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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...]

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Finding the right directions

February 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Michael and I are doing great here in Guatemala! We love the people and are so excited about the doors God is opening for us to share the Gospel!

Michael & Chrisi in Xela, Guatemala

Today, when walking around looking for a bookstore, a Guatemalan man heard us speaking English and saw the map in Michael’s hand and probably the confused look on our faces. He asked us if we needed help. We asked him if he knew where the bookstore was and he headed us in the right direction. We complimented him on his wonderful English and he told us that he was an English teacher here. He said he has a dream to help native women and children come out of poverty here by helping them export their handmade goods.

As we talked, we realized that we weren’t the only ones looking for directions. He said he had been exploring different beliefs and that he liked Jesus and Buddha. We then got to share the Gospel of Jesus with him and the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ. We talked with him about how Jesus is the ONLY way to relationship with God. He was very excited to have his sins forgiven and to have a personal relationship with God. We were able to lead him in the sinners prayer and encourage him on the steps to take next.

There on the corner of the street he found true spiritual direction and relationship with Christ. We were excited to not only get directions to the bookstore, but to get to be part of sharing God’s directions with others! God has plans even when we seem to be lost on the street!

Our running into this man was surely not a coincidence and we know that God wants to reveal Himself to the people here. This man’s name is David. Please pray for him and this exciting new start in his life!

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Miguel’s Story: Physical need leads to spiritual hope

November 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Miguel was two when his mother first brought him to the clinic.

Miguel in about 2005

His severely clubbed foot and eye problems made life very difficult for this growing boy, but that first visit in 2002 began a life changing relationship for both Miguel and his family.

Over a matter of four years, Miguel underwent care for his eye condition and his deformed foot was replaced with a prosthetic. With special care and therapy he literally stepped up to his dream of being able to kick a soccer ball like the other kids. The medical team cried the day he kicked a ball for the first time.

Miguel and his mom at the Father's Heart Clinic in 2005

Despite hearing the Gospel in her own language during many clinic visits, Miguel’s mother, Maria, consistently declined accepting Jesus Christ. However, when a short-term mission team visited them in 2008, a team member asked her if she had ever accepted Jesus into her life. Maria said, “No.”But when they asked her if she would like to she said, “Yes.”. That was just the start. That day Miguel’s two sisters, grandmother, and Miguel himself also accepted the Lord! It took four years of caring, but the love of Christ brought new light and life into this family.
In 2010 we saw Miguel, now about 10 years old, standing on his own among other children as they played in the clinic yard. He is doing well.

Here's Miguel with some of his art work in 2010

Pray that more families will accept the healing power of God in their bodies and their hearts.

This is just one example of how ASELI’s Father’s Heart Clinic is making a difference both physically and spiritually in the lives of the Mayan people of Guatemala.

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Guatemalan Mission Outreach Team

August 31, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Eight days after a volcano erupted and a storm released mud slides and flooding in Guatemala, a team of 15 people from Resurrection Life Church was on the ground and ready to help. [Read the account from Mission Network News.]

The team worked along-side the residents of homes that had been swamped with mud. Shoveling and scraping, they cleared mud from three homes, a school and from around a church. They also shared the Gospel and distributed tracts and food for the people.

“The people paid attention to our message not just because we had some gifts for them, but because we spent time working right along side them to help them get their village back from the mud and to show that God loves them,” team leader Michael Shead said. “While many seeds were planted in the village, we saw children respond to Jesus at a school outreach and even had one man on the street accept Christ after just a short conversation.”

This team mixed manual labor with medical assistance, ministry outings to a school, home visits, and a prayer visit with patients at a public hospital.

“Seeing the team serve so well together was a reminder of how we can work together for the Lord wherever we are,” Shead said. ” I want to do this more!”

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