The Kitchen Crew

Gail Conner
Jamie Spaugh
Cindy Spaugh--"Chief Cook"









Rule #1: If you want to eat, stay out of the kitchen!

These ladies meticulously scrubbed, soaked and prepared food in such a way that it prevented any food-related illnesses. Our only complaint was that the food was too good, and some of us actually gained weight!

Adult Bible Teaching

Joy and Steve Arnold in typical Guatemalan dress. The women dress like this every single day! The belt is extremely tight because it's holding up your skirt. They don't want the belt to slip, and lose their skirts.



































John and Gail Conner, in typical Guatemalan dress. It's tradition for the women to dress up their guests in their own clothing, and then take pictures with the husband.










John and Steve talking and planning outside our sleeping compound.














Ken Spaugh, with CAM. He was in charge of all logistics and advance preparation inside Guatemala.













John Conner teaching, and Ken Spaugh translating difficult concepts like~

propitiation
sanctification
redemption













We had not planned on teaching this final class, but 26 kids arrived, begging for another Bible lesson! We found a dimly lit classroom and had a children's class while the adults were in their Bible class.

Alfa y Omega Private School Ministry

This is the Alfa y Omega School Building and Church.













Josh Arnold and David Conner helping with the singing during Bible class.












Sharon and Leslie teaching the class.
Leslie was a trainee with CEF and did a great job teaching the Gospel and giving the invitation.







Here's the teaching team at the private school:
David Conner
Josh Arnold
Sharon Slinger
Leslie (granddaughter of Juan Cocon)






This is a picture of a little boy, dressed in his native attire. He did a native dance for us during his school's presentation.

Evangelism in the National School

Kids in a class, holding up tracts after the Gospel presentation. The kids were very attentive, due in part to Joy's unusual command of the Spanish language!

At one point she mistakenly told them to "speak in cow's voices" instead of "speak in low voices". Two boys mooed in response!

This is the entire Evangelism Team:

Ada Mendez (CEF)
Leslie--training with Ada
Juan Cocon--teaching in schools for 40 years. Reaches 2000 kids/week!
Steve and Joy Arnold
Laura Conner
Andrea

Joy and Juan, between classes, figuring out which class to go to next. We taught 30 minutes classes, one right after another, so didn't have spare time between classes!

Joy with a group of girls at the school.

The only illness was when one little girl handed Joy a cup of "atol", and she drank it before she realized it! She missed a day of teaching while she recovered from her bug.

The Guatemalan children were open, happy and eager to listen to the message of Creation and God's love for them.

Report on Guatemalan Mission Trip July 2008

Overlooking the town of Patzun, pop. 35,000

It's difficult to know where to begin in telling all of you about our mission trip to Potzun, Guatemala.
I guess I'll start at the same place our Creation lessons for the children began:

"In the beginning, God...."

That's the best way to describe this trip!
God began preparing things long ago for this ministry, and we're just grateful that He chose to use us in a small part of His great plan!



There were 3 organizations colaborating on this effort:

1. Southwood Bible Church planned, organized and led this mission trip, and provided the teachers and all materials related to lessons and evangelism.
   
2. CAM handled all logistics for team members: food, lodging, transportation, prep. work at schools for upcoming ministry.
   
3. CEF (APEN in Spanish): provided 3 team members, fluent in Spanish, who taught the Gospel and invitation part of the classes.
   

I will say this~
The fellowship and unity between all 3 of our organizations was definitely a result of the Holy Spirit! The big surprise for us was that we were only expecting one team member from CEF, and the Lord sent 3. There is NO WAY that we could have accomplished this mission w/o those 3 team members! Juan Cocon, a 70 y/o man in Potzun, is CEF trained but not on staff, and has been teaching children in the area for 40 years. He is currently teaching 2000 kids every week, riding his bicycle in the rain, between schools!

Here's a summary of the fruit of this labor:

Team 1--The Public School Evangelism:

• Team members: Joy Arnold, teens: Laura Conner and Andrea CEF: Ada Mendez and Juan Cocon of Potzun.
• We reached approximately 1000 children and teachers with the Gospel!
• We taught 30 minute classes, 35+ kids/class, one after another! 7 classes each morning, w/ a 30 minute break at 10am, for 5 straight days.
  
• I "sang" the Creation lesson, with commentary (in Spanish) between each verse. I introduced sin, God's love, etc, then passed the lesson over to someone fluent in Spanish.
• Either Ada or Juan would then give the Gospel and invitation, and pray w/ the class en masse.
• We'd end by passing out either Gospel Bracelets, tracts, or coins w/ Jn. 3:16, and then immediately move onto the next class.
  

Team 2--Private School Teaching and Evangelism:

• Team Members: Sharon Slinger, teens: Josh Arnold and David Conner, CEF: Leslie (from Potzun)
• We taught 75 kids each day, using the CEF series "Beginnings".
• We began the process of training teachers to use these materials.
  
• We also taught the children's Bible classes at the church, while adults were in their own Bible class. The last night, we'd given away all our materials and thought we were done, but.... 26 kids arrived, asking for another class! We just couldn't say NO!
  

Team 3--Adult Bible Classes:

• John Conner and Steve Arnold taught adult Bible classes every night (except Thurs), 10 classes total. They concentrated on the basics of salvation, grace and faith, and some attributes of God.
• These people do not have a pastor right now, and need more strong, consistent Bible teaching.

Team 4--The Cooking Crew (the most important team of all!)

• Team members: Cindy Spaugh, Gail Conner, and Jamie Spaugh
• They meticulously prepared 3 meals a day, taking great care to prevent any food-related illnesses.
  
• Our only complaint was that some of us actually gained weight on this trip, b/c the food was so good!
  

We would like to thank all of you that supported us in prayer, finances, materials preparation and other logistical support. There are many people who worked behind the scenes to make this trip possible.

We'll share pictures with all of you, putting them into separate blogs to make it easier to see.

You can also go to our Flickr site and view all the photos.
Choose the icon "slideshow" in the top right corner for easier viewing.