FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank you for standing with us over the last 3 1/2 years!  Time flies right?  Vonda and I were having coffee a few mornings ago and I told her “I’m 49 years old and I’ve never been so hopeful about an upcoming year.  I’ve never been so healthy.  I’ve never felt G-d so close by.”

2016 HAS BEEN AMAZING!  THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO OVER THE LAST 3 WEEKS!

• We’ve registered 6 girls to continue their education in El Rosario!
• We’ve provided a month worth of food for 5 families in crisis.
• We’ve distributed 16 water filters (which provides clean water for about 150 people for the next 10 years!)
• We hosted a team of 17 from Colorado, which included 8 nurses and 3 nursing students.
• We hosted two tours of the National Hospital with the head of the Emergency Room in Chimaltenango.
• We hosted 2 classes for 15 women from the community where they learned about the value of pure, filtered water, the danger of cooking over an open fire, diabetes etc.
• We took 25 kids from Rosa De Amor orphanage to the beach!
• We built 2 clean-air wood stoves with 2 kitchen remodels. (The third starts next week.)
• Every year we look for families who can’t afford school registration.  This year we paid tuition for all 325 students.  Families are already beginning to feel the affects of the severe drought that hit Guatemala.  Not having to pay tuition will help EVERY family in El Rosario.
• We took 2 year old Derick to a private doctor, paid for x-rays and blood tests to get a baseline and build a plan to get him back to health.  He was born 3lbs.  Yes.  Full term.  He is severely malnourished and has anemia.  He has severe allergies, which the National Hospital was treating as cold/flu.  He’s already doing better.  🙂
• We took pregnant mom Myra to a private doctor.  She has had extreme stomach pain and is not eating or drinking because she vomits every time.  It’s not morning sickness.  As it turns out, she has a severe stomach infection.  She’s taking the proper meds and has scheduled follow-ups with the doctor.
• We distributed vitamins to 18 women in El Rosario including pre-natal vitamins to two pregnant moms.
• We paid registration for 5 girls from Rosa De Amor orphanage as well as paid for school materials, backpacks etc.  THAT’S A TOTAL OF 11 GIRLS continuing their education!
• Every Sunday my family takes the kids from House of Hope orphanage to church with us.  It’s one of the sweetest 3 hours of our week.
• The boys academy is under construction!  They’re telling us it will be done at the end of February!

Every moment on that list has given us the opportunity to show the love of Jesus, to pray with them and to let them know, G-d is alive.  He hears our prayers.

TODAY I WANT TO ANSWER A FEW EMAILS WE’VE RECEIVED.  Thank you for writing!  We LOVE getting email from you.  We love hearing about what’s going on in your life.  🙂

Message from Cathy (not her real name), “I appreciate getting your newsletters but why do you write “G-d” instead of “God?”

Hi Cathy,

First of all, thank you so much for partnering with us in prayer.  We have been through so much and we can use every single prayer you lift up.  Thank you!

I was raised Catholic and one of the things I love about Catholicism is ​their reverence for G-d.  I memorized The Lords Prayer when I was a kid and when I read Matthew 6:9-13 recently it sounded different to my ears.  It felt different in my heart.  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”  Let Your name be holy.

When I write G-d with a hyphen it’s a reminder to myself that He is holy.  Even His name is holy!

It’s my way of talking about G-d in the most humble way I can.  I often write my prayers and when I do, I write it without the hyphen.  I feel closer to Him as my Father during my prayer time.

Love,

​George and Vonda​

 

Message from Melissa (not her real name),

“Hi George and Vonda,

I’ve figured that you’re so busy that I should’t email you with anything that’s going on here. It was so encouraging to see that one water filter would help a family of 16! I had no idea that one water filter could make such a big impact. I am so blessed to even receive these emails that you send and see how you are following God’s calling for your life. I have started to read Crazy Love and it’s great.

I feel called to something big, but I don’t know how to get there. 

God wants to use me!  I have no idea what to do next. I know that I’m being called but I don’t have any idea of what to do next.

How did you make the next steps? How did you know that God was calling you to El Rosario?  How do I get started?

All I know is that I do not want to live a boring and average life, I want to follow God’s calling for my life like you did!

Thank you and God bless.”

 

Melissa,

It’s so great to hear from you.  I LOVE where you’re at!  I love that you’re pursuing G-d and that you recognize Him pursuing you.  That feeling of “being called to something big” is real.  THAT is the Holy Spirit.  And let me tell you, there is nothing bigger, nothing more fulfilling than serving Him with every breath you take.

People pray that G-d would show them how to serve Him.  They pray that The Holy Spirit would guide them and cover them.  They genuinely want to follow Jesus.  But many times they don’t slow down enough to hear Him…to recognize His voice.  They’re distracted by the world.  He’s not running from us so that means we need to open the eyes of our heart and listen.

I see so many people WAITING.  They wait to hear if G-d wants them to adopt.  They wait to hear if G-d wants them to give.  They wait to hear how G-d wants them to love.  I don’t get it.

The bible says to care for orphans and widows.  Jesus tells us to love our neighbor.  I don’t believe that when we come before G-d that he’ll say “You gave too much.  You loved too many.”

So, this is what has worked for us over the last 5 years.

1. Spend time with G-d.  Read His word.  He speaks to Vonda and I regularly through Scripture.  Spend time with Him in prayer.  Listen.  Spend time ALONE in a quiet place.  If Jesus could get away to “lonely places” to spend time with His father, I think we can too.  Luke 5:16  

2. Write down 5 ways you think G-d wants to use you.  Big or small.  Do they line up with scripture?  Pray over them.  Release them to Jesus and then…do something.  Before Joshua asked G-d to make the sun stand still, he MARCHED.  He didn’t pray and wait.  He marched and fought for the glory of G-d.  And while fighting he prayed what must have been the most bold prayer he’d ever prayed.  “Stop the universe.  Stop the earth from spinning.  Make the sun stand still.”

PRAY BOLDLY in the name of the Lord.  

LISTEN.
SERVE HIM with every breath you have.
LOVE HIM so much that your heart feels like it might burst.

Don’t over think it.  DO SOMETHING.  FIGHT.  MARCH.

Jesus wants you.  He’s pursuing you.

Here’s some homework for you.  🙂

What does Jesus mean when he says this:  “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

DO YOU BELIEVE IT?
What does that scripture mean to you?
How can you act on it TODAY?  Tomorrow?
Will you act?  Will you be obedient?

Pray over it.  Embrace it.

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Melissa.  SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT OF AMERICANS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS CHRISTIANS.  Yet Jesus says it’s a narrow road and only a few will find it.  That’s scary.  To me that says there are a lot of people who believe they’re on the narrow road, who aren’t.  They’re in no hurry to “lose their life for His sake.”

Make sure you’re on the narrow road.

Thank you for emailing us.  We’re always here for you.  Email us or call us.  Let us pray for you.  Keep us updated.  We expect G-d to speak to you.  We expect the Holy Spirit to move you and guide you.  AND WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.  🙂

Love,
George and Vonda

Read the rest of this paragraph slowly.  WE APPRECIATE YOU.  We appreciate that you read our updates.  We appreciate that you pray for us.  We appreciate your financial partnership.  We FEEL that you’re here with us.  You have no idea how much that means to Vonda and I.  Thank you.

This is how you can help us out this week.
Click on the link below and share this post to Facebook.
Send us a quick note and tell us what you’re looking forward to in 2016.

THAT’S IT!  THANK YOU!  WE LOVE YOU.

George and Vonda