Josiah's calling

Josiah recently attended the World Vision 30 Hour Famine at our church.  He felt God calling him to be a missionary and this is his story...

During the 30 hour famine I learned how God can use just a little to do a lot, and how very little people in different parts of Africa and other countries have.  Often time in American we get caught up in all our own stuff and never take time to listen to God.  However, when we take time to listen we can hear God and listen to what He's calling us to do and to be obedient to follow.

So, as I was saying, when I did the famine at church I felt God touch my heart and felt him opening up my heart to listen to what He had to say.  I heard Him calling me to be a missionary and to open the Word of God to other countries. 

When I got home and then went to church on Sunday I saw the Guatemala mission trip in the bulletin and I thought, "This must not be a coincidence."  So later I asked my mom if I could go to the meeting.  She told me to ask her later so I did.

On Tuesday I asked and we both went and learned more about the mission trip.  We learned that we needed to raise $1800.  So now I would kindly ask if you would like to donate to help us be able to help those in Guatemala who need spiritual and physical help?  We would be grateful.

Sincerely,

Josiah

The mission trip to Guatemala is one led by The Webers from our church.  We will be going as part of a team.  The focus is medical, building, and going to the Palencia school.  Josiah's focus would be working with the children during the time that the adults are in the medical clinics.  The trip is in June

If you are interested in joining Josiah as a partner in the mission trip, you can write a check to First Presbyterian Church and send it to our home address.

Guatemala Here We Come!

I've found myself praying more today. Perhaps it is because Tom and Courtney are on a mission trip and I have no contact with them. My prayers for them have not been out of fear, but out of a desire for God to use this trip to impact their lives for His glory. I haven't been pleading, "Oh God, keep them safe" but my prayers have been more like, "Lord, use this trip to give Courtney and Tom a passion for you. May Courtney and Tom be completely sold out for you!"

Is it just because they are out reach that my focus has been different, or is it the fact that going on a trip like this will require them to rely more on God and less on themselves?

I had wanted to go on this trip, but due to some health issues it wasn't to be...but that doesn't mean that God isn't working on me. He has caused me to look at prayer in a new way. He is challenging me to pray purposefully (and more than once a day).

While Whitney was watching a children's video on Daniel it mentioned, "Daniel faced toward Jerusalem and prayed three times a day." It made me wonder...how passionate am I about prayer and trusting God in all circumstances? How would my life be different if I diligently set aside time each day (and more than once a day) to pray to God? Maybe a little more love for God would shine through in my life too.

Here are a couple of pictures from Sunday when the Guatemala team was being commissioned at church...

Prayer Requests:

• Pray as they minister to the people in Guatemala. This trip was supposed to be a ministry to the children at Palencia School and also a medical mission/vbs to 3 locations in Guatemala. However, because of the volcano eruption and the tropical storm the team wasn't sure where they would actually be able to go. Many lives have been lost due to the eruption and the storms. (Did you see the big sinkhole in Guatemala City?
• Pray for wisdom and guidance as they decide where they can go
• Pray for the team to have wisdom as to which families should receive the 206 water filters
• Pray for people to respond to the gospel
• Pray for the hearts of those on this team...to be forever impacted by God while they are on this trip
• Pray for Courtney to have supernatural ability to be able to understand and communicate in Spanish (she has ha d 3 years of Spanish in High School and is the one on the team with the most knowledge of the language).