Women of Faith

I know what you are thinking! "What does Women of Faith have to do with getting ready for Guatemala?" I was wondering the same thing myself (I am assuming that you have figured out that Lori is writing this!). It reminds me of a question I asked about 10 years ago. "What does a CPA know about homeschooling?" Yet I knew that the Lord was calling us into homeschooling our kids. And all these years later, I can answer that question for you - NOTHING. But the Lord knows all about it and where I am insufficient, He is more than capable of making up for my deficiencies. He doesn't always do the most obvious thing, in fact, most of the time He surprises us! So back to the conference.

I attended the conference with my mom and my sister and a whole bus load of women from South Dakota (where my parents live). We had alot of fun and laughed and danced and cried and soaked in God's word. What this has to do with Guatemala is this: The Lord gave us a whole busload of wonderful women who were interested in what the Lord was calling us to in Guatemala. Many of them knew that we had taken trips before and some even knew we were going back but it was so fun to see their interest and answer questions. I feel like the Lord provided a busload of prayers for our family. I know that these women will be faithful to take my family and our trip to the Lord. This is so important because we can't do this without prayer support. In fact, we can't do this at all but the Lord is sufficient and provides in the most creative, fun ways! Don't limit Him to what He has done in the past but be open to Him surprising you in the most wonderful ways in the future!

Blessings to you all! We have not yet heard from the shipping company so keep praying!! Thanks for your support!

Still Waiting!

We already mentioned that Don had sent the cashier's check for his truck last Tuesday. We received an e-mail from the seller that he received it on Thursday and that he was putting the extra set of keys, the bill of sale and the title in the mail on Friday. Well, we received it all yesterday! So now we own a Toyota 4runner that is still in Los Angeles! Don has been in contact with the shipping company that he hired to transport it to us and they have not yet matched it up with a truck coming our way. We are still praying and trusting and lifting this all up to the Lord. May word come soon that the truck is on its way!

As we have told you before, we have felt that our trip will be mostly focused on medical clinics etc. We are still waiting word that we can also work at the Children's Home two days a week while we are there. We love the kids there as well as the workers and we want to be able to serve them while we are in Guatemala. One thing that we feel the Lord wants us to do while we are there is to teach the olders boys some mechanic skills. When the kids turn 18, they are given a choice between staying and working at the Home or moving out. The boys aren't learning "trade" skills at the Home to help them find jobs once they move out and we feel like we are supposed to implement some ways for them to gain these skills. We would like to find an older, "fixer-upper" Toyota that could be used as a "school". Our desire is for Don to teach them how to fix it up well enough to sell it and then split any profit among the boys as an incentive to reinvest it into possibly another truck or further education etc. This is all a little beyond Don's knowledge of mechanics but we know that the Lord will supply all he needs to do this. In II Corinthians 12:9 the Lord says that "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." There is also the cost of buying a Toyota and shipping it down with our vehicle. We would love it if you would join us in praying for the provision for this to all come to pass. We trust that the Lord's grace is sufficient to meet all these needs. Blessings to you!

Insurance Decisions

We found out that Don may be able to take a Leave of Absence from his job. One of the benefits of doing this is for medical insurance purposes. We found out that while on LOA we would have to pay our portion as well as the employer portion of our BC/BS insurance to maintain coverage. This amounts to about $1100 a month. This is a lot of money when you won't have a paycheck! Our church works with an insurance group who exists primarily for missionaries, long-term, short-term, whatever. We have calculated insurance costs for a couple of their plans. The cost would be closer to $1500 for the total time we are gone. That is much better! Don is working with them to determine the best plan for us. The question remains about Don's job. Medical insurance was one of the biggest reasons to take a LOA instead of quitting. The only reason now to take a LOA is so Don will have a job when we get back (yes, that is a big reason); however, we aren't sure that this is the Lord's plan. We will continue to seek Him and trust Him to provide direction and guidance.

Don mailed the cashier's check to Los Angeles for his truck. We are continuing to seek the Lord's protection and wisdom in that situation. We will let you know how it turns out!

We found out that Aaron Ficker was burnt in a fire over the weekend. We have few details but ask that you would join us in praying for him. Thank you!

A few steps closer!

It has been a few days since we posted. We have been a little busy with a few big things that are part of the preparations of our trip. First, Lori had LASIK surgery a week ago. She has been having issues with her contacts for the past few years and the dry climate of Guatemala makes them even worse. We decided that this was the best option. Lori is not ever very excited about anything medical involving her so this was quite a step! A week later she is doing better - her eyes are a little dry but seeing the alarm clock in the middle of the night has been a huge delight for her!

Also, Don found a truck on e-bay that he wanted. We have never purchased anything on e-bay before and apparently, we decided to start big! Long story short, Don won the bid this morning in the last 7 seconds! The 4runner is in California so he is now trying to figure out how to get it to Nebraska! We are just praying that it all comes together and we have no issues (Lori has a little fear over this!). We would appreciate your prayers! We will let you know when it arrives - maybe even a picture or two! Thanks for reading - Blessings to you!

