Christmas Season

As many of you know, I love LOVE celebrations and the Christmas season is no different.  It is difficult being away from "home" at this time of year, but I am determined to make "home" wherever I am and that means making new traditions and celebrating with who I have here with me.  Thankfully right now I have 11 people with me who are also in the same boat I am in, so we are going to enjoy each others company and celebrate together!

We got a Christmas tree, thanks to one of our generous teachers, and decorated it.  We also drank eggnog, hot chocolate, and sang Christmas songs together.  Another night we decorated stockings as a group and hung them in our classroom to be filled by our "Secret Santa" or the person who we will secretly give a gift to once a week until Christmas.  The house has been filled with Christmas songs, joy and fellowship.  It has been wonderful! It is by no means a replacement for our traditions with our families, but it is a year that we will be able to look back on with contentment. 

Mario thinks it looks good as an earring

Putting on the lights

On December 6th we found our shoes filled by the fireplace.  It is a German tradition that Santa Clause fills one shoe and someone stole one of each of our shoes all filled them with goodies!!!

Our own wonderful Santa!!!

Livingston

I have yet to post about our time and I am afraid that if I let any more time go by it will just be a thing of the past, so I am posting today so that you can all read and see what an amazing time we had there serving God and bring people to Jesus through relationships, dramas, and prayer.

The first day we got there it was raining- hard.  We had to take a boat and were mostly all wet by the time we got to the shore.  Then, we found out that the place we would be staying was actually a hotel that had its own ocean view.  It was gorgeous and we were definitely blessed with our accommodations seeing as all the other groups that have gone to Livingston have stayed on the floor in a church and had to get water from a well to shower and wash with.  It is the little things in life :)

We did a lot of children's ministry with clowns, puppets, and dances and had anywhere from 30-70 kids at a time.  One of my most favorite things to do was to look out over the crowd during kids ministries and pray over the futures of the beautiful faces filling the audience.  God has such great plans for the youth and kids of Livingston and I can't wait to see what He is going to do and how He might use me to be a part of His plan coming to life.

We also did a lot of prayer walks and one on one ministry with people.  We felt like the ground needed to be prepared before we could do much open air ministry because there was such a spirit of slavery and apathy that we felt dominated the people.  We did a prayer walk at 5:00 AM where we walked around the city declaring God's truth about Livingston and the people who live there.  We even stood on the dock and shouted "Jesus is Lord over Livingston" as people were boarding the first boat of the morning.  Yes, it was uncomfortable shouting with people looking at us, but I believe that it changed something in the spiritual world and that was our goal.  

There is a house for sale that Mario and I have seen every time we have gone to Livingston.  We have dreamed and talked about how it would be the perfect location and perfect starting point for a ministry in Livingston.  This trip we actually had the opportunity to go inside and look at it.  Some of the students went along to help us pray over the place and we were all surprised to see that the house was in better shape than we thought.  It has basically been sitting empty for a few years, so I expected to see dirt, cobwebs, and overall grime.  Although there is definitely work to be done on it, it was way better than expected.  It is something that we are praying about for the future, but to see it was something that excited us and we believe that if it the right place for us then it will be there when God calls us to be there.  I can't wait to see what God has!

I would like to show you some pictures of our time as well because as the saying goes, pictures really are worth a thousand words :)

The house we looked at (this picture doesn't really do it justice)

beautiful faces

the adorable twins!

A friend I met while on a prayer walk

Mario's cousins watching us do children's ministry

The future of Livingston!

Beautiful sunrise

Thanksgiving Dinner (I ate eggs, beans, plantains and bread-so traditional, right!?!)

Support Letter

So we are leaving for Panama in a month and we still need some help.  This is a letter that we are sending out to friends and family and I thought I would post it here, too.  Thanks in advance!!!  

Hello to everyone!  We hope this letter finds you well.  We are both doing very well and loving the things God is teaching us through working with this DTS.  We have gone over various topics such as The Nature and Character of God, The Father Heart of God, Hearing God’s voice, Identity, Sin and Evangelism that have challenged and shaped the way we see God and how we respond to Him.  We have nine students who are hungry to know God more and to make Him known in the nations. 

We just got back from an amazing outreach in Livingston, Guatemala.  We did a lot of prayer and intercession for the people who live there because we felt that there are a lot of strongholds that are keeping them from really experiencing Jesus.  We also played a lot of soccer, evangelized to strangers, did children’s programs, and even saw a boy’s arm get healed.  It was definitely a time where God was moving in and through our team. 

We have returned to the base for our last part of the lecture phase, which will last until December 30^th.  Then, we will go on our international outreach to Panama for a month and a half.  We are super excited to see what God has for us there and cannot wait to see our team bond even more as we allow Him to flow through us.  We do need some things to happen before we can make this outreach a reality, though.  First of all we need people to back us up in prayer.  We need prayer for health, unity, and that we would be willing to be used by God every day in any way.  As leaders it is a challenge for us to not only remind ourselves to be available to be used by God, but we also have the responsibility to encourage and disciple those on our team, which is a very rewarding challenge. 

