December was absolutely jammed packed with activities. I'll try to give you some of the highlights. First off was a two week trip to Guatemala. The first week was spent in Guatemala City at our annual H.I.M. Central American pastor's retreat. It's always a great time of fellowship, learning and drawing closer to God. Our special speaker this year was Dr. Glenn Reiff, he did an excellent job talking to us about holiness.

There were pastors from several other missions that came to join us for some of the sessions. We enjoyed getting to know some new faces.

One evening we built a bon fire and sat around singing, telling riddles, and discussing biblical mysteries. Some great memories!

It was nice to have EFM's national church president Misael and his wife visit some of the sessions. He and his wife ministered to us with some beautiful music.

Mealtime as usual was marked with missionary stories, discussion about cultural differences and always a good joke or two. A lot of fun!

Spanish director "two-story" John Dykes. The Spanish guys get a kick out of his height.

It was another great retreat and very enjoyable!



The second week of December I headed to the mountains of Guatemala to a town called Tacaná. It's close to 8,000 feet in elevation and very very cold!!! I wore two t-shirts, a regular shirt and a coat on top of that. Brrrrrr.

The town was packed with vendors in full swing for the Christmas shopping season. It was hard maneuvering through the streets.

One day the local pastor took me further up into the mountain to a little village called "Las Nubes" in English "the clouds". Literally this place was so high that the clouds often float through it. The road was rough getting up there but the views were amazing!

On top of the world!! Las Nubes, Guatemala.

H.I.M. has a preaching point here in Las Nubes and the man seated is the pastor who walks from his village two hours away once a week to preach. One of his church families invited us to eat sheep stew with them at their house.

Sheep and agriculture is the main source of income in Las Nubes. When a family decides to butcher one of their sheep it is a family event.

This was my first time to eat sheep stew. It was scrumptious! The first bowl is my stew, the second bowl has baked potatoes and the third bowl has tortillas. The men all sit together and are served first, then the women and children.

It always intrigues me when I visit Guatemala how much they have retained their traditional ways. Dialects are still spoken, hand made Mayan style clothing is still worn by many of the women, and traditional ways of living are still closely held on to. It's so different than any of the other Central American countries.

We drove another twenty minutes down the dirt road from Las Nubes and crossed into Mexico. These white pillars show the Mexico/Guatemala border.

Cruz Perez is pastoring in Tacana. We stopped to see his grandmother on our way to Las Nubes.

Soccer dominates as the most loved sport.

The winning team took the game by only one point!

Friday thru Sunday I had the privilege of preaching a revival in Tacaná. Many of you were praying for these services, God heard your prayers and blessed us in a special way. I definitely felt God's presence and help.

Michael Mason, missionary in Tapachula, Mexico was the song evangelist and did a phenomenal job!

While driving back to Honduras on the Pan-American highway, I came up behind this van and received a surprise! The license plate said Alberta, Canada!! Wow! I wish I could have talked to the driver to see how far they were going to go. That had to be a super long trip!

 



There have been some exciting advancements in Las Delicias. God is helping!

Roberto has moved all of his family's belongings to his parent's house and has begun work on the new parsonage! He hopes to have it finished by February.

The foundation work will soon be completed and they will begin laying block for the walls!

On the back side of the house will be a prophets chamber for visitors and evangelists.

If you or your church would be interested in giving towards this project we would deeply appreciate it. We need about $10,000 to cover the expenses. You can make your checks payable to HIM and mark in the memo "Las Delicias Parsonage".



I was invited to speak at an EFM church in La Maquina, Guatemala on the topic of holiness. It was draining 15 hour drive to reach our destination but praise the Lord we had a very good trip. Roberto went along with me and it was first time to see El Salvador and Guatemala. Here he is talking with Eduardo, this family housed us during our stay.

There were lots of chickens, ducks and turkeys running around the house and roosting right outside of our bedroom window. The stalks in the background is sesame. Sesame seeds is one of the main incomes in this part of the country.

In each service we were blessed with some wonderful singing. On the right is pastor Ruben Segura and a man from his church. They make a great duo!

God helped in the services as I spoke on the two types of sin, the steps to holiness and the benefits of having holy hearts.

 We had some very special altar services as people sought God for a holy heart.

The Sunday morning crowd.

The church was just ten minutes from the Pacific Ocean.

Pastor Ruben and his family. We had a great weekend with some great people!!

 

We were highly honored to have Glenn and Helen Reiff come for a week long visit. After more than forty years in mission work and ministry we couldn't help but sit enraptured as they talked about their experiences and gave us their advice. Just absolutely wonderful people.

During the week we visited the different churches and Bro. Reiff preached. Here he is preaching in Las Delicias to a full house!

The weekend that they were here Bro. Reiff preached an anniversary revival at Las Uvas. The services were well attended and God moved on the hearts of the people as Bro. Reiff talked about our need to be right with God. Several got help at the altar.

Saturday afternoon of the revival. We had a special children's service.

Sis. Reiff talked about the caterpillar that changes into a butterfly and how God can transform our lives.

The children hung on to her every word!

 

Thank you Bro. and Sis. Reiff for your ministry. You are an inspiration to us all!!



I had a great time at Youth Challenge last weekend. God helped in every session and many young people committed their lives to doing something radical for God. It was a very good convention.

I flew in on Thursday and came home on Monday so it was a short visit. But on Sunday we had a big meal with Hannah's family. It was almost like a mini Thanksgiving.

mmmmm there is nothing like a juicy roast for Sunday dinner.

I got to meet my little niece Xena for the first time. She is a little sweetie!!

Good times and good food!!



Roberto has answered the call of God to pastor. It's ironic how his dad had prayed for years for a church and pastor and now his own son will be pastoring. It's amazing how God works.

Roberto and his wife Jenny with their two girls Jireth and Genesis. They are so excited about what God is doing. Pray for them as they begin their ministry.



While Bro. Grant was here we loaded up two vans of our people from Tiloarque and headed to the new church in Las Delicias for a big event. First we were going to marry Jose and Maria. They had been legally married back at the beginning of the year but they wanted a church ceremony. Second of all we were going to dedicate the building and thirdly we were going to install Roberto and Jenny as the new pastors of the church. All of this in one day!!

The ladies worked hard decorating the church!! Everybody was there for this big day!

Three little princesses ready for their grandma and grandpa's wedding.

The first wedding in Las Delicias!! This was exciting!

Here comes the bride!! Maria's oldest son walked her down the aisle.

It was a packed house for the event!

The bride and groom sat on chairs in the middle of the platform during the ceremony.

Performing the ceremony.

Still in love all these years later!!

With Jose's sisters.

Time to celebrate!