You are here: Home / Archives for michael.shead

Brenda’s Silence

March 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Brenda meets with Dr. Roberts

Seven-year-old Brenda rarely speaks. When she does, she uses very few words like “mama” and perhaps a couple other words including her name.

I met Brenda and her mom at a clinic held by a team of Texans at the ASELSI Father’s Heart Clinic a couple weeks ago. As an interpreter for the pediatrician, I helped investigate the back stories of patients and then communicate the correct treatment. Many patients had headaches and pains related not to a physical cause but to the stress of their life situations — financial distress, abandonment, hard labor, and more. It was a reminder that more than medicine is needed here. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Missionary, Stories Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Needs all around

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the challenges we face as we minister to the people around us is knowing how to respond to the many needs we see every day. There are women begging in the market, sick people in need of care, children who can’t attend school because of the financial burden, a neighbor who was in a motorcycle accident, death of a friend, and ministries that need help too.

Chrisi checking on Rosa's clubed foot.

One of the things that keeps coming up in my mind is that we must not look past these needs to the point of missing the people, but we must look through these needs to see that in the middle of that physical need is a spiritual need. When we start seeing what God sees in each situation, we help bring the will of God about as we help reach people with Christ and with care.

Just this week we saw that happening: Two people accepted Christ during a hospital visit! We connected with a new ministry with a unique tool for reaching children with the Gospel, and we are helping connect a 10-year-old girl with much needed medical care

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Shiny Shoes and Clean Hearts

February 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Distributing tickets for the event

Distributing tickets for the event
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 13

There are dozens of shoe shiners in Chichicastenango. Starting as young as five years old, these youngsters prowl the streets looking for leather shoes to turn into shiny proof of their work.

“Shoe shine?” they ask  in earnest. “Son muy sucio.”  (They are very dirty.)

These poorly dressed youngsters can be seen carrying their little wooden shoe shine boxes in their blackened hands in search of one more customer. For three quetzales (about 40 cents U.S.) they will wax your shoes and buff them to a brilliant sheen. Really. Many of these boys do a fine job. If you don’t let them shine your shoes, they may follow you for a block asking for money for a tamale, some toy in a nearby store, or simply for a quetzal to help increase their take by the end of the day.

In February 2012, a Christian group from Saginaw, Michigan visited Chichicastenango to help with several projects at ASELSI. One of the projects was an outreach for the shoeshine boys.

ASELSI rented out the local municipal theater and the team gave the kids an afternoon of fun and games. This was an opportunity these boys do not often have — a chance to be children. After winning prizes of shoe wax, toys, toothbrushes, and more during games of hot potato. The boys enjoyed coloring, crafts, and dodgeball. After the games, the boys listened to a lively presentation of the Gospel and all 25 of them responded to accept Christ!

This is a great step for these boys to start a relationship with Christ, but now a followup and discipleship program needs to be developed! Please pray for an ongoing opportunity for these young boys to grow in their relationship with Christ.

Filed Under: Missionary, Stories, Teams Tagged With: , , , ,

Chichi Feeding Program

January 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Praying with shoeshine boys

Praying with shoeshine boys
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 9

In Chichi boys as young as 5 years old prowl the streets carrying what look like little black toolboxes. Their hands are filthy and most of their ragged clothes are a close match. These boys are the shoeshine boys looking for anyone with  leather shoes to shine for as low as two quetzales (about 26 U.S. cents) and as high as they can get foreigners to pay.

Another common site in Chichi are the carriers of heavy things. These men may be as old as well into their 80s, but they are men with strong backs and hard lives hired to carry heavy burdens for shop owners and individuals.

For these boys and men, ASELSI puts on a special feeding outreach in the local central park. Usually this involves sending out a small team to pass out tickets and then returning to the town park with 30 to 60 hamburgers, chips, a drink and some cookies.

Before the sack lunches are passed out, we have some fun songs and then someone shares a testimony of how God changed their life. After a brief presentation of the Gospel we’ll pray for anyone who wants to accept Christ or just needs prayer.