We also need to raise money for the outreach.  We need a total of $2,600.00 to cover our travel and costs for both of us while we are in Panama.  Looking at the amount we need and the time we have to raise it (before December 10^th) is overwhelming, but then we are reminded of all the times God has provided for us in the past and the way He has called us to Panama to lead this team and we know that He is faithful.  While praying about all of this, God showed us Psalm 33:4, 20-22 to remind us of hoping in His faithfulness.  What a great God!

                If you would like to help us financially, there are a few ways you can do it. 

-Write a tax-deductible check made out to Youth With a Mission

And mail it to:

Youth With a Mission

15850 Richardson Springs Rd

Chico CA 95973

(Please put a note specifying that the support is for Mario and Susan Martinez in Guatemala but do not write our names anywhere on the check). 

-Write a non-tax-deductible check made out to Susan Fidler and send it to

Susan Fidler

3101 Heath

Bakersfield, CA

93314

-Make a Paypal transfer to our account at susan.fidler@hotmail.com

Thank you so much for your continued support of us as we adventure along this path that God has for us.  We could not be here without you, so we thank you!

Blessings,

Mario and Susan Martinez 

K.I.T.

K.I.T... That means Keep In Touch for those of you who didn't buy and sign yearbooks in the '90s.  There are two categories of people, in my opinion, when it comes to keeping in touch.  The first category are those who are so great about keeping in touch that they can live miles away from you and you feel like they are your next door neighbor because they are always keeping in touch somehow.  The second category are those I like to call out of sight out of minders.  Those are the people who love people dearly, but tend to focus their attention on the people who are physically present in their lives at the time. 

I, unfortunately, fall under the second category.  I am finding this out more and more the longer I am away from "home".  I grew up with some of the very best friends that anyone could honestly ask for, and to this day I still call them my best friends, but if you ask me how long it has been since I have talked to them I would be ashamed to tell you the answer.  Like I said before, it is not that I don't think about them, pray for them, and even talk about them with the people here, but it is just hard for me to keep in touch with them.  I think part of it is because life gets the best of me and the fact that I am in a pretty busy season right now.  I think the other part of it is that it is a coping mechanism.  It is hard to be away from friends and family for an extended period of time, and I think that one of the ways I deal with it is to kind of disconnect myself from them so as not to remember how much I miss them.  This is not necessarily healthy, but it is what I do.  That doesn't mean that I am going to just accept that I am this way and not try to grow and change to become better.  It just means that I know this is how I am right now, and knowing is half the battle, right?

Thankfully I have people in my life who love me and when I DO actually pick up the phone (or push the video call on skype) and call them, they answer and we can pick up right where we left off.  God knows exactly who I need in my life and I am so thankful to have friends like I do.  Here is a picture of these friends that I am so thankful for and whom I miss dearly on a regular basis.

So, now that I have confessed and recognized my fault, it is now my goal to become better at keeping in touch on a more regular basis.  If you want to KIT with me, you can hit up my email or facebook and we can work on our communication skills together!

Thanks for reading!!!

The Land of Dreams

So I have started calling Livingston "The Land of Dreams" because that is what is really is for me!  I can't wait to someday live there and do ministry with people who need to know about a God who loves them and died to pay their punishment so that they can live forever with Him.  It is going to be amazing! 

Until the day comes when we live there full time, I can quench my thirst with some shorter trips.  This Saturday we leave to do just that!  We are going to spend two full weeks in Livingston with the DTS that we have been leading.  We couldn't be more excited to go to this "Land of Dreams" and see what God is going to do in and through us.  The people there are so beautiful and the culture is so rich.  The air is warm and the beach is just a 5 minute walk from just about wherever you are.  Really, how can you not say that it is a land of dreams?!? 

Please be praying with us as we make this first outreach trip to Livingston.  Here are some specific prayer requests that might help you:
-Pray that we will have unity in our team
-Pray that we will bring a new attitude and atmosphere to Livingston and not be brought down by what is there
-Pray for health in our team
-Pray for wisdom for Mario and I as we lead the team
-Pray for people's lives to be changed by the power of the love of Jesus Christ
-Pray for a movement of the Holy Spirit
-Pray for each team member by name: Mario, Susan, Martine, Karie, Evelyn, Kate, Casey, Chad, Erika, Faby, Rahel, and Miriam

Last but not least here are some pictures Mario took when he went to Livingston to set up this outreach.  

Mario's twin nieces

Another one of Mario's adorable nieces

Cousins

Mario's aunt doing laundry in her typical Garifuna clothing

Thanks for reading!!!

