102. Evangelism on the mountains

 

Plan del Moro kids and I 

I couldn't wait for the new computer to teach the children at the House of Hope Orphanage, so I moved to the mountain ministries and worked with two American brothers, and we worked together perfectly, I specialized in women and children's ministries, and they managed and talked about the pastoral group on the mountain, which became one of the best memories in Guatemala.

Once, I went up to the mountains to teach the women to do handicrafts, and the first night, I stayed at the house of the pastor's daughter, and I was in a room with firewood and wood, and they hung my hammock, and I fell asleep in the hammock. In the middle of the night, I got up to go to the toilet, this room has no latch, it was a tree trunk to resist, remove the trunk, go downhill, close to the toilet, I saw seven  local dogs, showing their sharp teeth, the corners of the mouth were still drooling, I ran uphill, these local dogs were chasing after me, and I ran into a pig on the way, finally escaped back to the firewood house, with the trunk against the door, these fierce dogs were still barking outside for two hours, I really wanted to pee, I found a plastic bag in the hiking bag, I urinated in it, thinking about tomorrow morning, Take it to the toilet and throw it away. When I got up the next morning, I found that there was a hole in the plastic bag, and the urine was all flowing into the dirt, so I went to confess my mistake to the pastor, and the pastor laughed when he heard my experience, because his daughter's family only had three dogs, no pigs, the pigs were next door, and the other four dogs were neighbors, and as for the plastic bags of urine, he didn't mind. The pastor heard his son-in-law say, “He saw a woman, dressed in pants, running around on the hillside.” The women on the mountain only wore skirts and dresses, but fortunately they were pajama pants so that they could run fastly and not be bitten by the dogs, which was a blessing in misfortune!

On the second night, I slept in the kitchen of the pastor's house, and I set up a hammock and went to bed in the hammock early, because his wife had to go into the kitchen at five o'clock in the morning to make maize cakes, but before four o'clock, his wife had already entered the kitchen in the dark to make a fire, and the smell of smoke was everywhere, so how could I sleep? Rush outside to get some fresh air, have breakfast at five o'clock in the morning, and it's just getting light up again.

The hill church in Guatemala is very conservative, women have to cover their heads, they are not allowed to preach, and when I first went to Zacapa, I had a dream that I was preaching in the hill church, and everybody listened to me, and when I shared it with other missionaries, they said to me, “It's absolutely impossible.” After three and a half years, my vision was fulfilled when the pastors on the hill invited me to preach at different times, and the audience responded with praise to the Lord! Or thank the Lord! I think the Apostle Paul in the Bible must have jumped out of his grave and interrogated me, saying, “Be quiet, women!”

Every time we go up the mountain, we have to bring a field party, so we have to bring a speaker box and a microphone, and the microphone is my favorite, half an hour before the party, I use the microphone to sing a lot of Spanish praising songs, all the village children sing with me, I will put the microphone in front of the mouths of different children, ask them to sing loudly, even the American short-term mission team members also watch us, because I like the microphone so much.

In the villages I walked, there were many people or their families who changed. There was a blind woman, and when I first met her, she said, “I'm poor and sick, and no one will visit me.” I said, “The Lord Jesus is visiting you today.” God not only healed her sickness, but her unknown father's son, who was a very talented school, went to middle school in the city, and the primary school in the village on the mountain could only go to the fifth grade, and this woman's hope was her son, but also Jesus in her heart.

 

Postscript:

I face my life with grateful heart, I have experienced various stages of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, I have no regrets about God and man, I think my life is so wonderful, if God wants to take my life to my heaven home now, I will also be happy and glad to go, because God has given me life, there are no regrets, but there is infinite praise and endless worship of my Lord, Jesus!

101. The Land of the Desert

 

Honduras Copan

Honduras Copan, my landlord and me

      Rachel, Marta and Honduras

Zacapa is the second city of Guatemala, it is a desert climate, the average temperature of the year is 30-40 degrees Celsius, from March to May every year the high temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius °C, very hot, the plant that can be seen everywhere is cacti, generally after 10 o'clock in the morning to before 4 o'clock in the afternoon, there are no people on the road, because everyone runs to escape the heat. That's how I spent more than six years of my missionary career there.

