First Baptist Church - Freeport

Our Missions Team made it home safely. They will be sharing their testimonies and experiences with the church this Sunday. Pray for them as they prepare.

Our missions team was unable to post today due to electricity being out for most of the day. They were able to finish building all the homes and dedicated them this afternoon. Pray as they will be flying home tomorrow morning.
Please continue to pray for the Dalton Davis Family. Services are still pending.
If you would like to call Joan, you make contact the church office for the phone number of where she is staying. Be blessed.

Heaven Came Down And Glory Filled My Soul…..

My apologies for missing the Blog yesterday. It is good to know that many of you are keeping up with us and remembering us in prayer. As much as technology cans often be frustrating at times it’s still a wonderful way for keeping in touch. Besides that, this is my first experience with blogging and I’m somewhat intimidated. Well any who…. Here it goes.

Day 5
The territory we are working in is a new one for the Grace ministries and each morning there seems to be a little confusion as to the location of the homes we are building. This has been somewhat frustrating for Bro. Teddie as well as the group because it causes us to lose valuable time. Each day we have been divided into different groups. So, since the first day I have not had the opportunity to work beside some of our folks. I have however been blessed to serve right alongside of “mama “each day. Words can’t describe how wonderful it has been having my mom on this trip. She has been such a joy to everyone. If we can keep her from wanting to touch and taste everything she’s going to be just fine. LOL!!!
I have been building houses each day but other FBC folks have been pouring concrete as well as other jobs.
The home we built was awesome we built a double wide for a well deserving family. A young couple with seven children who had been living literally under a tarp for over a year were the recipients of the home. Despite the monsoon weather “again” we were determined to finish this home. As we worked the children peeked around the curtain that served as their door with smiles and giggles. The rain was cold but each smile brought warmth to us all.
The second home build went very fast. Jim was our leader and did a great job. Even the nephew of the lady whose house we were building joined right in. His name was Santos Garcia ( no relation)
After coming back to the mission for just a short time we loaded up and headed out to one of the area villages for food and clothing distribution. I could go on for days about this night but I’ll let the team share with you this Sunday.
After, a light meal (nothing big) we headed back to the mission house for a time of devotion and fellowship.
Day 6
Once again, we got off to a late start. We worked for a few hours and then some of the group headed off to the orphanage called Casa Allelujha. This left just a skeleton group to work on homes. As much as we needed the help, it was good for those who left to go and see the ministry at “CASA”. We were able to finish a few homes and then the monsoon of all monsoons came down.
Bro. Teddie being the fearless leader he is, felt we would be able to wait it out. With just one day away from dedication we still had several homes that had to be finished. Unfortunately we could not wait it out and had to call it a day. BUMMER!!!!!!! We came back to the mission house for a meeting (or least that’s all we thought it would be) After, Bro. teddie explained the plan for the next day we had a time of testimony that led to a time of praise and worship that led to a time of prayer and then all heave poured out! As we prayed, the heats of the saint became soft and the softness turned to tears. Tears of brokenness, tears of longing for more of God. The more we longed for God the greater His presence became.
There we were 40 people from different states and cities. We had come together to help make a difference in the lives of the Guatemalans. We had come to see lives changed. And the lives that were being changed were ours. God was at work! He was drawing us closer to Him. Bowed on our knees we embraced and prayed together. The folks from FBC Freeport prayed together. We begged God to do a work in our church. We committed to continuing to being an on mission church.
As difficult as it was we stood and closed the service with a heartfelt Amen. As we were eating supper we shared how tonight would be one that we would remember for a long long time.