Dress Up

What would a DTS be without dress up- especially when I have a say in it!!!  So far in the month that we have been here we have dressed as rock stars up for a karaoke night and as people from different nations for a special dinner we had.  Here are some of the best pictures from these amazing times!

Gangsta

80's rock star

Don't Stop Believin'

Asians

Africans

Indians

I am so glad that everyone here enjoys dressing up almost as much as I do!!!  We are having so much fun with the students and I can't wait to see what crazy outfits we come up with in the future!!!

Thanks for reading!

A Wonderful Week

This last week of DTS we had a wonderful speaker and a wonderful week that was all about hearing God's voice.  I put a little bit about it in my last post, but so many great things have happened that I need to write about it again! 

First off I just want  to say that the speaker we had is one of the most humble, genuine hearers of God's voice that I have ever met.  I had the pleasure of translating for him all week and I am so thankful that I got to help transmit such a wonderful teaching.

During the week we did various exercises to help us hear God's voice.  The students quickly realized that it is something that is easy to do when you have a clean heart.  Worship is the best way to get into God's presence, so we had some great times of worship as well. 

Then, on Thursday we had a time of intercession for the place we are going on our short national outreach.  Intercession was a word that I was intimidated by before I came to YWAM, but I have come to love it.  It is a time where we can hear from God what is on His heart and then stand in the gap, or pray, that the things on His heart would become a reality.  The students did not know where we would be going and when first told them about it we didn't give any details, just the name: Livingston.  What happened next was completely God and was amazing for us as leaders to be able to experience.  The students started listening to God about Livingston.  They weren't afraid to share what they heard, even though it sounded crazy.  This is where I should say that Livingston is part of Guatemala, but is a peninsula that can only be reached by boat on the Caribbean coast.  It has a totally different culture than the rest of the country.  The people who live there are called Garifunas, or Black Caribs.  So back to intersession.  The students were getting pictures of boats, water, and to quote a few of them "tanned people who looked like they had been in the sun for a long time" and "people who looked like they belonged in Africa".  As soon as they started sharing these things out, I started jumping up and down with excitement!  How amazing and faithful is God to show them these pictures about Livingston, even though they know nothing about the place, and have them be right on with what it is like there!?!?!  It was definitely a time that encouraged everyone who was part of this intercession time!

I have lots of other stories to share, but the last one I want to share right now is about a time we had on Saturday.  YWAM is committed to partnering with local churches, and so we decided that we would go with the youth group from our church to give out soup and pray for the people who are waiting outside the hospital.  Most of the people waiting are there because they can't go in with the loved ones who are being treated inside so we got to pray with a lot of them for healing for their family members or friends who were inside the hospital at that time. 

Then I saw a woman and a man walking outside the gate of the hospital and knew that we needed to pray for them.  The woman had a freshly placed cast on her arm and was crying as they walked out the gate.  I approached them and asked if we could pray for them and they immediately agreed.  We started praying for Annabella and her freshly broken wrist and I knew that God was working in her as we prayed.  She opened her eyes at one point and I will never forget the look she had on her face when she said to me, "I don't feel the pain anymore".  Praise Jesus!  A miracle had happened and a woman who was crying just minutes before because of the pain of a broken arm was now crying because she was healed!  I felt like God wanted to share with her how much He loves her so we prayed with her some more and she left with words of affirmation from her Heavenly Father.  It was such a great time and I know the Holy Spirit wants to keep moving and keep healing even more people!

Beauty...

This week we are learning about Hearing God's Voice in the DTS.  It has been an amazing class and although I have been through it 2 times already, it is something that still speaks to me.  Today we were doing an activity where we were worshiping and asking God to show us His beauty.  This is something like the image I got..

A Giant Redwood Tree that seems to have no end.  So strong.  So faithful.  So sturdy that it can withstand even the strongest storm.  Something that people look at and just say, "WOW".  That is what God showed me.  He is so beautiful.  He is so strong.  He is so faithful.  He is so sturdy that He can help us through whatever storm we are going through. 

In fact, as I write this blog, I am listening to a song that says, "There is nothing too difficult for you.  Nothing too big for you.  Our firm foundation that we can stand upon... it's Jesus".  WOW... Jesus. 

Thanks for reading!

September Celebrations!!!

The month of September has always been one of my favorite months.  Obviously one of the reasons that I like September is because it is my birthday month, but it is also the birthday month of my niece, my Aunt Lynnie, my brother, my Mama and other people who I love.  Living in Guatemala also brings another celebration in September because the 15^th is Guatemala’s (and Central America’s) Independence Day.  This year we also started our DTS in September.  Here are some pictures from our celebrations of the month…

Celebrating our friend Sara's birthday

 

Happy Birthday Sara!

DTS

Independence Day Parade

If I were Guatemalan I would have totally rocked this in school!

Guatemalan Flags

Birthday lunch!

Lucky to share my special day with these great friends

Birthday cake

Thanks for reading!!!