I mentioned the House of Barnabas earlier, and God said to me, “You are to bring people to know me more deeply.” I gradually turned from a computer teacher to a door-to-door evangelistic ministry in a mountain village, and I have prayed for countless people, leading more than 500 people to Christianity, including children and women. There are also men who believe in Christ. For the first few months of an American sister, Rachel, who had been in Guatemala for six months, I invited her to my house every week, invited her to dinner and prayed for her, and often shared God's Word, and one day, I shared what God had said to me, “Bringing people to know me deeply.” Rachel told me, “I have led her to a deeper understanding of the Lord.” She was one of the disciples I led, in 2006, she applied to go to a university in South America, she got a permit, she would stay in the university to study and evangelize, God also called her to be a missionary in the future, in her young years, she was very aware of God's calling, sometimes a good thing.

The owner of a garage, who is a deacon in our church, once went to repair a car, shared the words of the Bible with him, and told him, “Go and know the Lord!” He dug out five or six books in his drawer that knew the name of the Lord, and I explained them to him one by one, that his prayer was to become an apostle and travel around to strengthen the churches in the country, and that God would hear his prayers.

Marta, a Mexican sister, came to rest in Guatemala, she came to my house at the same time as Rachel, we had good fellowship, we prayed and ministered to each other, she also had a burden of missions, she could play the guitar and sing Spanish hymns, she came for half a year, and then she came back to Mexico to continue her seminary classes and church ministry. Pray that the Lord will bless her with the desire to do and accomplish the Lord's work.

And the barber's sister or the businessman, or my landlord, I was unconsciously guiding them, and I didn't know it? I used to live in my neighbor in Rio Hondo, she was a Catholic, and I shared Jesus every opportunity I had, and I didn't know that God was already in her heart, as she testified, “She used to smoke and drink, and because of what I shared with Jesus, she was willing to believe in Him, and her bad habits, she quit them all.” One day, I gave her a Bible in Spanish, and she began to read the Bible every day, and she had the opportunity to make a strip of cloth hanging in the Catholic Church, and the strip of cloth that read, “Jesus is Lord!” She also shared with me, “She wants to shine for Jesus in her church.” I think it's that little bit of light, and she wants to stay there, and it touches my heart deeply.

My responsibility is to let people know Jesus, to know Him more deeply, no matter what I have led Catholics to the Lord, they are willing to stay where they are and do something for the Lord, they are my sisters, because Jesus has taken a deep seat in their whole hearts, who says they are not true disciples of Jesus?

100. Toilets

 

No door toilets in the mountains of Guatemala

I've been through toilets in many countries, each with its own functions and benefits, and there are many interesting things happening in them.

In the Russian countryside the toilet was a partition outside, and the average person had to sit on a small box with a hole about the size of a toilet bowl with a mat on it, and it was very comfortable to sit on, but my feet were hanging in the air and I couldn't step on the ground, maybe my legs were short. I once went to a café in a small town, where the toilet was squatting, but the hole was too small, it was more difficult to align the hole, some hospitals, there were magnetic toilets, there was no plastic lid, and you had to flush the water manually, while the city was more normal, there were flushing toilets.

In some parts of Asia, the toilet was no door, most of the toilets were public toilets, and you just needed to go out of the door to know where the toilet is? The smell led you there, usually squatting in the toilet, there were some low walls, you could talk to people on the left and right, and your face should be facing outward, so that your part would not be seen. One missionary stood at the door with an umbrella, causing a lot of locals to come and say, “Still a white-assed woman?” And there were no toilets in the mountains, because there were toilets everywhere, and you could solve it under the bushes, which was a good thing, you could water the flowers and fertilize them.

In the mountain villages of Guatemala, the toilet was generally some distance from home, dig a deep hole, put the toilet on it, until it is almost full, remove the toilet, fill it with soil, dig another hole, and set up a toilet, once, we took the short-term missionaries up the mountain, there was a team member, sit on the toilet with cement, spread a thick toilet paper mat, sat up very comfortable, and very warm, but no one admitted that he did it? Everyone went into the toilet and came out with a smile and said, “It's not me.” Once, we went to a school, and there was a female missionary who brought a bottle of spray insecticide, and she was very proud, and she went into a toilet with a door, and she sprayed a little left and right, and finally it went into the toilet hole, and she sat down and relieved herself, and in a short time, she rushed out of the toilet, followed by some unknown flying insects, and she later described, “When she finished spraying the last part, she sat on the toilet, and she found that the hundred-year-old flying insects were all rushing up because they couldn't stand the insecticide, and she flushed out like that.”

In the mountainous areas of Guatemala where I went, there was generally no toilet, like a small room and toilet sitting, they were fenced with plastic bags on a piece of land or a piece of downhill land, once I went to the toilet alone, I squatted on the sandy ground, where there was a very large pig, I went to pi pi, while chatting with the female pig, I was afraid that she would be unhappy, so I rushed to me, first established a little interpersonal relationship with her, and the next time I went to the toilet, it was better to go to the toilet, but this huge pig could only make one sound, so I lay there without moving, Because we seemed to have reached a consensus.

