15 hours in a hot sweaty van; sounds like a lot of fun; YEEAAAA!

Well we are heading off to Nicaragua in 6 hours with our MTS to minister there for 4 days and then off to Costa Rica for 4 days of more ministry. Nothing like a 15 hour van ride through 4 countries to unify a team. We have Matt, Kerry, Ashley, Dan, Reid, Shara-Rae, Nicole, Nelson, Melissa and Pastor Rafael; 10 of us in total. It has been great to see God bring our MTS group together and make us stronger together. It will be a test for us all with lots of fun, adventure, trials, joys, life altering moments and changed lives. We will be ministering in churches, a prison, door to door and in Fe Viva's school that they have in a very poor area of Managua, Nicaragua. This is the school that schools in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada will be walking to raise funds and also The GOOD Run fundraiser is focusing on this as well. Please pray for divine appointments, God's revelations over our lives and those we serve, safety, protection for our kids we leave in Guatemala and unity.

We need your prayers and we look forward to sharing with you the adventures, salvations, pictures, videos and great stories when we get back. Our trip dates are: February 26 to March 6.

To those who will not shrink back, (Revelation 12:10-11)

Matt and Kerry

Many Are Invited Few Are Chosen

Many Are Invited Few Are Chosen

What is a day like here for me in Guatemala?  Que depende. This morning started at 6:25 am and if anyone knows me well they know I have never been a morning person. I have always said to Matt if you want to tell me something important let me know after 10:00 am. People change, don’t tell Matt but I recently found great peace in getting up early in the morning. I can only hear the bird’s awkward attempts at singing, they are more of a cacophony here and not a sweet sound, picture magpies and crows combined. I make myself a good strong cup of tea and I relax in my chair for some coveted quiet with the Lord. This morning my alone time was short and then we were off to the friends of Jesus breakfast. If you do not know what this means message me, this is what I call my beloved pre-Christian sisters who make a living in the bars. The girl MLT students accompany Steve and Karla to the House of Refuge where they host a breakfast for our sisters, we only have two hours to spend with them before the bars open and it is always a sweet time. Shara-Rae led worship in Spanish on guitar with Nicole and Ashley accompanying her. At first it was hard, it seemed like we were singing for the women and not worshiping but as we prayed the presence of the Lord came in like a sweet fragrance. Shara-Rae shared her testimony and the transparency opened the heavens over us. I shared the parable of the wedding banquet. I have heard this many times before and my attention was always directed to the part where the Lord commanded His servants to go to the street corners and invite anyone you can find. But this time when I read it I was drawn to the part where a man came in the wrong clothes and the king had him thrown out into the darkness. This struck me, is this harsh treatment or simply mercy? For many are invited but few are chosen. What does this mean? God is calling us and instead of responding to our maker we go about our business and pay no attention to what our King has prepared for us. He is planning a huge wedding banquet and His son is the groom. Would a bride show up in her jeans and hoodie?  No, she comes prepared and ready to marry her love. The clothes we are to wear to this wedding are very specific; they are the robes of righteousness bought by our grooms love, paid in full by His shed blood. No one comes in without wearing these robes. This is mercy because there are white robes for you and for me; for the sinner and the saint. Every breakfast is a divine mingling of sinners and saints waiting to be clothed and welcomed home. Pray with us as we share the message of God’s grace to all we come in contact with. There was a battle in the realm of the spirit because the enemy wants the domain of these ladies hearts to belong to them, but I chose to receive them with open arms and prepare these brides for their beloved. After this I came home chat with my kids, teach on my best friend, the Holy Spirit and then have some delicious lunch that I do not have to cook. In the afternoon I chat with friends organize our outreach and have hot chocolate in the heat with my beautiful friends. That was today in Guatemala and I hoped I can get a run in before I fall exhausted into bed with my other best friend. Love you all!

Kerry

What we've been up to

You have been getting a lot of awesome words from Kerry these past 4 weeks; through our blog. God has been really speaking to her (in English and Spanish). She already preached in Spanish a few weeks ago and is planning to continue to write teachings and preachings in Spanish. She said that this time she has finally begun to receive revelation in Spanish. It is awesome to see her grow in her gift of writing, speaking and teaching; and now in 2 languages. We have been doing a lot this past month: prepping our house once we got here; a week of Spanish school in Antigua, Guatemala with the whole family; prepping for MTS. MTS started Friday Feb. 11. We have 5 students this year. Nicole from Ontario, Shara-Rae from Spruce Grove, Alberta, Reid from Westbank, B.C. and Dan and Ashley from Kingston, ON (they are the directors of Casa Alabbanza in Villa Nueva, Guatemala). We are just finishing our first week in MTS. We are excited to see what God is doing and going to do with these students. We have begun teaching with the Father heart of God. We are doing Generation Curses these last few days with the students and preparing for our first Outreach trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica (February 26-March 6). It will be a long trip and are praying for everything to come together as we are still working out the details. The students are coming together really well and working well; only to be made stronger on an outreach trip. We will be working in churches, the prison ministry in Nicaragua that Fe Viva has and the school that Fe Viva has in Managua, Nicaragua. In Costa Rica we will be be working in schools, churches and the streets.

