further His Kingdom.

To Him Be The Glory,
Eric

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments

Due to our Internet being down the last couple of days in Guatemala we haven’t been able to post. But…new ones are coming soon that wrap up our adventure!

Matt

Posted in Guatemala by Matt Robertson No Comments

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson 2 Comments

Let me just start by saying that for me this week has been chalked full of laughter, joy, sadness, and a ton of sweat. I knew in the weeks leading up to this trip that I, as well as the rest of the team, would be challenged not only physically and mentally, but spiritually too. Today was our day of so called rest where we would go into the town of Palin to visit children and do crafts and also hike one of Guatemala’s many active volcanos called Pacaya. The trip to the town was quite the experience to say the least. Let me just preface by saying I thought my mom was a crazy driver (sorry mom if you are reading this). Just for a second imagine the craziest driving you have ever experienced and multiply that by ten and that’s what you get when you ride in the backseat of a 15 passenger van in the middle of Guatemala. There are no speed limits and every lane is a passing lane. Nathan has been a great driver I must admit and I am now confident in his skills to get us around. Day one I was a bit scared but I have grown accustomed to it over the past few days.

When we finally arrived at the school kids were already outside playing soccer and just being kids. As soon as they realized who we were, which we are clearly outsiders, they became very curious as to why we were at their school. Many kids bunched around the bags that Matt and Rebecca were sorting through just trying to get a peak at the crafts we had brought with us. This suddenly reminded me of many stories of Jesus. For instance, the story about Jesus healing the paralytic in Mark 2. It says this, “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.” Crowds gathered around him because they knew that what he had to offer was Life. How could I not feel God moving in the middle of 100+  kids smiling while doing the simplest of crafts? I saw Him in every single one of the group members today and this was a beautiful sight to see. It was such a blessing to my soul to take part in today or as Jessica French always says, “That blessed my life!” Even though there was a language barrier Nathan was able to share with them a little about the Name Above All Names, Jesus. It fit perfectly because we had them make name plates and decorate them and also with the older kids (4-6th) we got to make bracelets with the word believe on them. One of the many things I have learned from Nathan this week is that it is important to instill hope in their lives and also to believe in them because many of them are told they will not amount to much. This is why it was perfect that we showed them that we not only believed and loved them but their was one greater who believed and loved them. The most amazing thing about our time with the children was that we had to ask permission to come in and play with them. You see they have a new head master at this particular school, and we had no idea if we would be able to actually get to spend time with them. We were just going to have to be flexible. Like many times already, and like many times ahead God truly provided an opening for us.

After we left the school we walked to the trail head to begin the very strenuous hike up Pacaya. One of the men who was in charge of taking money to hike the volcano had seen what we had done with the kids and said he would let us go up for free. This to me was a testament to how God did not stop with the Guatemalan children but He spread like wild-fire to the community around them.  The hike was tough… We were told that the first 10 minutes would be the worst but to be honest, I thought the whole hike up was tough. Again without the Lord’s strength I have no idea how any of us would have gone up that mountain. It was a lot like Chimney Tops in Gatlinburg..straight up the whole way. As they say, the ends justified the means. You could see for miles and miles at the top. It was so clear, much like God’s voice has been this week.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds. I know God will be walking with all of us every step of the way. Pray that we would get the rest of the trench work done for the guard house and that Alana and I would finishing making what I call the cement bombs that go between the rebar and the ground. Also pray for our  wheelbarrow pushers (aka Pushers Union) to keep their strength even after their 50th, 60th, 70th (etc.) time up and down the hill. Thanks so much for following with us on this journey and supporting us, Nathan’s family, and Guatemala by being in prayer for what the Lord is doing here.

O and just a tip for those of you at home wanting to learn spanish or in the process of learning spanish don’t say “Mas Muerto” when asking for more cement because you are in fact asking for more death.

¡OY!

by Rebecca Price

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments

It was another day in the trenches. Some guys spent their day digging out trenches, others wheelbarrowing down a steep mountainside and back up (Shout out to Daniel – 72 times down and back with 40 lbs. – incredible). I spent my day, or most of it, sitting on a mountainside. Nathan asked me and Rrrebecca to make these cylindrical foundations. To be honest, at first I was a little insulted that he wanted me sitting instead of using my many talents wheelbarrowing. But I kept on. . .