As you read this Blog, please pray that today we will finish the homes and pray for us as we dedicate the homes. Our church will be dedicating three homes this trip. The homes will be dedicated in honor of the Joe Jones Sunday class, the Dorcas Sunday school Class and the Slack family. Looking forward to this time.
Good Night!
Pastor Abel

The Half Way Point

Attended early service this morning (7:00AM) @ Alpha & Omega church in Chimaltengo. Service was a blessing. Although most of us could not understand all that was being said we could feel the Holy Spirit in everything.
Afterwards we drove to Antigua for sightseeing, shopping and lunch. The weather was extremely wet and windy and made things very interesting. We had a blast looking at all the things in the market. They had some of everything. Literally! You think Wal-Mart has everything? You haven’t seen anything until you’ve shopped at the Antigua market. Everyone walked away with some cool things for themselves and their family.
After two hours of shopping we all ate lunch at Los Antorchas. The food was absolutely delicious and the fellowship was sweet. After lunch some went back shopping and some of us came back for a much needed siesta!!
It’s amazing how you can get so close to people you have never met before just over a few days. It’s awesome to watch how everyone’s drawing so close.
Tonight, Bro. Mel Hacker, pastor of New Day Ministries brought the WORD! It was rich!
The FBC Freeport group continues to “shine” and I will again report that I am so proud of each of them and I know that you would be also.
We continue to pray for Gods favor and blessing!
On behalf of Cowboy, Rambo, Jim ,Back Breaker, Elizabeth, Theresa, Thomas Sr. ,”little T” , Janet and Myself
Be Blessed – We Love You
Pastor Abel

Greetings from Chimaltenango! Woke up early this morning. You would think it would be more difficult but it is not. Breakfast was great. Was able to sit in on an awesome service this morning by Mike (from Casa). His word touched many of us. From there we all loaded up and headed to our work destinations. Ended up helping Mike (from Clubhouse Guatamala). They had a small festival for the local children today. That was such a fun experience. They have started a project called Serving Soles….which is where they bring shoes for the local children but instead of just handing the shoes out we sat each child down and washed their feet. It was awesome. I myself have a really wierd thing about feet…don’t like to touch them, look at them…but today was different. VERY DIFFERENT. We washed feet for children, teenagers, and older folks. They were so excited and so appreciative for this small task. I cannot express my feelings. After the “fiesta” we proceeded onto our work site. Today we were split up but somehow mom, me, dad and thomas stayed in the same group. We were grouped with Tony & Dawn Hacker and Kortni & Aaron. The house was so much easier to build today! Whoa-hoo. It rained but it did not seem to affect anyone…we just kept on working. Upon completion, we loaded into the van and headed back to the house. Everyone’s spirits are so high right now. Teddie decided to call a meeting this afternoon and it turned into a tear fest. It was such a touching speech and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. Awesome. We then had a great dinner..ham, mac n cheese, cornbread, beans and an fantastic dessert! We are all sitting around chatting…but I am thinking I am fixing to turn in. Myself and Thomas Jr. (who has become known in the house as Little T) have kitchen duty in the morning so we have to be up by 5, leaving to church at 6:15am. This has been an awesome experience thus far. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. Elizabeth Silvas - Saturday, June 20, 2009

Greetings Friends & Family!

Wow! What a first day. The previous night the folks form Al. didn’t make it in till late so we were allowed to sleep in just a little bit. After breakfast we had a short introduction and orientation and than our morning devotion led by Bro. Doug Chappell (Lynn’s former youth pastor) and Bro. Teddie. The devotional times our very sweet as well as encouraging and challenging. I really look forward to them and know that each of us will have and ah ha moment with God during these times. After the devotion we headed out to our site to begin day 1 of construction. Today each church was allowed to stay together as a team. I won’t go into too much detail but I will say this, Team Texas might not have been the fastest, most accurate and sharpest team out today, but we sure had a lot of fun!!!! It’s amazing what you can learn about people when you work side by side with them. Our folks were so passionate about learning to build a 12X12 tin roof and tin siding house that we started over 5 times just to make sure we had the hang of it.
Seriously I had a blast with our team and was so proud of each them. During the times we were starting over, we had many opportunities to interact with the locals and played and laughed with the children and adults. We are all looking forward to tomorrow and can’t wait to get back to work. Our goal is to finish at least three homes.
As Janet mentioned last night, the country side is absolutely amazing. Our hearts are constantly going back and forth from rejoicing at Gods creation while at the same time have a deep burdened for the Guatemalan people.
The group has already begun to talk about coming back next year and each one has mentioned many names of people they felt needed to come. Chris Miller said “preacher all of our folks need to experience this”, so without mentioning names let me just say it this way – FBC Freeport, get ready!!!!!!
Please continue to pray for us each day!
Till tomorrow,
Pastor Abel

