GUATEMALA 2011 - Breaking Strongholds at the Mayan Ruins in Tikal

Tikal, Guatemala
Sunday, October 30, 2011
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Breaking Strongholds at the Mayan Ruins in Tikal

The largest preserved Mayan city in all of Latin America is in Tikal not too far from the Belize border. These ruins are also the tallest of the Mayan temples. For hundreds of years the Mayans would perform human sacrifes at these temples in order to appease their so-called "gods." Our Iris Latin America team felt led to hike to the top of the tallest temple to take communion and worship Jesus. We did just that. We only had corn tortillas to use for Christ's body and Gatorade to use for Christ's blood, but nonetheless, we took communion together. As we did this, our whole team could sense a shift taking place in the heavenly realms. It was as if God was waiting for His children to come and remember the body and blood of Christ in that very place, which not only covers sin and things detestable in the sight of God, but literally takes them away. We believe that an exchange took place today; the blood of Christ which was poured out for the sins of many for the blood of humans which was spilt in vain to please demons.

 

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Mark 3:27 says, "No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house." Our call as Christ's followers is to take His gospel and to further His Kingdom throughout the world...to every nation. I truly believe that the demonic strong man that has caused Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central and South American countries to be some of the most dangerous places on earth was bound today by a simple act of obedience on behalf of God's sons and daughters. Now it's time to plunder his goods.

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The ruins were breath-taking and fun to climb. We saw more wildlife today including howler mokeys that tried to poop on us from high up in the trees. Can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us here in Guatemala.

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Christian Young

GUATEMALA 2011 - Embracing the Challenges in Missions

El Remate, Guatemala
Friday, October 28, 2011
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Embracing the Challenges in Missions

It’s not often that I talk about the challenges that we face as missionaries on blog posts, mostly because of a heavenly perspective that has been cultivated in my life throughout the years as a missionary due to the grace of God…it’s a perspective that gives the victories that we experience the spotlight and that causes the challenges that we experience to be left in the shadows. Mama Heidi talks about drinking from the cup of joy AND the cup of suffering. So today I think I’ll share a little bit about some of these challenges that we’ve been facing lately, and how we choose to embrace these challenges simply because we choose to embrace the entire journey and all that it entails.

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I have had my share of mosquito bites throughout the years but Latin America wins the award for the longest lasting, most itchy mosquito and gnat bites I’ve ever had. When we were in the mountains of Nayarit, Mexico, we slept outdoors for a couple of nights on potato sack cots. The first night that we slept outdoors there, I got bit throughout the night by gnats that literally paralyzed parts of my body. Some of them bit my on the face and the mouth so badly that I couldn’t feel my lips. It was so bad that I went into the RV in the middle of the night to take some Benadryl in hopes that the swelling would go down by morning. In Dangriga, Belize I was bitten by tiny mosquitoes all over my body, but especially on my ankles. These mosquitoes would leave a little hole in your skin where you can see the blood. Most mosquito bites go away after a day or so, at least when I get bitten by them. Not these bites. They literally lasted a week and in the middle of the night I would be up for hours scratching these bites almost uncontrollably. They were so itchy and annoying. We also heard that some of the mosquitoes where we have been carry Dengue Fever, but none of us experienced any symptoms. Speaking of bugs, Jesse and I drove right through an entire swarm of honey bees in Belize that covered our entire windshield. It was a miracle that none of the bees entered the driver’s side and passenger’s side windows which were open…and many of you know about my fear of bees. Uhhhh-uhhhhh!

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We’ve also experienced some fairly major difficulties with our vehicles on this journey. Before we ever even left the U.S. for Latin America we had to do some major work on almost all of the vehicles that we purchased. Then when driving through the mountains coming out of Oaxaca, Mexico, our Ford Camper Van that we named, “New Wine” blew a transmission seal just as we pulled into a gas station to fuel up. That cost us a few days and some money to repair it. That van also seems to have problems with the radiator hose as every now and then it pops off of the radiator and looses all of its’ coolant. Just yesterday we entered Guatemala from Belize and our Dodge Durango that we named “Shekinah” lost all of the gears on its’ transmission. We hooked up a tow cable that we purchased right before leaving the U.S. and towed it to a mechanic near Tikal where we were heading. He called the only transmission mechanic in the area who met us the following morning. We were told that there would be the parts that we would need back in Belize, either at Matus Auto Parts or in Spanish Lookout where the German Mennonites live. So Jesse and I were driven 100 kilometers all the way back to the border, re-entered Belize, found the auto parts store and then called every auto parts store in all of Belize, including the Mennonites to no avail. No one in the entire country of Belize has the transmission that we need, new OR secondhand. So we traveled back to the border, re-entered Guatemala and got a ride in the back of a pick-up truck back to Temate where the rest of our team was waiting. Now our only option is to purchase a transmission from the U.S. and have it shipped to the mechanic’s shop here in Guatemala which will take seven business days (or a week and a half). We figure the transmission will cost us $1,800 plus shipping costs. The funny thing is that we don’t have the money for it! We are already over-budget on team travel costs due to these unexpected challenges. And now we will be even further behind on our schedule as we have ministries waiting for us and other team members flying in to other Central American countries to meet us. So what should we do in this situation? Stress out? Throw a pity-party? Heck no! We embrace the journey. We embrace the challenges. Our team will pray and worship together until we have financial breakthrough to get the parts we need. God called us to take this trip through all of Latin America and He is faithful to give us all that we need to complete it!

