Posted by: Jesse & Sara Eggman
Greetings,
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! While we very much missed friends and family this was still one of our all time favorite Christmases!
The week of thanksgiving my (Sara) heart felt very heavy during a time of prayer. I had such a strong sensation that I was not fulfilling the call of God for my life and that deeply saddened me. Since I was a child my heart has been for the orphan, the unwanted, and the outcast. God has placed in me a passion for these groups of children to know their value and identity as sons and daughters of a king. I asked the Lord when the time would come for this ministry to come to fruition. At the end of this time of prayer I felt in my heart that I was supposed to pray and keep my ears and eyes open. God is so awesome! Just 3 days later I learned from a missionary friend of mine that there was a Children’s home in our town with these exact types of children!
The first week of December Jesse and I went to visit this children’s home named Remar. Remar is an international Christian organization that helps to bring restoration to broken lives. The children’s home here in our town is specifically for orphans who have been abandoned by their parents or children who have been abused by their families. There are about 10 boys at the house for boys and about 30 girls at the house for girls. On our first visit to Remar we met a precious 4 year old little girl. It was heartbreaking to listen to this little girl’s history. She was rescued from her father who had raped her and then cut her head open with a machete. When she walked up I opened my arms to her and Jesse and I were amazed as she walked into my arms and allowed me to embrace her. Many of the children at this home have similar horrific experiences. The most heartbreaking news is that a large number of these children return back to their abusers due to the lack of a strong justice system in Guatemala. The directors of this home are beautiful people who are trying their best to care for these children and help them recover from their traumatic experiences. The directors expressed to us their desperate need for children’s ministers. “We are doing our best to provide shelter and food for the children. However, there are not any people on our staff to just spend time loving on the children. We need someone who can come and love the children. We need someone who will play with them and teach them the bible and about the love of Jesus.” Their words were like water to my soul and an answer to my hearts cry. In that moment I wanted to jump up and say “YES! ME! I WILL DO THAT!!!” This is my ministry heartbeat. These precious children need so desperately to know their value and worth as children of God. They need to know the pure love of their heavenly father. I believe that God has led me to these children and He has placed it in my heart to reach them. I believe so strongly that these children’s lives and circumstances can be changed by the power of Christ.
We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas Eve with the children from Remar. We set up a sheet and played the nativity story in Spanish from a projector. We were able to buy jump ropes, a few jumbo balls, and some group games for the kids. God helped me make 2 turkeys and bake 100 cookies for them as well. We know that these children are very close to God’s heart. He made that very clear to us over the past couple of days. We had called the gas company and ordered a cylinder of gas to be brought to our house to cook the turkeys with. An hour after delivering the first cylinder they returned with a second cylinder of gas saying that they had received a call saying that we needed a second cylinder. I told them that we hadn’t called them but that maybe God knew that we would need a second cylinder and went ahead and bought the second one. Sure enough we needed both cylinders to cook the two turkeys. God pulled the strings to make sure that the children would get their turkeys! We are so excited to be partnering with Remar in helping these children. We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store as we begin working more with them next year.
Thank you SO much for partnering with us. You are truly making a difference in these children’s lives. We are so grateful for all of your prayers, encouragement and financial gifts that continue to make the ministry here possible. We pray that you have a blessed New Year!
Our next update will talk about a second partnership we have made here, one that we believe will eventually help us meet our goal of reaching every village here in the Petén with the Gospel.
Blessings,
Jesse, Sara & Makai Eggman
Posted by: Jesse & Sara Eggman
Click HERE To see our full update for October with additional photos.
Things have been going really well here in Petén, Guatemala! I think that Jesse and I finally feel at ease being parents and raising a baby in a foreign country. Makai has been so wonderful throughout the whole transition and he seems to be really happy here.
There are definitely some challenges in being a foreigner as well as a parent here in this culture. It seems that everywhere we go everyone wants to touch or hold the “Greengo baby.” It can be stressful at times but God is giving us grace in how to handle each and every situation.
This past month we had the amazing opportunity to minister at a church about an hour away from our house. We were excited because the pastor had invited Jesse to preach and a special singer for the service. This service was awesome and quite the cultural experience! Neither of us had ever experienced anything like it before.
The service started at about 7:30pm and did not end until almost 11:00pm! It consisted of 4 different singers who altogether sang about 20 songs! In the middle of the service a woman came up to lead the congregation in prayer. She was so loud, that at one point I had to ask Jesse if Makai was crying because I could not hear him screaming at the top of his lungs even though he was sitting right on my lap! Finally… around 9:30pm after all the singing and praying Jesse had the opportunity to preach to the people. After Jesse preached the pastor invited two other people to come up and share the word. By this point it was almost 11:00pm. Although all of this was a huge stretch for us culturally Jesse and I were so blessed by the pastor and his congregation. We have never been in a church here that was so full of praise. It was amazing to see and hear them sing with everything they had. You could really see that they truly loved Jesus. Jesse preached to the people about Matthew 6:33. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Jesse encouraged the congregation to continue living faithfully to God when they have needs and to seek God for help and trust him to provide for them. The people responded and almost the entire body responded to the altar call. We were able to pray for strength for the people who were struggling with different needs and encourage them as we believed with them in faith for God to provide for them.
One Highlight we wanted to tell you about was getting to help Pastor Eugenio and his family evangelize the village of San Juan Villa Nueva. Pastor Eugenio recently moved there to plant a church and we journeyed to help him get started there. We were able to go from hut to hut talking to the people and inviting them to come to the church that evening for a special service and to watch a movie. We played the movie Courageous after worship and ended the evening with sharing a little and prayer. It was a great success as the church was full with people and there were even many outside looking in threw the doors and windows! Please pray for Pastor Eugenio’s family as they start the new work there and for the people of San Juan Villa Nueva.
