Sat, 26 May 2012 20:42:28 -0800WeeblyFri, 22 Apr 2011 08:54:23 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/back-in-the-usa.htmlWe are back! What an amazing trip! So many great things have happened. I hope each student and leader is able to share with their family and friends what great things God has done and is doing in Guatemala. A huge THANK YOU to all who prayed with us and encouraged us through our trip. We know God used your prayers in amazing ways. Now the real challenge begins. How do we take what God has taught each of us and apply to REAL life in Sout Carolina? Missions doesn't just happen when you get on a plane trip to a different exotic country but in the mudane everday events at home, at school, and with family and friends. One last word to the team before we sign off for the 2011 Guatemala Missions trip. "GUATA, GUATA, GUATA-MALA!" "GUATA, GUATA, GUATA-MALA!"

* Please join us for our Guatemala missions chapel on May 12. ]]>Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:08:43 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/we-have-arrived-in-fla-all-are-through-customs-we-are-about-to-get-something-to-eat-and-wait-for-our-late-flight-to-atlanta.htmlThis is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar. ]]>Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:05:39 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/last-day-in-guatemala.htmlWell today was our last day in Guatemala. It has been a spectacular day!
Today, we went on a boat ride to San Antonio and then on to Santiago to shop. These two towns were much more poor than Panajachel, but the people still had smiles on their faces and were grateful for what they had. We then came back to shop more in Panajachel. The haggling was a blast!
I, and I'm sure the rest of the team, have been thinking a lot about going home today. We are excited to come home and share what God has done through our team as well as individuals, but we also want to stay here and experience more of Guatemala. I feel like I have barely even broken the surface of what needs to be done here. I feel like we could do so much more for the people in this country! But at the same time, I know we have done exactly what God wants- no more and no less. He keeps telling the team to let go and let Him work, and this lesson comes in here as well. We want to do so much more, but we have to trust that God had us do exactly what He planned.
 Reflecting on the week, I have to say it was amazing. This has been our word all week long. Every time God tells us something, provides something at the perfect time, or just shows us something in order for us to see His glory, we say it was amazing. The Bible verses He gives us in devotionals, the peace He gives us when we have felt stressed all day, or just showing us the smiles on the beautiful Guatemalan faces, are all amazing.
We also still have a few prayer requests. Please pray that we would not leave here what we have experienced. That we would not just be God's missionaries while in Guatemala, but that this would be the beginning of a lifetime of mission work. That we would conintinue to dig into God's Word, and keep expecting Him to do AMAZING things. Please continue to pray for our night tonight and our trip home tomorrow. That our plans would go how the Lord wants and that everything would go smoothly. Pray for patience and peace with eachother, as we are all VERY tired. Pray that if there is ANYTHING else God would have us do before we leave, that we would see it, and carry out His will.

Thank you all SOOOO MUCH for the prayers!! You have no idea how much this has impacted our trip. Thank you also for keeping up with the blog and following what God is doing in our lives here and in the lives of the Guatemalans. You guys are the best! Love and prayers from the team!

