By Marisa Fourie on Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Category: Marisa Fourie

Guatemala to London...

I know, it's been a really long time since the last blog in New Zealand!  And now, I'm going to try and summarize the experiences of the 2 months that followed into one blog!  

 After New Zealand we passed through the USA on our way to Guatemala.  There we had 2 days in Guatemala City and then took a chicken bus to Panajachel.  During this month (until 18 August)  we worked in Panajachel and the surrounding area.  It was a time in which God challenged me on various areas and  further opened my eyes to the reality of the spiritual war we are engaged in.  During the first week we helped to build a room and bathroom for a  family.  The father and eldest daughter suffers from epileptic seizures and with the whole family of 6 living in one room, another one was needed.  The town in which we worked ( Santa Catarina) is about 5 km from the one we lived in.  Everyday we had to hike there and back.  This was the ideal time to  run again and work on my fitness.  Although the family did not know Christ when we began building there, God revealed Himself to them during that week.  God pressed it on our hearts to pray for this family.  After 2 team members got 2 interpreters (one from English to Spanish and one from Spanish to the family's native tongue) and made an appointment with the family, they went back to share the gospel with them.  We all prayed and fasted during that day and on their return there was great joy over a family who've accepted Jesus as their Saviour.  Now we pray for complete healing for the father and daughter and that the family will be free from the hold of witchcraft and the occult.

During the time we were building, we were also involved with other projects.  In another nearby town we helped at a children's home where they look after kids that's been given up for adoption.  There was approximately 50 kids, most of them babies under the age of 2.  We helped to look after the kids (fed them, changed diapers, rocked them to sleep) and just showed them some love.  Every time I held a child I could pray for him/her and in some way just be "Jesus with a skin" to them.

Some of the other projects I was involved with included building a classroom at a local school, playing with the children and sharing a message with them.  Even though the language was a barrier most of the time, we did meet people who understood English.  God send people along to whom we could share the gospel and He did a lot in our lives as well.  We attended the meetings of the church we were involved with and enjoyed good fellowship during services, cell group meetings, sport, camping, women's/men's evening, picnics next to the lake and many more.

Witchcraft and the occult has a big influence on the people in Guatemala and we were exposed to the reality of this when the pastor decided to show us one of the witches' caves in the area.  The first thing that caught my attention was all the crosses that looked like tombstones.  When asking more about this, the pastor informed us that it's not tomb stones, but altars where the witches bring their sacrifices.  The reason for it being a cross came from the mixing of the Roman Catholic believe with their witchcraft practices and many actually believe these sacrifices are unto Jesus.  That's what makes it difficult to bring the gospel to these people, because they believe that what they are doing is done for the real God.

Personaly and for my team it's been a time of big breakthroughs and God worked in wonderful ways.  For me it was a time of fasting and prayer.  It's difficult to describe exactly what happened and how it happened.  It was a difficult time inside the Orange team with conflict,tension and broken relationships within the team.  Once again God showed to be faithful and set team members free and removed the roots of the problems they had.  Broken relationships were restored and a "new" Orange team set out on the Luke 10 journey to Mexico City.

The 10 days through Mexico was a time where God taught us a lot from trusting completely on Him and the way He provides to the disappointment of being disobedient.  For more detail about everything that happened in Mexico, please read the Orange team blogs .  All the teams were suppose to meet in Mexico City on 1 September.  When we started to share with each other everything that happened during the time in Mexico, it was clear to all that God wanted us in Mexico and that it was only Him who took us over the borders.  When the Lime team reached the border, they had to turn back to Gautemala City due to visas that had expired.  The same happened to our project leader, Sulene, but not with any of the other teams.  Except for a team member or two,  we all had exactly the same visas and apparently all of them had expired, but 4 teams  crossed the borders without any problems!  By the time we had to leave Mexico City, our flight was delayed until the next day and the airline booked us into a hotel for the night.  For us this was a huge blessing from God.

After Mexico we were in London  for 10 days.  On our arrival at Heathrow we were taken to a farm where the South African congregation had their annual festival.  The rain gave us a gap to quickly pitch out tents and then we help out in everyway possible.  From pitching tents, putting out tables and chairs to making a pancake mix for 5000 pancakes!  During the festival we helped wherever help was needed and enjoyed the famaliarity of South African culture.  During our time in London we stayed with members of the congregation.  We visited churches testifying about all God has been doing in and through us this year and attended cell group meetings. We also had a London Challenge with a difference.  4 Teams from London competed against us and even the Global Challenge teams looked different than usual.  The white team (all the team leaders) were a team and the other colour teams where split up into new teams consisting of a member from each colour group.   Each team competed   for a colour team and this time the white team won the challenge for the red team.

In London I stayed with a family who has a little girl that's 9 months old.  During this time God showed me a lot about living selfless and putting other's needs first.  Putting away selfishness, putting God first and then looking at what is best for those around us.  Every day I saw how Susan and Hein put their daughter's needs first and how they adapt their lives to do what is best for her, God confronted me with my selfishness and the greatest command of loving Him with all my heart, mind and soul and loving my neighbours as myself.

Although God has shown me so much during the past two and a half months, it's difficult to put it to words.  Looking back on all that happened, I just know that God is in control and His ways are not our ways.  His ways are best and I just have to leave the controls in His hand and follow where He leads.

Blessings

Marisa

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