Then it’s lunch time and all the individuals with tickets line up and receive their lunches. The most exciting part of these outreaches is seeing the guys respond to Christ. The hardest part is having to tell those without tickets that we don’t have any more meals to give away.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Missionary, Stories, Teams

Hope and a Heartrending Home Visit

January 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Carrying the food tub.

Carrying the food tub.
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 16

While hosting the first ASELSI team of 2012, we left the main road and went out to visit a family with a large tub filled with food for them. As we wound down hairpin curves, our little white Toyota van bumped over hardened ruts and finally descended to the smooth sand beside the Motagua River near the family home in the area of Xepocol.

After picking our way along the rocky bank, we walked by a ruined bridge that had been destroyed in the 2010 flood that ripped through this valley as a result of tropical storm Agatha. We stepped on rounded stones and crossed  a makeshift log bridge over the gently flowing water, it was hard to imagine the torrent that must have been this river just two years ago.

The house We followed the river up stream until we saw a small group of children high on a bluff above us looking down and jabbering excitedly as we worked our way up a ravine to the top of the bluff. These kids were some of the eight children we had come to visit. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Missionary, Stories, Teams

ASELSI CHRISTMAS PARTY 2011

December 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The line of families waiting to get into the ASELSI Christmas Fiesta 2011

On December 1st I got up early and drove over to ASELSI at 5:45 a.m. It was the big Christmas celebration and the line of guests had been growing since people started camping outside the ASELSI gates at 5:30 p.m. the night before. These Guatemalans really look forward to a party!

With nearly 800 families invited, we were expecting quite the crowd.

I had to park well away from the actual campus because of the crowd that wound it’s way nearly a quarter of a mile down the road. In the pre-dawn twilight smoke was filtering through the trees from the pine needle fires people had started on the road to help keep warm from the chilly night air.

I could hear the clicks and glottal sounds of the K’iche language as they gave the morning greeting of “skerik.” The closest I could get was a friendly Spanish “buenos dias,” but they didn’t seem to mind. I think they were glad to see that morning was finally arriving. For many of them they spent much of the night getting their place in line.

Some of the team members from Gateway Church in Texas were already out walking the line welcoming the people as I set up video equipment to capture the moment so we could share this event with people back in the states. At times the clouds of smoke choked my throat as well as my view, but slowly the twilight gave way to an overcast morning light.

At 6:30 the ASELSI team arrived and finalized preparations to have everything ready for people to hear the Gospel during this Christmas Celebration.

By about 8 a.m. the line was moving as each family checked in and made their way to the waiting area that we normally use for a dusty and hard dirt soccer field on the back side of the campus.

ASELSI CHRISTMAS PARTY CROWD

At 8:30 the seats in the open auditorium were filled with the first of four groups as hundreds of children, accompanied by their parents, older siblings, aunts and uncles watched a clown on the stage with expectation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Stories

And you clothed me…

December 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Chichicastenango

You never know what you’ll run into in the streets of Chichicastenango. Just a few weeks ago, I (Michael) was driving home and I saw a young man sitting on a street corner near the local fire station.

This isn’t all that unusual except that this man had no socks and no pants. I assumed he was drunk as, sadly, public drunkeness is not an uncommon sight here.

A light rain had started so we gathered up some clothes (a raincoat, pants, socks) and some food and water. As we pulled up, there he was, still seated on the corner and visibly shivering. Chrisi stayed around the corner with Hudson as I approached the man and quickly realized that he wasn’t drunk but had an obvious mental disability. A pair of pants in a bag sat next to him as evidence that someone else had tried to help him as well.

The man couldn’t communicate, but he showed obvious delight as he quickly ate the bread and two hotdogs I handed him. I couldn’t convince him to put on the socks or pants I brought him, but I covered him with the raincoat and prayed over him. He continued eating quickly and laughed several times. I patted him on the sholder and a local taxi driver called out a warning that we should be careful.