Once, our short-term mission team was living in the church, where the toilet outside had no door, it was secured with a black plastic bag with inserting four branches, so I went into the toilet and sat on the toilet, and suddenly a strong wind blew the black plastic bag away, and I was sitting on the toilet, but fortunately there was a skirt to cover the front, so I smiled and waved my hand, and asked some of the children to face out, so I could get out.

Some Guatemala toilets really dare understand, I mostly go to the toilet in the bushes at night, one to the air was clear, the other could enjoy the moonlight, sometimes we girls collectively go to the toilet in the outside ground, we all squat down with a slogan to solve, stood up and left together, some people dared not go to the toilet, had been holding down the mountain, sat until the flushing toilet, dared to go to toilet, I respected these people.

99. God will provide

 

Hudson Taylor's wife, Maria, told Hudson Taylor, the founder of the CIM, that “there is no flour,” and she humorously said to Hudson Taylor, “Didn't you say that you put your head in a flour vat and say God will provide, and He will provide.” It wasn't long before Hudson Taylor and his wife stuck their heads into the flour vat and proclaimed, “God will provide.” The next day, a bag of flour was delivered to their door, and they died not knowing who gave it to them.

I also experienced God's provision in Guatemala, and once, when I got two months' electricity bill, and I didn't have the money to pay it, I knelt down and prayed against my bed, and God spoke to my mind, “Go to the post office first.” I went to the post office according to God's will, and found my English name Rebecca Sun among the letters of many missionaries, and I opened the envelope, and there was a card and some Guatemala money inside, and the card said, “I came to Guatemala for a short mission in the summer, and I will send you the remaining Guatemala money, I hope you can come in handy.” That's enough money to pay my electricity bill.

Another time, I only had more than 20 Guatemala money (80 Taiwan dollars) left, and I needed to invite an American short-term mission team couple to my house for dinner, and I struggled with whether to cancel the dinner or put it first? After praying, God said, “Put it on first.” I used my last money, bought vegetables, cooked dinner, and drove them to eat, and when I was done, I was wiping the dishes and preparing snacks, when suddenly a $100 USD bill floated on my plate, and I said, “Did you give it to me?” The American brother replied, “This is for you from the God of heaven, not for me.” I am confident that God will give hidden treasures to all who trust in His name.

One year, I had to go back to Taiwan to report on my work, I couldn't even pay the full amount of the plane ticket, and I left some taxes unpaid, which had to be paid before I got on the plane, I was very clear to know that God would prepare, you must think I was crazy, I didn't even have living expenses, how could God make money? One day, I passed through the bank, I used the bank's card account number to get money at the ATM, I knew that the card had no money, I still inserted the card and withdrew 20 Guatemala money, and I saw that the balance was more than 600 Guatemala money, and I relied on this money for several months, I ate two meals of instant noodles a day, a pack of instant noodles was about 2 yuan (Guatemala money), and I ate it for several months, I didn’t want to eat it again, I must become a Mummy, and the bones must not rot, because I ate too much preservatives of instant noodles.

I knew that if I didn't have a missionary vision, it would be troublesome until I prayed to see it, and if I didn't have money, it didn't matter, God would provide for it. At the end of the story, I paid my taxes, got on the plane, and had some Guatemala dollars on hand, so I could stay in a hotel and eat, were you surprised? It was so wonderful that I can't put it into words, but I knew God would provide for all my needs and go beyond what I could ask for or think.

98. God said in the wind, “Go to Zacapa”

 

People for Mission short team mission

When the W mission finally decided to send me back to Taiwan, I wept for many days, fasted and prayed for three days, and then I received a call from the American People for missionary couple, and I burst into tears as soon as I heard the voice of Sister Bess, who and her husband had invited me to live with them in Zacapa, and who had asked Colin to allow me to join their mission, and now I had to wait for a response.

After hanging up the phone, I was walking through the streets of the old city (Antigua) when suddenly there was a strong wind, and after the wind I heard the Lord said, “Go to Zacapa.” On the same day God closed the door of the W mission, and He opened the way to Zacapa, and the Lord told me, “Zacapa is surrounded by mountains.” At that time, before I visited Zacapa, God gave me the verses of Isaiah 55:12, said, “You shall come forth with joy and joy, and be led in peace; and the mountains and the hills shall sing before you, and the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.” When the missionary couple took me to Zacapa, I saw cleanly that Zacapa was surrounded by mountains, and the road was lined with trees, and the trees were blown by the wind, and the sound was like singing and clapping, and then peace and joy flowed into our hearts, and words could not describe it for a while.