Vehicle Search

With the Trailblazer sold, the search for a vehicle to take with us is in full swing. Toyota is the vehicle of choice in Guatemala (and about the only thing you can get parts for up where we will be). It is very rugged country, thus a 4x4 with a manual transmissions is required. So, what we are looking for is pretty specific. This has resulted in lots of searching on the internet and who knows how many e-mails to Aaron Ficker for advice (Thanks!).

Like everything else about this trip, we want to rely on God to supply our needs. We share this with you as a prayer request, asking you to be praying about a vehicle for us. We trust that the Lord will provide exactly what we need in His perfect timing! Thanks for praying!

A note from the Fickers about Zona Reina

We wanted to share this e-mail from Leslie Ficker about their trip. Leslie is the medical missionary that Don works with in Guatemala.

"We left Monday morning as soon as the fog cleared out. Duane made 5 trips in that day on to a 1000 foot runway that had a pretty steep incline. It was one of the few times I have really seen my husband nervous. He is such a good pilot and so careful, I knew that this was a pretty tricky landing. It was hot and humid as we landed and were greeted by 50 - 75 young men. We set up in their community center which they proudly said had been recently built. It had a dirt floor, tin roof and wooden slats for walls. It was equipped with a bench and a small table. We borrowed many more benches from the Catholic church and got set up before the next group arrived. We saw close to 300 people in that day and a half. The community is small (only about 250 people) and several of the surrounding villages had been invited but the leaders said that they didn't really believe that we would come so not that many people came. We showed the Jesus film in Kek'chi in the evening and were pretty amazed at the turn out who watched silently. No one accepted the call to salvation but we know that seed was planted that night.

There is a small church in San Pedro. I spoke for quite a while with Juan who is leading the church for the moment. There are 6 families now who call themselves Christians. THe rest of the community is Mayan Catholic (a combination of their Mayan pagan beliefs and Catholicism). Juan has been saved for 9 years and has actually had some discipleship through a mission in Coban which we know is a good Biblically sound program. He has suffered rejection from his community as a result of his faith and his life and the life of his family has been threatened many times. One time they came to his home with a rope threatening to hang him and burn his home. He has stayed and remained faithful but recently the mission has abandoned this little church as it is too remote. He expressed feeling alone, forgotten and discouraged...understandably.

Before we left yesterday afternoon, several of the leaders expressed their desire for us to return as soon as possible. We can see the hand of God working in this little village, preparing hearts. And we know that He has been equipping us to go into those areas where people are lost and forgotten...because we want them to know that there is a God who has not forgotten them." - from Leslie Ficker

The trip to Zona Reina

One of the links to the left is for "Heidi and Matt Bell". They are a young couple who also work in Guatemala. They work under an organization called "Agape in Action". Heidi is an OB/GYN. They have a young baby, Isaac, who was born in Guatemala while they have been working there. They go to Canilla to work in the Fickers' clinic every weekend. We found their blog before we went to Guatemala last time and then met them while we were there. We often go to there blog to see what is happening in the clinics.

Matt and Heidi went with the Fickers to Zona Reina. They have new entries (3 actually) on their blog about the trip. The picture above is the runway they used for this trip. We copied it from their blog. There are many other pictures on their blog to see. It sounds like the trip went very well. They had to take 5 trips in with the airplane to get all the people and supplies in. They showed the Jesus film to the whole village, many of whom had never even seen a movie let alone one in their own language. Click on the link and take a look. Thank you for praying for them while they were gone. We thank the Lord that everyone went and came home safely. It doesn't sound like anyone got sick either - that is a true miracle!

Prayer Request

We just received this e-mail from Leslie Ficker, the medical missionary that we will be working with when we are in Guatemala. We want to pass this on to you so you can be praying for them as well. Thanks -

"Monday, the 3rd of March we will be again reaching out to the Zona Reina (a remote, distant area in the mountains of Guatemala). After our meeting with the mayor and all of the community leaders in that area, we have had one gentleman who has almost weekly called and asked for our assistance in his community. They have a small landing strip and have been diligently working on it to meet Duane's specifications. Duane went last week to see for himself how the work was going. He walked 6 hours straight up and straight back down again, in 100 degree weather with that much humidity. He was exhausted when he came in the door. There are no roads in to this area. The day before he went, there were 2 men who were very ill but there is no way to get them out to receive help. One man died the day he arrived (he was only about 40) and the other man - whom Duane went to pray with - along with his entire family, prayed to receive salvation and is slowly recuperating. These people are very anxious for us to show the Jesus film and seem to be eager to hear the message of salvation. So we ask that you pray that the Lord would reveal Himself, that they would understand the great love that He has for them.

We ask that you pray for our safety as well as we fly into a new area. When we go out to areas that we can drive to, I always pack water and food. THis trip however, because of the weight restrictions in the plane, we can take only a bare minimum of equipment and that will be almost entirely medicine. We ask that you pray for health for our bodies as we eat local food and drink out of the river. And pray that the snakes and jaguars stay away!!!" - from Duane and Lelies Ficker.

Hearing about their trip makes us want to be there now to be helping them and reaching out to these people with them. But for now, the Lord has us here to cover them in prayer. Please join us as we pray for them and the people that they are reaching out to. Blessings- Don and Lori