Maddie Wike :) ]]>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:50:34 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/mission-monday-today-the-team-went-to-the-big-zip-lines-where-you-zig-zag-across-the-mountain-on-eight-different-lines-everyone-was-safe-and-nobody-got-hurt-we-all-had-a-blast-seeing-all-of-gods-beauty-while-youre-going-like-49ft-per-seconds-is-pre.html    Sorry that this wasn't uploaded last night we had a little bit of blogging problems that are all fixed now. Yesterday was zip line day we went on 8 different lines and we all had fun looking out and seeing the trees, we saw two wild monkeys, we had a fun time fellowshiping with each other. Everyone was safe, no rope burns or anything. Some got T-shirts and we all have certificates that say that we completed the zip lines. It was an unforgetable expieriance. 
    2 Corinthians 12:9 (last year's team verse) says, "Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me." I have seen this verse about nine or ten different times since our night in Atlanta. God has really showed me that when we feel like we're weak and can't work anymore, when we feel tired from working all day long that's when Christ's power is made perfect through us. He makes us strong in him when our flesh is too weak to move alone. Each time the verse came up I didn't know what to say because daily, constantly, I was reminded that we're going to be weak, we're going to be tired but Christ will make his power perfect through our weakness. That is just one of the many ways I have seen him work. 
    We had a privilage as a team to listen to Mr. Thomas preach on the cross again and listen to Miss. Wilson translate for the church congregation. So many times we heard "He CHOSE to stay, He didn't have to but He chose to suffer to show us what real love is, to show us that he wants to have a relationship with us. Last night we talked in devotions about how if we just think that he saved us from hell then we have missed what he did at the cross for us. The team was asked this question: Why did Jesus chose to stay? We answered, because he loves us more than he feared the cross. So he loved the sinners more that he feared this tourture and it's hard to wrap your brain around it...he stuck out the persecution. How often do we as Christians get persectued for our faith then turn and remove ourselves from the conversation? Far too many times. So we were asked what we would be willing to suffer through to show our love for Christ. We asked God to show us something amazing on this trip and last night we found yet another amazing thing he has showed us..his amazing love. "Amazing love how can it be, that you my King would die for me? Amazing love I know it's true, and it's my joy to honor you. In all I do, I honor you." This is what the team realized last night. We were reminded of his amazing love for us. It is truly amazing.
    Thank you for all of your prayers and comments, they are really encouraging to us. Thanks again.
-Lizzie & Team ]]>Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:41:38 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/amazing-sunday.htmlHey yall! I first want to start out by saying thank you so much for your prayers and that with out them this trip would not be possible.  Yall have no idea how much prayers help and encourage us. Ok, so today was truley an amazing day. We first woke up  30 mins later than normal so the day was already getting off to a good start. This morning in stead of going to church, we had a sunday school at the Thomas's house. Alot of kids showed up. We started off playing games and then got into a devotion. The lesson was about the armor of God so we had all the kids make a belt of truth. After more play time all the kids left and the team headed to the market. Most people just looked around to see what they could buy on our big shopping day on Tuesday. We came back, ate lunch, and then had alot of free time. The most amazing part of our day was deffinatly the church service. Before we went we ate awsome american hot dogs. After that we rode to the church service in tok toks ( tiny cabs). When we arrived we started practicing the songs we were going to sing for the service. Then everyone started to pour in. Mr. Thomas and Miss. Wilson did an amazing serman on Christ's death and reserection. You could see that people were really moved. At the end we had every nail their sins to the cross. It was truley amazing! After lots of prayer and bible reading, the pastor of the church told us some news. A member of thier church, about our age, has a very bad sickness and on top of that he has a heart problem. You could tell that he had the Holy Spirit in him and working in him. During the songs he was the one person closing his eyes and lifting up his hands. The whole church was praying over him while he was crying. It even made people in the crowd cry! We could tell his story was amazing because he was still praising the Lord. Please pray for him and continue praying for us. Tommorow is the zip line!
I love you all and sorry for the bad spelling,    
Anne Newman. ]]>Sat, 16 Apr 2011 15:53:05 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/last-day-of-school.htmlHey everybody, it's our third full day being in Guatemala. Today was our last day working at the school. Technically that's not true because Mr. Lesley and a few other people have to go back on Monday, but it was us students' last day at the school. We painted most of the court, Mr. Lesley redid the logo on the court, we finished painting the classrooms, and we put the nets on the goals. We also became even closer to the students. We were able to go up to a park and play soccer with them. We did a 5 on 5 tourney, which my team won! It was so much fun being able to relax and hang out with the kids doing something we all like to do. We taught one of the teachers and some of the students how to throw an American Football. When we left, they were first starting to play on the goals. They looked so happy. Working at the school was an awesome experience, realizing how similar they are to us and realizing we are all brothers and sisters in Christ