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My most difficult challenge has been being away from my family for so long. It is going on two months of being apart from them. I miss them  like crazy. I know I will be returning back to the U.S. to be with them soon, which is comforting. But it is only by God’s grace that we can embrace such challenges as these. Jesus laid down His life that others would find eternal life through Him. The missionaries of old encountered far more difficulties than I have ever faced in order that entire people groups would hear the good news of salvation. We must be willing to count the cost and lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel as well. I need to even be willing to give up my life so that one more person can enter heaven…all for the sake of love. Love enables us to drink from both the cup of joy and the cup of suffering as missionaries.

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Our team is now camped out on a beach next to a lake where we are staying for free. It is near some ancient Mayan ruins in Tikal which we want to visit tomorrow. There are signs everywhere warning us about jaguars and crocodiles. What an adventure! We don’t know what each day holds for us…which is super-exciting! Last night some of our team led a Guatemalan boy to Jesus. The children come and visit us at our campers near the lake. Please pray for us as we continue to bring revival fire through Latin America. Bless you all!

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Christian Young

BELIZE 2011 - Our Journey Through Belize

BELIZE 2011 - Revival among the Garifuna and Kekchi People

Punta Gorda, BelizeTuesday, October 25, 2011.
Revival among the Garifuna and Kekchi PeopleOur team had originally planned to charter two small boats that would take us to the Tobacco Caye island today, but those plans were cut short due to a hurricane forming offshore. In fact it is serious enough that all of the islanders were warned to come in to the mainland. But again, we hold all of our plans loosely. We had actually thought to go to Punta Gorda and the surrounding Mayan villages the following day, but decided to do that today instead.
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Punta Gorda is the furthest city south in Belize, almost all the way to the border of Guatemala. So from Corozal to Punta Gorda, our team has had the opportunity to travel the entire length of Belize and minister from the northern border to the southern border. Garifuna people live in Punta Gorda, as they do here in Dangiriga as well. The Garifuna people are descendants of Africans and have their own language and culture. We arrived in Punta Gorda around lunch time, so we found a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by a lady named Joselyn who just opened up for business three months ago. We got a chance to pray for her restaurant and anointed it with oil. She was so glad that we came. We prayed for her as well. Then her friend Judy asked if we could pray for the healing of her eyesight as she could only see things blurry out of her right eye after a surgery she had a while back. Not only was the blurriness healed in her right eye, she took off her glasses and didn’t need them anymore! Then they asked if we could visit a 91 year old lady named Lois who also couldn’t see well. When we walked into her house she could only see us as shadows. By the time we had finished praying for her, she could see the color of our skin and how many fingers Jesse was holding up! Two ladies received miraculous healings of their eyesight. On top of that, some of our team witnessed to a guy named Anthony who has been struggling with alcoholism. He gave his life to Christ and we baptized him in the Caribbean Sea!

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From Punta Gorda we traveled to a nearby Mayan village called, “San Pedro Columbia.” When we arrived we looked for the elementary and secondary school which we found with the help of a Kechki man who gave us directions. San Pedro Columbia is a Mayan village that speaks the Kechki language. The Kechki are descendants of the Mayans. We found the principal, told him who we were and asked if we could minister to the children. He agreed and our team split up into groups and ministered to the different classes. Jesse, Victor, Ben and I went to a class of the older children. We gave our testimonies, spoke prophetic words and words of knowledge over them and led six of them in prayer to receive Jesus Christ! I learned how to say a few words in Kechki. “Hello” is “Yos.” “How are you?” is “Changcha Quill?” In another Mayan dialect that I heard that “How are you?” is “Bekielech?” My love for learning new languages continues as I travel throughout Latin America. I have even learned how to speak a bit of Belizean Creole.
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From San Pedro Columbia we traveled to Big Falls where we heard that some of the children from the school there were possessed by demons. We found the area that they lived but they had all been relocated to different places. We learned that they had been mixed up in some curses that came from visits to nearby Guatemala. We prayed over that area and over one of their relatives named Jose who was having pain in his shoulders. He felt much better after we prayed for him and he even physically looked different after we prayed. We truly saw revival among the Garifuna and Kekchi people today on our journey to south Belize.
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We finished off the afternoon by visiting some Mayan ruins which we could only travel to by foot as the road we closed off to vehicle traffic. It was interesting to see and it felt a bit eerie there. More than likely human sacrifices took place hundreds of years ago at these very ruins. We continue to pray that God will have His full reward in Belize.
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Christian Young