I entered People for Missions in Zacapa as a computer teacher as missionary, flew in from the United States to interview me, and he shared, “He and his wife prayed for me for a long time until they knew in peace that I should join.” Colin and the mission director of Guatemala asked me about my faith and the direction of my ministry, and Colin agreed me to join PFM and held a sending service for me, Colin said, “God Himself sent me to Zacapa, and I can't send a service for me in the church in Taiwan, they will do it for me.” Some leaders laid hands on me and prayed for me to officially become a People for Missions missionary.

97. Wronged

 

When I was still in Barnabas House Orphanage, two unjust incidents happened, and I was very wronged in my heart, because I couldn't see the Lord in Christians, and I was discouraged, so I often had to put my focus back on God, and I was calm and powerful.

I teach my children computers every afternoon, and the two little boys in the dormitory were so noisy that I had a drum stick in my hand and ran to ask them to be quiet, and I ran several times in a row, because of the drum stick in my hand, Guatemala mother said, “I hit someone.” I didn't even wave my hand, I felt very wronged, I couldn't explain it, and I bit it and said, “I went from hitting people to trying to hit people.” On the other hand, I was an assistant to a kindergarten teacher, and once I went to talk to the headmistress, and while talking, I covered my face with my hands and shed tears, and the headmistress walked in and I put my hands down and accidentally hit her hand, and the headmistress told my mission director, she said, "I tried to hit her." In these two beatings, I was approached by the co-workers, and one of them, speaking on behalf of Tom, said, “If I admit to the beatings, I can consider staying in Guatemala, otherwise I will be deported to Taiwan.” I was hurt that I had not done it, but I had been falsely accused by these Guatemalan sisters, and it took some time to forgive them.

Later, when I lived in Guatemala for a while, I learned that the people of Guatemala were very fond of exaggerating things, but how could these missionaries confess to the Lord if they didn't check and made random conclusions? I also need to review, at that time I didn't know how to communicate? The temper was straight and urgent, which caused a gap between the two sides. Later, the female mission director allowed me to go to the Spanish Institute, and after three months, she delayed me to go back to Barnabas's House, and finally when my first dedication came, she actually detained me and wanted to buy a private air ticket to send me back to Taiwan, I had almost no money, and the next step was to sleep on the street overnight, and under my urgent prayer, God made me meet the mission director's husband, and he told me, “His wife (the mission director) was the one who withheld my donation money.” I asked him, “Do you think that's right?” That day, God was working in his heart, and He immediately gave me a check. Praise the Lord!

After that, the female mission director was repatriated because my Spanish was not good? I took a lot of Spanish exams, and she said, “I was good in the written test, but not in the oral test.” I took the oral exam again, and she said, “If you stay at the Spanish Language Institute, I'll apply to stay in Guatemala on your behalf when I come back to the United States.” But the day after she and her family left, they emailed me and said, “I don't trust them, I have to go back to Taiwan immediately.” This was forwarded to me by the person in charge in Taiwan, and she didn't ask me what happened? I just forwarded the mails to my mother church pastor and my father, and the pastor bitterly persuaded me to go back to Taiwan. O God! I was so wronged! Only my dad called, and he said, “You're my daughter, I don't believe what they say, I believe you.” This sentence comforted my heart deeply.

After I fasted and prayed quietly, I knew that God wanted me to stay in Guatemala, and I knew that if I returned to Taiwan at that time, I might be discouraged and quit the missionary works. No matter what people say, I want to stay in Guatemala, and after contacting the person in charge of Taiwan, I could sign a document, and with the signature of a notary public, I didn't have to go back to Taiwan, and the mission would not be responsible for all my actions and any safety in Guatemala, I signed it and sent it back to Taiwan. When I later returned to Taiwan, I met with the person in charge of Taiwan, and she never received this document, but she finally asked me what it was all about, and she finally said to me, “I'm sorry!”

Two or three years after I joined People for Missions, a missionary at Barnabas House told me by e-mail, “This female mission director in Guatemala, her father had just passed away, her husband was sick, and he couldn't operate in the United States and in Guatemala, so he needed to pray.” I immediately prayed a short prayer, and God said to me, “Am I not a God of righteousness? I failed to vindicate before, then, am I not the God who avenges right now?" God is just; He is not to be mocked, what is the seed of man? What is it? As God said, “Is he not a God of vengeance?”