We are so happy to be in Guatemala and we are really excited about some amazing doors God is opening up for next year. God has put such a vision in our hearts to see unreached villages touched with the power and love of the gospel. We are eager to share with you in our next update about the strategy God is revealing to us and the different partnerships he is blessing us with!
We are so thankful for each and every one of you who is praying for us and partnering with us financially. We appreciate you so much. Our family and our ministry would not be the same without you! Thank you for the sacrifices that you make with your time and finances in order to be our partners in the work God has called us to. We love and cherish each of you. We pray that God would just bless you and your families abundantly, that he would pour out and multiply back to you a hundred fold what you have sowed into us!
Posted by: Jesse & Sara Eggman
This week has been quite an adventure! We want to say thank you for praying for us and our trip back to Guatemala. Everything went so smooth. We had the Lord’s favor and did not encounter any problems! We arrived in Guatemala City on Monday around lunch time. All of our luggage made it in great condition and we did not encounter any issues at customs. We spent two days in the city finishing up all of the legal paperwork for our application for our residency. Wednesday morning we made the 8 hour drive from Guatemala City to our home in the Petén. Since then we have been busily working to get our home back in order. We came home to find that mold had grown over most of our clothes left in the house. Our dishes were also covered in dust and spider webs. Finally after 12 loads of laundry and 3 hours of washing dishes our house is looking like home again!
Makai did really well on the trip. He was such a trooper. He didn’t have any pain during the flights and he slept almost the entire 8 hour drive back to the jungle. Throughout the whole trip he was curiously looking around and enjoying all of the different sights. When we were packing in the United States I (Sara) did not want to bring a whole lot of luggage. Jesse however was wise enough to insist on bringing Makai’s pack n play and music mobile. I am so happy that we did. These two things along with Makai’s favorite blanky have been such a comfort to him. When we first arrived to our house Makai started crying and did not stop for about 2 hours which is very unusual for him. We called our directors and got some people together to pray for us, our household and especially for Makai. Makai went to sleep right afterwards and has been doing great ever since!
We have been so blessed to have my parents make this trip with us. They helped bring our luggage and take care of Makai while we met with the lawyer and have been cleaning right along with us. They have been such a huge help. I don’t know how we would have ever done everything without their help.
Yesterday Jesse along with my parents went to Las Gaviotas to minister to the people. While we were in the States we were given little beauty bags with soap, shampoo, and other goodies to give to the women in the village. My mom was able to hand out the bags and encourage the women with the Word of God and prayer. My dad was able to encourage the men in the village to work together in unity as they work to finish building their church. It was so exciting to see my parents being a part of the missions work we do here in Guatemala.
We are so grateful for all of your prayers and for your partnership with us that made our return to Guatemala possible! Thank you!
Please keep praying for us, for the legal work for both our residency and for the title for our truck, and for the ministry here to bear much fruit!
Blessings,
Jesse & Sara Eggman
Posted by: Jesse & Sara Eggman
It’s been two months since our last update and a lot has happened.
With the help from some of our Guatemalan friends we were able to put together a video on Las Gaviotas and the work we plan on doing there.
See Video Below
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foeBV6ZWxDc[/youtube]
I Jesse went with Jim DeHart, GTN’s Petén Director, and Marlon, one of GTN’s National workers, to explore a distant village close to Mexico called the “Lone Chicken”. It was quite an adventure. The vehicle we were traveling in lost all power three different times and the tie rod fell to the ground resulting in a loss of all steering of our vehicle. We traveled a total of seventeen hours. We rode four hours on horseback through very deep mud, killed a large poisonous snake in our path, and were able to eat the “King of the Rats” for dinner. On our way back home we also got stopped by the Guatemalan Military while we were driving through a very dangerous stretch of road after dark. All of these events made it an unforgettable journey! I couldn’t believe how beautiful the village was when I finally got there. I came out of the mud right onto a bridge crossing a beautiful river which led to the village. “The Lone Chicken” was situated on the side of the mountain right by the river. It was the most beautiful village I have ever seen! I believe that God did an amazing work in the hearts of the people there in that village. There were many dangers but God protected us through each and every single one! I believe that light overcame darkness and the Kingdom of God advanced in power. We are looking into the possibility of helping to build a school and a church among other things in that village in the future.
Since leaving our home in Guatemala for itineration and partner building we have lived like nomads and traveled roughly eleven thousand miles. We have had wonderful opportunities to update many of our current partners in person as well as share our mission and vision with many new potential partners. We have been able to preach the Word of God, share our testimonies and teach about missions and Guatemala at various churches, youth groups, home groups, house churches and even with inmates in prison. We have seen many new partnerships started and have been very encouraged through all of these experiences.
Jesse was able to help at two nonprofit organizations located on a small ranch in Desoto, TX, Gospel Revival Ministries and Aquaponics and Earth, on behalf of Go To Nations for a couple of weeks. He was able to learn a lot about Aquaponics by picking up things from Aquaponics & Earth’s president and founder, John Musser. We also received training on how to reach unreached tribal groups when one of Gospel Revival Ministries Native Leaders stopped by the ranch unexpectedly and shared about the work going on in India with tribal groups. The time spent there was invaluable and we are sure that the things we learned will be applicable and useful for us and others in the future.
Thanks so much to each of you who partner with us and pray for us! None of this would have been possible without you!
Please continue to keep this time of partner building in your prayers. We are progressing towards meeting our monthly budget goals but are still looking for many new partners to help meet the needs. Sara is only a little more than a month away from her due date and has been feeling very uncomfortable. I have been fighting with allergies / cold / congestion off and on for the past 6 months now. Please keep our health in your prayers as well.
May God bless you abundantly,
Jesse & Sara Eggman