BELIZE 2011 - Baptisms in the Caribbean Sea

Dangriga, BelizeMonday, October 25, 2011

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Baptisms in the Caribbean Sea

Heidi Baker wrote a text message back to us the other day saying that we would "find the greatest treasure yet in Belize." A Belizian man named Godfrey who our team adopted into the tribe in Corozal is definitely this greatest treasure.

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We left Corozal the other day on a journey to Dangriga. Along the way we stopped by the "Blue Hole" to swim and explore some caves. Our arrival in Dangriga was a bit sketchy as we weren't sure where we were going to stay. But after checking out a few spots, we found just the right place at Jungle Huts Hotel, where they are letting us stay in our RV's and pop-up tent trailers for free.

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Yesterday Godfrey had told us that he wanted to be baptized as he has chosen to follow Jesus Christ since we met him and prayed for him in Corozal. So this morning, we walked with him to the Caribbean Sea to baptize him. While at the beach, Ben led another young man named Kareem to Christ and we baptized him as well. Others from our team witnessed to others at the beach. There is so much joy in Godfrey as he has truly been set free by Christ.

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After doing some fishing during the day and catching quite a few catfish, our team had a time of worship in the afternoon and then headed to a park to do an evangelism outreach. Jesse had already gone and talked to the mayor earlier in the day to get permission to do so. When we got to the park, most of the children we talked to had already received Christ and go to church regularly. So we just played with them. loved on them, put on an adjusted version of the luchador skit and prayed with them. To finish the night we came back to the hotel and ate the fish that we had caught earlier in the day.

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Christian Young

BELIZE 2011 - Stopping for the One

Corozal, Belize
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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Stopping for the One

When we first arrived in Belize, we felt that God was leading us to invest into the people who He would draw to us, and even take these people with us wherever we would minister. This is stopping for the one...the one who God places before us. Some of our team stopped for one man named Godfrey. He is a Belizian that is 47 years old and has grown up all his life in Corozal, where we are currently staying. Godfrey had been sober for three days when we first met him. He has lived a life of addiction to alcohol and drugs, on the wide road that leads to destruction, but he has now entered the narrow road that leads to eternal and abundant life. We have taken in Godfrey as a part of our team and he has accompanied us pretty much everywhere we have gone to minister; to the town square, to the hospital, to the villages. He also worships with us as a team in the mornings. He said that he feels new life in him and that our team gives him strength. We are investing into Godfrey all day long. How wonderful it is to stop for the one.

 

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Our team has been stopping for the one our entire time in Belize. The first night we went to the square and just sat with the people...they were mostly drunk and hurting people. We know that these are the kinds of people that Jesus would be hanging out with. We are Jesus with skin on. I got braids put into my hair here in Belize. The people here speak English, Spanish and Kreol, which sounds like Jamaican. I wanted to fit in more here, so I had my hair done up. I got a chance to minister to Vickey, who put my braids in. Then Jesse and I went next door that evening to play cards with a guy named Renan and some other locals.

 

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Yesterday the team went to the villages to minister door to door to families while some of us stayed back to make some much needed repairs to the vehicles. Last night some of the team went to spot alligators near the mouth of the river while Victor and I went night fishing and caught some catfish.

 

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This morning our team had a worship time together and then prayed for a man who has been suffering with demonic attacks because of voodoo that was placed on him. He had made our team buttered chicken for dinner the previous night. Then we piled into Shekinah and Overflow and headed to the hospital to pray for the sick. What an awesome time! The nurses let our team enter every ward to pray for people. I prayed for one boy in Spanish who had a fever. The boy and his mother were then called in to see the doctor. When she left the doctor's office I asked her if her son still had a fever. She replied that the fever had left. I told her that this was a miracle. We want to empty hosptials. Jesus loves to heal the sick and the brokenhearted. Tonight we will pray together and ask God where in Belize we should go next. Our Iris Latin America team is on a wild ride!

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Christian Young