I sometimes really see that justice is not correct, as if right and wrong are reversed? Maybe God used this time to change my personality and give me a second chance, and Jesus is willing to give you a second chance? It is enough for me to believe that only the Lord Jesus is the true ruler, who not only does righteousness, but also willingly dwells in my heart.

96. Old City (Antigua) spiritual war

 

Antigua ruin

I studied at the Spanish Language Institute for the first time for four months, and after that, I had the opportunity to return to the Spanish Language Institute nine times to complete all the courses, for a total of half a year, this college is located in the old city (Antigua), which was the old capital of Guatemala, because the earthquake in 1961 almost destroyed the entire capital, the government of Guatemala moved the capital to Guatemala, which is 45 minutes to 1 hour away by bus, and the old city has the flavor of Spanish architecture. The ruins of the Catholic Church in many places are now highly visible tourist spots, and the history of Maya cultural sacrifices in the area makes the old city more spiritual warfare.

One afternoon, as I was walking back to my host family, two gentlemen in quick succession came up to me and said something I didn't understand, and when they left, I began to get dizzy, and the heavens and the earth turned, and I felt like I was sick, and I finally went back to my host family, and I collapsed on my bed, and the walls and ceilings around me kept turning, until an American missionary couple told me, “I've been spelled.” They prayed for me, and when the prayer was over, everything was back to normal, but at midnight, the heavens and the earth began to turn again, and I opened the Bible Romans 8:26-39, and I repeated the English verse, and then the Chinese verse, and then I prayed in God's Words, and in 39 verses I proclaimed, “By the Lord who loves us, we have more than enough victory in all things.” One afternoon, as I was walking back to my host family, two gentlemen in quick succession came up to me and said something I didn't understand, and when they left, I began to get dizzy, and the heavens and the earth turned, and I felt like I was sick, and I finally went back to my host family, and I collapsed on my bed, and the walls and ceilings around me kept turning, until an American missionary couple told me, "I've been spelled." They prayed for me, and when the prayer was over, everything was back to normal, but at midnight, the heavens and the earth began to turn again, and I opened the Bible Romans 8:26-39, and I repeated the English verse, and then the Chinese verse, and then I prayed in God's Word, and in 39 verses I proclaimed, "By the Lord who loves us, we have more than enough victory in all things." And declare that the love of the Lord cannot be separated from me, and everything around me stops again, and returns to normal. Praise the Lord!

The windows of the old city are protruding from the wall, one afternoon, while drinking iced coffee, while walking, my forehead accidentally hit the corner of the window, immediately bleeding, finally returned to the host family, they disinfected with alcohol, as soon as I touched the wound, I screamed, the alcohol flowed into the eyes again, it was really painful, and finally a big gauze was attached to the forehead, not long after, I went back to the street, looking for the corner of the window that hit me, I couldn't find it, as if the window disappeared from this street, it was really strange!

Once, a female Spanish teacher, took me to the ruins of a Catholic church, the garden inside was beautiful, there were many cellars, I went down to the cellar, my down and hair stood on end, I asked her what happened? She told me, “At that time, the sisters and friars belonged to the same church, and some of the sisters and friars did not obey the rules, and the sisters became pregnant out of wedlock, and the church kept the delinquent friars in a cellar with a fence in the window, and the garden was seen outside, where wild beasts were kept, to prevent them from escaping; The pregnant sisters were locked up in another cellar until the sisters gave birth to their babies, and the Church did not want to know about them, so they sacrificed the babies alive. Whether it's true or not, decide for yourselves! After my visit, I went home shaking all over my body and couldn't get back to normal for a long time.

Nowadays, the Catholic Church in Guatemala still uses chicken blood as a sacrifice and burns paper money, and the chicken blood will drip from the inside of the church to the outside of the staircase, and there is a statue of Maria out on the tour, and the locals are foaming oil on the statue, and the believers on the street are all going out to touch Maria, and sticking Guatemala coins on the statue of oil, and every time I process, my whole body will be terrified, and I will keep praying to Jesus until the peace of God comes to me.

Mayan culture has had a profound influence on Guatemala, but as Christians, we must continue to pray until the yoke is lifted, their land is healed, and God's justice comes again in Guatemala, throughout Central America, and even as far as South America, and everyone is converted, and everywhere proclaims that the day of the Lord is coming, so that His light shines again in the darkness, and the people in the darkness enter the light, the kingdom of God, which is the righteousness prepared for them, that is, justification by faith, not only to them, but also to all who believe in the name of the Lord, You will be saved.

O Lord! Heal and save!