May 2024 Update [ENG]

This month was filled with activities and experiences with God. Little by little we are approaching our moving date and that has us very excited! Although, we have been able to work in other areas during this time of transition and waiting.

The trip to Petén the first week of the month was a great blessing! Petén is the most northern department (state) of Guatemala. It borders Mexico and Belize and is characterized by its big size in comparison with other departments and its tropical forest. (Rodri) arrived to Petén Sunday afternoon after a 50-minute flight from Guatemala City. At the time of arrival the temperature was around 113 F.

On Monday, early in the morning, we drove two hours south to get to Poptún, a little town where we held a training for 47 pastors of the area in the first phase of the pastoral training. I was accompanied by two other pastors on this trip. Luissi García, from Guatemala City, who is Harvesters regional director for Central America, and Elí Cifuentes, from Retalhuleu.

After Monday´s training, a pastor approached us and invited us to have dinner with his congregation. They had a prayer meeting that night and we were asked to be part of it. During dinner, he told us how the Lord saved him and sent him specifically to that region to start a ministry. This pastor had been praying for material to start discipling his congregation. The books and other resources he had were not up to the task, but the training material that we presented was beyond what he expected and needed, not only in the content, but also in the method and strategy.

He was confronted in the way he was developing his discipleship groups and through scripture he was able to learn how to put his effort into helping the church see its responsibility to disciple.  His two sons, around 13 and 9, were part of the whole training and paid close attention to all of it. They are already being a part of what God is doing in their city and collaborating in the work of the kingdom. The training was an answer, not only for that specific pastor, but to the community of pastors in the city.

Wednesday, we had a little break to get to know a little of the region and the Lake of Flores, which is well known in the area of Peten.

Thursday and Friday we continued with the trainings, this time in Santa Elena. Here the temperature and humidity were even higher. During Thursday´s sessions we were not able to use the air conditioner due to the power outage caused by the heat of the afternoon. Even through that, the favor of God was with us and over 50 pastors that were with us stayed and paid attention as we were able to finish the day of training.

Friday morning, I traveled back to Guatemala City because it was my birthday. Katie and my family planned a celebration for me. It was important to spend this birthday with family and close friends

At this moment I am in Oaxaca, Mexico, presenting the vision of Harvesters to a group of pastors in the city. This session is called a Kick-Off session. Here we present the problems that the church is facing, and we offer solutions based on the Scripture. These trips have been part of our work in supporting the project in Central America, to learn more about the operations of the organization on this side of the world and to be able to contextualize it when we get to Europe.

We are super excited about traveling in less than a month! We have mixed feelings, of course, but we are sure that the Lord is going ahead of us. Now, with the countdown already on, the planning for the rest of the year has been effective and precise. We have a lot of work ahead and we ask for your prayers to be able to do it effectively.

We keep working toward our goal of raising $3,500 monthly to develop the project in Europe. If you are already a part of this, thank you for trusting in the vision God gave us. If you are not yet a part of it, you can CLICK HERE to get to the donation page. If you would like more information for you or a church who is interested in supporting us, please leave a message HERE to get in contact with us so that we can give you all the details on what we do and how we use the funds.

We ask for your prayers as we prepare for the move. The days ahead will be full of selling things, packing, traveling and arriving to Spain. Please pray that the Lord will give us grace with all the people that we are going to be in touch with in the airports, customs and airlines. We also ask for prayer for the fundraising of the project and this time of transition. Also, we ask for your prayers to find a house and a car soon after our arrival to Spain. We know that faithful is the one who called us, who sustains us and He will take us to the end.

With Love in Jesus,

Rodri & Katie