Hello fellow friends. Praise the Lord we arrived safely to Guatemala City airport around 11:15 am (local time)! We started our day out by meeting at the Garcia’s house around 3:30 am! After several hours of traveling we made it happily to the mission house in El Tajar. The great news is that “Customs” did not force a luggage check on us so we arrived with plenty of goodies to distribute to the locals. This includes over the counter medicines, vitamins, clothes, candies, and Spanish bibles!

I think I can speak for us all when I say today, our eyes saw some of the most beautiful and sorrowful sights. At the airport, we saw military men carrying rifles as long as their legs and faces full of intimidation. While driving to the mission house, we saw streets lined with filth and houses that would pass for shacks. Children played in the dirt and clothes hung from roof tops as the rain came trickling down. Women bore heavy items on their head and others begged for food with metal bowls. Abel says that we should expect to see even worse as we visit villages throughout the week.

In a land filled with such poverty there also stands beauty. The view from the house is better than a post card and it reminds us of how blessed we are to see God’s beauty. The house is among several mountains and volcanos are in plain sight. Once the sun went down, the view was still spectacular but in different way. Being situated on a mountain let’s us see all of the towns below and their lights that scatter the land like stars in the sky.

As far as the group goes, we have 10 willing sets of hands from Freeport that are anxious to start work tomorrow. We are all getting to know each other better and realize that the days to come will fill our life with memories.

We are currently waiting for the final group from Alabama (22 in all) to arrive to the mission house. We hear they landed safely. Unfortunately, we believe they were stopped by Customs at the airport for complete luggage checks. Orientation was supposed to follow their arrival we may wait until the morning.

Either way, we are excited to be here doing God’s work. Thank you for praying for us and we will “see” you tomorrow for our next blog!

Love,
FBC Freeport Mission Team

Highest temp: 75
Forcast: rain

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - Acts 1:8

Our 10 missionaries left this morning for the airport and headed for Guatemala. Pray for their week of ministry to the people of Chimaltenago, Guatemala.

Matthew 6:21 tells us “For where your treasures are your heart will there also.” Where’s your heart? Is it on things of God or is it on your problems of today? Or your finances? Or your children? Or your job?
I don’t know where it is; but the bible is clear. It means whatever you want to do most, whomever you love most, that’s where your heart is going to be.
Jesus goes on to tell us to not lay up treasures for ourselves on this earth. How many f us see people that live just for money? All they want is a new car, new house, new clothes, new furniture, new toys - new everything. The bible says,”Lay not up treasures on earth where rust will take them away and people can steal them, but lay up treasures in Heaven.” Jesus is saying that it’s not important what we have on this earth; but it’s what we do for Him, Jesus Christ, that’s going to make the difference. He’s the One who’s going to get us to Heaven. It’s what we do with Jesus Christ that’s going to make the difference.
No man can serve two masters. We cannot be living a life that’s concentrated on this earth and the things of this world, and still do what He wants us to do. It’s a decision everyone has to make.
Who will you serve?
This is an awesome skit that perfectly shows the choice we have to make.
Dancing with Jesus

What a wonderful day to be on the gulf coast! I hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of Spring Break. God is so amazing and visible through His creation and His children.
You know obedience to God is not easy. We are sinful people. It’s in our nature to want to sin. So, we have to choose everyday to lay aside our self and trust God with our everything. We have to follow hard after God.
Trust him with our whole self. Proverbs 28:26 says, “The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.”

We’ll see those of you who will be joining us for Family Game Night. Otherwise, see you Sunday!