Hey!! Welcome back to my blog, it’s been a while!! The last time we talked was at the beginning of our time in Guatemala, and since then, The Lord has done some amazing things in our hearts. Before I get into some stories, I would love to share with you what ministry has looked like this past month!! We have something different every day so I’ll explain what life looks like each day.
Monday!: Team Alabaster and Team Yada had the privilege of being apart of a program called House of Prayer training. This looks like hopping on a chicken bus for about an hour to Antigua at 7:30am! We get to a coffee shop run by our ministry called Serve Hope cafe. 
After we get there worship King Jesus for about an hour and a half (it’s so special!) led by Willy and Sofi Menéndez!! An awesome Guatemalan couple who are in charge of leading worship and teaching us!! I’ve learned so much from them and can’t wait to see them again!! After worship, we have a teaching about what leading a house of prayer looks like from a biblical perspective! It’s probably my favorite day of ministry!! We then head to hope for the rest of the day to teach English!
Tuesday!: on this day we start our day with a bible study with our friend Hannah Pauwels! (She’s the best) called deep dive. We studied the first few chapters of Luke and some of Philippians! we then drive up to San Antonio and spend our day at the hope base with our friends there. We start our day will a bible study, then activate the Word of God through house visits. Being able to encourage those in this city has been life changing. After this we host a VBS for the kids in the community. Playing so much soccer, worshipping, and training them in the importance of loving Jesus and encouraging them to pray for the nations! The kid’s faith is so encouraging to see!!
Wednesday!: this day we have one on ones as a team, get coffee and read the Bible together. We didn’t have ministry until 12:30pm on Wednesdays so we get to spend some quality time as a team and it’s so sweet. After this we head over to San Antonio and have lunch at our favorite cafe and help clean up the hope base!!
Thursday!: Thursday is activation day with the AIM base staff!! They lead us in worship and a teaching in the morning. Then we get to activate the teaching in the afternoon. That can look like evangelism on the street, hours of intercession, and just sitting alone with The Lord and letting him encourage us! This is also one of my favorite days!
Friday!: this day is our sports day at hope! We play soccer with the girls in San Antonio and have devotional time with them, encouraging them. We then have lunch at our favorite cafe and come back to play more soccer with the girls!! It’s so much fun.
Our hosts and team at hope have been so kind to us as a team and I can’t wait to see them again (hopefully soon) please be praying for this ministry, that the Lord would bless them and protect them! Pray for encouragement and for the teams that will come after us!!!
Now for an encouraging story from our second to last activation day! We had a teaching about evangelism given to us by Gabe Sanchez, and it took so much pressure off and helped us depend only on the spirit for our words. After the teaching we got in groups and got ready to go out to a mall in Chimaltenango. I went with my friends Lily and Lexi. We got to the mall and went to the food court. We gave each other roles, 1 as the intercesor, 1 as the conversationalist, and 1 praying for direction and where to go. For one conversation we prayed before, I was the intercesor, Lexi was the conversationalist and Lily was asking the Lord for guidance. We all notice and man sitting by himself and start to ask the Lord, “Lord what is your heart for this man?”“What do you want to say to him today?” We heard that he thought he was too far gone for God to forgive, heal or even love him. Lily and Lexi then went to talk with him and he spoke English! As the conversation went on, I was praying and felt strongly in my spirit to start praying John 10:10 over him which says ”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.“ I also prayed John 3:16 over him. Praying that he would know the gospel of grace! Lily and Lexi talked to him for about 45 minutes and came back to tell me about what happened. They said that he believed there was a God, but that his mistakes and sin could never be forgiven, they then began speaking life and identity over him. And reminding him that He is being pursued by God even in his sin. They told him how loved he is by God and he grabbed his subway receipt and started writing down “I am a son of God” and “I am loved by my Heavenly Father”. He then said that he wants to know this Jesus we were telling him about!! He was so excited and joyful to know his identity! Lastly the verses I was praying over him, Lexi and Lily told me that those verses were being repeated in their heads the whole conversation and they shared them with him and his whole face and demeanor changed! This taught me how important intercession is, that even if we can’t see it, GOD IS ALWAYS WORKING FOR HIS GLORY AND OUR GOOD!!
Now I’m at sitting on a plane coming back to the states a little teary eyed. How did the time goes this fast?? I can’t wait to see what the Lord does as we reenter and continue doing ministry in Florida this next week! After that we debrief, then head home!! It’s crazy to think that this is all over so soon. But as Gabe taught us one activation day, “how you end a season is how you begin the next one!” So pray that my squad finishes with endurance, and hope for what The Lord has for us! Thank you so much for supporting this journey with me! Your prayers have meant the world to me!!
Much love and hope,
Syd💟
