The Lord is my strength and shield.

Three weeks down, four more to go! This week felt like a good gift from the Lord. He works through our weakness for his glory and our good. Last week left me a little discouraged, but after remembering that my power is the Holy Spirit and he can speak & encourage way better than I can, I was left reassured. In our meetings with people in the community, I have become more comfortable and confident in using a translator to speak. I also can understand way more Spanish now, which has been another blessing because at least I am aware of what is going on and don’t have to wait until after a conversation to find out what was being said.

Today the student team who has been here for nine months left Guatemala for the states. I had become close friends with all of them so it was sad to see them go!

The picture below is of church on Sunday. We had a whole commissioning, fitting since it was pentecost, and everyone prayed over everybody. It was really really sweet and very emotional as well! The church we go to on Sundays is really cool. It’s attached to our ministry, but also pulls in other ministries in the community as well as families of local Guatemalans. The sermon is preached in Spanish and English, which is really cool as well.

JESUS SAVED ZACCHAEUS!

The picture above is of Dan, one of the missionaries here, and Victor. We were meeting with Victor’s boss, reading the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was perched up in a tree trying to hear what Jesus was teaching. Jesus came over to the tree, and told him to come down. When Zacchaeus came down from the tree, he eventually ended up repenting of his sins and Jesus saved him and forgave him. After finishing the story and talking with his boss, we noticed that Victor was on a scaffolding doing construction. He was watching us intentently when we were reading our bibles and speaking, so one of the women in our group asked if he could come down from the scaffolding so we could pray for him. (sound familiar?) Victor then told us that he is deaf, and reads lips to understand what people were saying. He wanted to know what we were doing, and was trying to read our lips from up on the scaffolding to understand. We realized Victor was hungry for the word of God, and asked him if he knew Jesus. He replied saying he was catholic and knew the things of God, but didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. He then repented of his sins, and was saved.

This was CRAZY because we had just read the story of Zacchaeus, and just like in the story, Jesus called him down out of his circumstance, and asked him to repent and be saved. Praise the Lord for his word, and his Holy Spirit. Miracles happen!!

Do not hesitate to reach out if you want to hear more about what life has looked like this week!

Please pray:

• That Victor would be surrounded with good community that loves Jesus and that his hearing does not effect the ways in which he can communicate the gospel with others!

• That the students returning to the states would arrive safely and continue to be disciples who make more disciples!

• That I would be healthy- i currently am sick with some kind of respiratory thing and have been chugged tea and honey lol.

• That the Holy Spirit would keep moving in our community and we would see more people redeemed, restored, and healed!

Thanks so much for reading! I love you all and miss you dearly <3

Maggie