We have also been doing leadership training with the Fe Viva base missionary staff. (we are using the Heroes material that we teach in Canada and it is working great). We have been leading Monday prayer nights and attending a Tuesday night bible study with a local pastor and people from his church. My (Matt) brain gets really tired with all the Spanish, but we are learning lots. Kerry is teaching dance on Friday nights with 20-25 girls. It is going really well.

Our kids are excited to have the students here and are having fun in everything they do. They got some bikes and few weeks ago and are riding all the time on the track on base. I (Matt) has been training fairly well for the race fundraiser I am doing in July. On Saturday I am planning to run a 21km all uphill. We will see how much elevation I gain. I will post some video of this run. Check out The GOOD Run

We will continue to let you know all that we are doing here. God bless and talk later.

Matt, Kerry, Abby, Hayley and Liam

Walking in the Light

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:12

Ephesians chapter five exhorts us to be imitators of God, walk in love and live a life of sacrifice, a life poured out and fragrant. What is the kingdom of darkness imitation of sacrifice?  Idolatry; summed up as – immoral, impure and greedy. The word of God says these people will not have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  We need to understand what the significance of this statement.  It does not say you won’t obtain salvation but indicates you will not have any inheritance.  Inheritance represents sonship; which means we receive everything that God has already obtained.  The understanding of this truth is very powerful.  Do I want to remain in idolatry, drawing form my own broken, marred cistern, or do I want an inheritance that is incorruptible and full of light?

We are warned not to be deceived and receive empty words.  The result of walking in deception is disobedience, and disobedience brings the wrath of God.  Our origin was once darkness, and darkness is the familiar territory of the flesh.  We believe the lie that everything is hidden in darkness and that we are safe and secure there.  If we cannot see our condition does that mean it does not exist?

God is asking us to walk in the light as He is in the light, so that we may have fellowship with one another. (Paraphrase my own, reference 1 John 1:7).  What are the fruits of walking in the light?  According to Ephesians 5 verse 9: goodness, righteousness and truth.  People born of the light pursue to find out what pleases God.  God desires to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness.  He wants us to know that whatever is conceived in darkness will bear no fruit, but will only lull us to sleep and that sleep leads to death. This begs the question, “Do we want to live in darkness, living fruitless lives?”  No! We want to be children of the light, putting off the deeds of darkness and being clothed in the armor of light which is love, goodness, righteousness and truth.  Remember if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from the fruitless deeds of darkness.  His mercy triumphs over judgment, walk as children of the light!

“But the gift is not like the trespass.”

“But the gift is not like the trespass.” Romans 5:15

This morning I come to you as a contemplative, and that is part of who I am. I think upon different things, process them in my mind, surrender them to the beautiful feet of Jesus my Lord, searching until Christ’s nature is branded upon my heart. The fire of his love burns away all the things that try to replace him, or the vain imaginations that glorify the wrong ruler. I have a king and his name is Jesus, He is the servant ruler of all. I want to highlight the first sentence of a verse: “But the gift is not like the trespass.” Through the principles of magnetism we know that opposites attract. Humans are interesting creatures. We are attracted to the opposite things that we despise about ourselves. For example, a shy person may be attracted to an outgoing, bubbly person because they possess qualities the timid person always longed for. Let’s say a shy person marries an extreme extravert; a problem arises when the bubbly extravert who by nature acts more spontaneously embarrasses their partner because they spoke carelessly at an inappropriate time. Who determines the regulations for careless words and when they should be spoken? The timid person is the one who has made this unspoken rule. The irony is they are angry at the other person because they themselves have not spoken. Many times we assume everyone holds the same value system as us, and we judge others according to our own values. The reason why we are attracted to someone is because we wish we were more like them, but when they act naturally we become jealous and despise them. How do you get out of this trap? We need a revelation, “that the gift is not like the trespass.” We need to realize that we have “we have all sinned and have fallen short of the grace of God.” The sin in others is the same as in us just a different expressions. Jesus came to rescue us from sin. Many times we see it in others but they only reflect what is hidden in our hearts. How will people trapped in these mindsets become free? First we need to acknowledge that we need forgiveness from God. He offered His son, who is not like us in heart; He knew no sin. We on the other hand were born with a sin nature. We need to ask God to forgive us for believing the lie that we are like Him but others are not. Did you get that? Other people will always be an excuse in your life if you believe the lie that you are different from your brother in nature. Believe me, we are not different in nature we are the same. First repent for believing this lie and receive the forgiveness of God. Then forgive others for the things they have done that hurt you, intentionally or unintentionally. Then you will receive the gift unlike the trespass that knows no end.

Kerry

Love and Prayer: Simple Words

Love cannot remain by itself - it has no meaning. Love has to be put in action and that action is service. A mission of love can come only from union with God. From that union, love for family, love ofr one's neighbour, love for the poor is the natural fruit.

You can pray while you work. Work doesn't stop prayer and prayer doesn't stop work. It requires only that small raising of the mind to Him: I love you God, I trust you, I believe in you, I need you now. Small things like that. They are wonderful prayers.

Mother Teresa.

Like the gardener here at Fe Viva says over and over about watering the plants: Poco y poco. Little by little. And you know what the plants grow.

God bless you day
Matt