Prayer items

August 12

Hello all,

I thought I would take a few minutes and update you on my life here in Guatemala.  As a lot of you know I took a vacation to North Carolina for a couple of weeks in June and July. I was able to see alot of my friends and family.  I had a busy yet enjoyable time.  I returned to Guatemala for a few days before going to Panama for a conference for a week.  I was able to see the Panama Canal and buy Diet Mountain Dew.  It was a good trip.  But I was glad when I returned to Guatemala.  My kitty was glad that I returned to Guatemala as well.

There are three main universities here in the city that I am targeting however it seems that God is opening the most doors at the Valley University.  This past Monday I had a meeting with an adminstrative guy who works with the sports and cultural department at the university.  He was the one who gave the Florida team permission to be on campus when they were here.  He had alot of ideas for activities.  He is very receptive to any teams that I want to bring on campus to teach sports to students or have other activities.  It was interesting because alot of the activities which he mentioned I thought I know someone here who could help or lead that activity.  

He said that there are two campuses out of town.  He said if I had a team here one idea would be to be on the main campus one day and the next day go to the campuses outside of the city to offer the same activity to the students.  I thought that was a good idea and great opportunity.

An idea that I have is that I would tell him each week on a certain day of the week probably Wednesdays, I will offer an activity to the students whether it is a sports activity or non sports activity or Wii video game playing.  That would be a great way to meet students and then invite them to small groups or any activity like that.

I haven't had a great response from emailing the students who I have contact info for.  However I have had a great response with them on facebook.  I have a friend who wants to help me set up a facebook page where we can make it an open forum for the students and we can post questions for the students to respond to.

Another possibility might be studying "The Purpose Driven Life" book with those who want to improve their English.  I have several national friends who speak some English but would like to improve their English.  I thought that would be a great way for them to improve their English.  

Also in mid August Helen and I will have a Crown financial orientation meeting at my house.  No one came to the last orientation which we had.  I would ask that you would pray that God would lead people to this whether it is just one person or many people.

August 17-20th I'll be attending a Team Meeting/Prayer Retreat here in Guatemala City.  Pray that it would be a time of spiritual refreshment for all of us in attendance.

My parents will be coming to visit for a week in August as well.  That trip was just planned with the generosity of a friend of mine sharing buddy passes.

I was reminded today of the story of having the faith of a mustard seed and how mountains can be moved with this faith.  As I look at the university ministry I remember how overwhelmed I felt at first with it all.  Then I can see how God has opened doors that only He could open.  Continue to pray that the students would be open to God's love.  

Colossians 3 talks about keeping our eyes focused on heavenly things and not on earthly things.  It was so interesting the illustration which God provided for me as I was thinking about this.  I was sitting at the dining room table thinking about this Scripture and how to focus on heavenly things.  Then Kitty came walking down the stairs, she walked right past me and didn't acknowledge me at all.  She went into the kitchen and I heard her eating.  Then when she finished, she went past  me again without stopping to be rubbed and she went up the stairs back to where she was before.  Some people would say that is just a cat being a cat, but I saw it as God giving me an example of keeping your eyes focused on heavenly things and not on things in the path.  

I know there are things that I have forgotten to mention but at least this gives you a short summary of some things that have been going on and things which you can pray for.

Thanks for your prayers, support and love!
Carol