I couldn’t help but think of the Gaderene Demoniac who Jesus met in Mark chapter 5. Like that man, the man we met needed Jesus’ deliverance as well as the clothes we gave him.

That night we prayed over him and made our way home. The next day he was gone.

Please pray for this man who couldn’t even tell me his name. Jesus has complete freedom of spirit, mind and a self-controlled body for this man.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Q&A

November 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A recent missionary intern at ASELSI asked us some questions about missionary life for new missionaries. I thought I’d share our answers…

Q. How did you know you wanted to be missionaries?
A. We’ve both had a desire to be part of fulfilling the Great Commission since we were kids. Chrisi remembers telling her friends and family that she was going to be a missionary one day…even though she wasn’t really sure what that meant! I (Michael) grew up reading missionary biographies, and knowing that God has a purpose for me and that it includes missions. I remember my family helping missionaries and since I was a young teenager, I have had the privilege of traveling to the mission field personally and seeing what God is doing and discovering how He wants me to be part of His plans! Those were the seeds in our hearts that began germinating as God gave us fertile ground and opportunities to grow, be trained, and develop deeper relationships with Him. Our journey to the mission field has been indirect, but straight in the direction God has for us one step at a time. We very much see God’s hand in preparing us to be here. This is good, because it makes us all the more reliant on Him and His leading now that we are here!

Q. What is the most challenging aspect of coming on to the mission field?
A. There are the challenges of new language, different culture, and support raising, but I think one of the most challenging things is to keep our eyes on Christ and not on challenges, circumstances, or even our temporary goals. When we get our eyes off of Christ and His purpose for us here, we can get discouraged, into bad attitudes with others, negative outlooks on our surroundings, and out of fellowship with Christ. However, when we keep our focus on Christ and His desire for us to grow in love for God and for people, we stay on track. That’s the challenge, keeping our focus on Christ and His desire for us and for the nations!

Q. What do you love most about serving with ASELSI?
A. We love that ASELSI has a vision and tradition of training up local people and preparing them not only for the task at hand but for the purpose and plan that God has for them. We want to not only be here and do our part, but to help train up others to do things even better than we can, in ways that we haven’t though of yet, and in places that we can’t go. We love being part of ministry that is training a new generation of leaders who will bring Christ to their people and to the nations!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Dia de los Muertos

November 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A Mayan man kneels during a ritual at the Chichicastenango Cemetery

Dia de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead (Nov. 1) is celebrated in Guatemala to remember, honor, and even worship the spirits of the dead. Even as I write this, I can hear the explosions of fireworks that have been rocking the air since about 5 this morning.

In local cemeteries across Latin America, families have been cleaning, painting and preparing the tombs for this annual celebration. Sadly, the tradition of fixing up the graves is not limited to simply remembering family heritage. In the cemeteries you’ll see men performing Mayan rituals, families leaving food for the spirits beside the lavishly painted tombs.

At a local evangelical service on Sunday the pastor shared about the real significance of “Halloween” and el Dia de los Muertos challenging his congregation to avoid being part of the worship of spirits.

Please pray that the people of Guatemala will have their eyes opened to the truth so they can follow the Holy Spirit and know Christ as the one way to relationship with God.

Here’s  a story one of our fellow missionaries shared about a Mayan witch who came to know the Lord through ASELSI’s outreaches. Praise the Lord! This is exactly the type of thing we’re here for!

 

Click on photos below to see larger versions.

dscf3336

dscf3336
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 23

Filed Under: Guatemala Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

A son returning home…

August 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We met a young Korean-Guatemalan man this evening. His father is a pastor but he’s been following his own direction for a while and now finds himself robbed and trying to make it to his home near the El Salvador/Guatemala Border (about 8 hours from here). He wasn’t ready to put God back in charge of his life but he listened to us as we reminded him of how God loves him and that he can return to Him. We prayed with him and helped him on the way with a tract and a little cash to help him get home. Please pray for Emerson.

Filed Under: Stories
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»