Today the parents of the students we sponsored from spirit week made us lunch. It was corn soup with chicken, and pineapple juice. It was amazing. It really meant a lot to see how thankful they were. It really made me realize how important it was to spend spirit week raising money and how much it affected other people. Some of the kids from the church are about to come over to eat dinner and play soccer with us. I'm really looking forward to meeting more kids our age. Thank you for all your prayers. I know I speak for the rest of the team when I say we really appreciate it,
Jake
]]>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:36:20 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/jesus-salva-jesus-saves-school.htmlHey everybody,
We are all having an amazing time here in Guatemala. Everything is going perfectly. Today we were working at the school, Jesus Saves. The kids there, are all around our age and just so much fun to be around. When we pictured what the kids would be like before we met them, we pictured them as completely different than Americans... but we were wrong. They are so much like us in every way. Like the minute we opened the paint bucket they started playing in it and walking up to the soccer field they were throwing water at each other. They laugh at the jokes we laugh at. There are many more examples of the ways they are like us. 
        When we first got to the school, the girls immediatley started painting the classrooms, while the guys swept the court so we could paint it. Not to long after we started working some girls and a couple guys showed up. The girls helped paint while the boys helped clean the court. The Guatemalans were much more open to us today; they were definately not as shy. They even tried their English on us... we tried our Spanish. After we finished painting we went up to the court and played soccer or futbol :) We just kicked the ball around in a circle for a while. At about 12:00, it was time for lunch. So, we said hasta luego (see you later) and headed for the park. After lunch we went back to the school and continued working. Lots of students showed up. We taught them how to play ninja and played a big game of soccer, us vs. them. It has been an incredible day.
        God has clearly been working in each team members heart. Everyone has a good attitude when we work and we are all stepping out of our comfort zones to shine the light of Christ. We want the Guatemalans to see God through our actions and attitudes. God has been working miracles on this trip and I can't wait to see what he has in store for the rest of this journey. He has truly given each of us a servant's heart. God has been with us every step of the way and without Him, none of this would be possible. We would not have been prepared for the trip, our flight wouldn't have gone so smoothly, our attitudes would not be the same, and the trip would be a disaster. But its not, because He is with us ALWAYS. Please continue to pray for us.

~Asheton and the team

p.s. there is much more to tell later :) ]]>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:09:52 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/a-great-first-day-of-work-at-the-christian-school-in-san-andreas.htmlThank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. The students had a great first day today. Many of the girls repainted the outside and inside of the classrooms with yellow paint. This time it was not watered down. The guys were up on the court digging away at the dirt so that we can put up the new metal goal posts (Soccer and Basketball). The students were great and worked very hard. They even had some time later in the afternoon to play with many of the students that arrived around 1:00 for school. As we have prayed before, God presented an unexpected opportunity to preach at the church connected with the school in San Andreas. So we accepted. Myself (Aaron) and Elizabeth (translation) presented the story of passion week leading up to the cross and the power of the resurrection. They told us 50 would probably show up. About 130-150 actually did. We pray God used what was presented to work in many lives. Their church sends their love and greetings to our churches back home. They would like to thank you for sending our team. Well, its about time to hit the hay. All have worked hard and are very tired. We all look forward to tomorrow and what God has for us next. God Bless. ]]>Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:42:30 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/we-have-arrived.htmlWe have arrived safe and sound at Las Buenas Nuevas about 7:00 their time, 9:00 our time. It was a long day of travel but a good day. Thank you for your prayers. Tomorrow we wake up ready to go to work at the San Andreas Christian School. We will be working alot on the basketball / soccer court. Pray for good weather, great connections with the students and teachers, and awesome community amongst our team. We all really looking forward to seeing what God has planned for us. We are tired, so its time to go to bed. Good Night. ]]>Wed, 13 Apr 2011 06:06:51 -0800http://mrcamissions.weebly.com/2/post/2011/04/we-had-a-great-start-we-are-waiting-for-our-connection-in-fla-keep-praying-praise-the-lord.html ]]>