God is good!

Hi everyone! Hopefully you all received the current email newsletter. If you did not, and would like to receive our updates, send us an email at teamtoledobelize@gmail.com.

Things continue to go well with the workshops. We just recently had one young man return who we had not seen for quite some time. He was excited to be back, and said his bicycle had broken, making him unable to come. It is always neat to see people so interested in learning.

The Bible studies in the villages are still bringing all of us great joy. Two girls from the workshops go with us regularly, and we hope they will start Bible studies on their own some day. We have challenged everyone to memorize verses, and it is neat to see them giving all their effort to

hiding God's word in their hearts! One young girl is our best memorizer, but everyone is giving a try.

We were sooo blessed by the provision of a pickup! Thank you to those who gave and made it possible! It is so nice to be able to travel to the Bible studies without having to walk from one to the other. We are so blessed and thankful!

I have started teaching a class for some of the youth in Columbia (the closest village) who are interested in being baptized. Their ideas about salvation and a relationship with God are quickly changing - please pray that they will gain a clear understanding, and have their lives transformed by the power of God!

Rejoicing in His love,

Rebecca

For the T.E.A.M.

Whew... It's been a long time!

It has been a looooong time since an update! Lots has been happening, and we are blessed indeed!

The workshops have been going well, and I continually thank God for Elvina and Clifford's hard work to make it possible every Saturday morning. What a commitment!

The main reason for my blog post, though, is because of my excitement about village Bible studies. GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS, AND WE BLESS HIS NAME!!!!!

We have started taking our Bible study lessons, and holding weekly Bible studies in the villages of San Jose and Pueblo Viejo. These are both Maya villages, so the classes are taught in Maya, and Clifford is doing an outstanding job doing most of the teaching! It is a joy to see God working through him.

Most of the people attending the classes have never read in their own language before, and some of them cannot read at all. However, in just a few short sessions, most of them are now reading the Scripture in their own language! I cannot adequately express to you the thrill it is to sit and watch people in their 40's and 50's reading God's Word for the first time, and literally seeing their faces come aglow with delight and understanding.

Several of the attendees have commented on how wonderful it is to read and discuss in their own language, it takes away any doubt about the meaning, and makes things very clear. I would suppose they are more excited than we are, but that is hard to imagine!

You might ask why teach them to read in Maya, isn't that going backward? Perhaps for technology it is a step backward, but for the spiritual growth and maturity of precious souls for eternity, it is giant leap forward! You see, Maya is their heart language, the language that they truly understand, and it is terribly difficult for anyone to grasp deep spiritual truths in a language they struggle to communicate in.

A few weeks back, I listened to an elderly man share his testimony in Maya. It was a beautiful testimony, but what made it precious to me was his statement that he believes God, he believes the Word of God... even though he has never read a verse for himself. He cannot read, but he believes based on what he has heard preached. What faith!!! What confidence! I am humbled by his faith, and yet motivated to enable him to study God's word on his own, whether by reading, or by hearing on a recording. And thus... the motivation to travel for Bible studies, even though right now it requires walking 3.5 miles every week to do so. It is worth it!

Remember the audio recording of the Maya New Testament we did early this year? It is finished!!!! The editing is complete, and it is ready to be sent to us! We are soooo excited!!! Pray it gets here quickly!

I better get ready for workshops tomorrow, Elvina and Clifford will be here bright and early... and so will the students.

Rejoicing in His everlasting, never-failing, totally matchless Love,

Rebecca

(For all of us :)

Recording of a different sort... tomorrow

Greetings once again! Things have continued to go well with workshops and activities here. We have found a village to begin holding Bible studies in, so we are making plans to get started with that.

English with the pastors has been a little challenged by the amount of homework they have been having with their pastoral classes. We certainly do not want to interfere with that, so we have a couple of ideas brewing in our heads for alternative plans... please pray for this!

Tomorrow we will start on some recordings of audio discussions of our Bible study lessons. There is a local radio station that was established to reach out to the Maya and Kekchi population, but so far they have no programming in Maya and Kekchi. They have asked us to help out. We are doing our first recordings in English, since the three ofus can all do that. The next step will be to find some others to help in the other languages, using the English version as an example.

So pray for us tomorrow, as we get started. Sore throats and colds seem to be knocking on our doors, so pray for health to speak well and get it done!

Rainy days!

Greetings everyone!

I made a quick trip to the States for a speaking engagement and was blessed by fellowship along the way. Now, we are all busily getting ready for another Saturday of workshops. In our Bible study this week, we will be discussing God's purposes for allowing Joseph to be sold as a slave in Egypt. As we prepare, I am again overwhelmed with the amazing sovereignty of God in orchestrating circumstances to accomplish His purposes! What trials Joseph went through, never dreaming the way that God would use them! Oh, to trust God in the midst of the storms, and know that He is having His way!

Pray for our preparation for Saturday, and for Elvina's safety as she travels from Belize City tomorrow.

July 31, 2009

Greetings everyone! Tomorrow is Saturday already! We are busy today getting ready for workshops. Please pray for wisdom as we complete final preparations. Tomorrow in the advanced Bible study class we will be looking at the life of Joseph. Did you know that the Bible says that God gave Joseph success in all he did? That is an amazing thought to ponder, especially when you consider that Joseph wound up in prison. Is that success? What does God call success? How can we have God's success in our lives? Interesting thoughts to consider as we prepare to share with the attendees tomorrow.

May the Lord grant each of us success in our lives today!

July 25, 2009

Greetings everyone! Workshops are back in full swing here in Belize! We started new classes on the 15th to accommodate other people who wanted to join in. This has been a refreshing recharge, and has brought in a number of people from the community! We are excited about that, since they come from unchurched homes, and this will be a good opportunity to share Christ with them.

We are praying about where to start doing discipleship groups using the Bible studies we are writing. We would like to start going someplace on a semi-regular basis to help them establish a Bible study group, learn how to do Bible studies, and use the Scripture in their own language. I am going to check out one possibility at a church tomorrow. Please pray for direction! One village may not be a big start, but if we can establish it with a few serious people, then they can spread it to others.

Back to normal...

Greetings once again from Belize! I had an uneventful trip back, and we jumped right back into work. We had workshops on Saturday, and were blessed by the turnout and interaction. Several new students attended, in addition to the normal group we have been having.

Today I am taking care of some passport/residency issues in Belmopan, then we will be working again tomorrow.

Thanks for your prayers, we serve a mighty God!