The basic process was placing a circular PVC pipe on a board, filling it chock full of hand mixed cement and shoveling it down in. After placing a metal wire down inside the wet cement, you shimmied the PVC pipe off. 300 times, or 150 because there were two of us.

But this task got me thinking. It wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to do, mainly because I felt a little wimpy compared to everyone else. But this was something that needed to be done – these foundations have to be built before anything else could be done after the trenches were built.

God always has a plan and purpose for us. There are always things that need to be done. People may not want to do some of them, myself included, but they are things that must be done for God’s will and plan to be done. It turns out I was actually really good at this (not to brag) because it was like craft time. (Although I would recommend using gloves when grabbing concrete – it can really tear up your hands). Nathan knew to put me there because I would be of more help to him and his ministry by doing this work than shoveling or carting dirt up and back. God knows infinitely more than Nathan does, and will always be putting us in the right place to use the skills and talents he has given us. Just be open to the call God is giving you.

Last thought, a lyric from a song we’ve been singing in team-time:

“We must go live to feed the hungry / stand beside the broken / we must go / stepping forward keep us from just singing / move us into action / we must go”

- God of Justice

by Alana Byrnes

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments

In short, my job on the work site this week has been moving dirt with a wheelbarrow up and down a hill, dozens and dozens of times a day. While sore and tired, it has been a blessing to be found in such a beautiful country stumbling, walking, running, and pushing for such a beautiful cause as eventually growing boys into men of G_d.

Conversation, thoughts, laughter, “Bally” (Nathan’s dog), and the kind Guatemalans  are some of the things that have helped me get through many long, but incredible work days. Today as my tiredness peaked, trudging up and down the dirt hill, my mouth ceased to move. As this happened, my ears and mind began to become more attune with my surroundings as well as myself. The few towns below that could be seen on a small plateau of our hill, could now be heard. The soft, but yet never ceasing sound of backbeat Guatemalan’s music began to resonate in my ears along with laughter, horns, and several explosions of firecrackers (signifying a birthday).  In the distance, cars would fly up rough switchback roads up mountains that seem relentless in their pursuit of the sky.

In the duration of such beautiful, silent chaos, my mind had a chance to catch up to my feet, moving slightly slower with each trip. One of the thoughts that ramified in my being was a simple conversation that had happened hours before while making lunch. The conversation was around one word; lasagna (our eventuuuuaaal dinner). I heard the word in my head but out came the pronunciation (la_sag_na), with no silent g.  I ultimately extrapolated this thought with reference to the idea of letters existing, but not being aurally recognized (the g serves little purpose in english). In Hebrew, per se, there are no such silent letters; what might this mean? I believe that some cultures emphasize significance entirety: from ultimately big to ultimately small: From G_d, to mere humans, to mere letters, to even dirt. Finding significance in all, as G_d has made all… huh? There is something I don’t do everyday.

As I quietly continued ‘trudging’ up, and down (and up and down and up and down….) the hill, depositing dirt, I continued to notice how little each barrel full of dirt that I unloaded actually accomplished in the scheme of things. Here is 40 lbs. of dirt to fill 30 meters by 3 meters of valley, in order to allow paving, to let trucks through, before even get to start building one of the residence dorms that will be housing boys from impoverished areas of Guatemala City. As I was tiredly working, these boys were still being coerced into gangs, unrighteous relationships, and discouragement; families are still unable to find food, space, and they even buy into the idea that their existence doesn’t ultimately matter.

But yet, each barrel full of dirt meant one more towards this goal; each barrel full of dirt is a stand against injustice in Guatemala City, a small stance but one that won’t be moved. If this is so, every shovel full, every cut/scrape/bruise of a tired exhausted but yet inspired team, every kind word look or smile, are all firm stances against the injustice and ultimately the enemy. What else am I (are we) not recognizing as significant in pursuit of the Kingdom? What am I not doing because I think I’m or it is too small? And where can I derive such discernment?

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

2nd Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

by Daniel Weatherby

Posted in GuatemalaTags: Engadi Ministries, Guatemala, missions, Rolling Hills College Ministry | by Matt Robertson No Comments