In one week we leave for Guatemala. We are moving there as a family to work with Servants 4 Him. Now I have a certain image of what a missionary family should look like and act like and we don’t fit the mold. In some ways that is good, in other ways, lets just say He’s still working on us.

Sunday our campus pastor spoke on the tongue. He is a Godly man who has the gift of encouragement. He said how he could not even bring himself to say the word…c.r.a.p. and even then, he spelled it.

After church, Clay jumps in the car and says, “O crap”.

I started in on him. “Were you in the service today? Did you hear the message on the tongue? Did you hear Pastor Rob say he couldn’t even say the word crap? And you jump in the car and the first word out of your mouth is crap! DO NOT SAY CRAP!”

“Gosh mom, I just said it once, you just said it three times in like 30 seconds.”
At this point I am thinking about hurting him and if they arrest me I’ll just start a prison ministry.

I am positive that most families got in their car and NO ONE said the word crap after the sermon on the tongue. I am also sure that they would all be more qualified to be missionaries in Guatemala. However, we are the ones that are willing to go, so God is going have to continue to mold us.

As I spend time in God’s word and I looked at Isaiah, where he says, “Here I am Lord send me,” it amazes me that in the verses before hand he confesses his unclean lips.

Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s Commission
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Even the book of James ties the tongue and serving together;

James 1: 26-27
If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

So, all I can say is, we may be willing but, Oh Cr… er… SNAP, we have our work cut out for us!!

(Mo)

And here is what we are praying through the middle of the month:

August 11: Please lift up Forrest, Carol, Dennis, Chochy, Dan, Donna, Juan and all the rest of the Servants for Him team currently working in Guatemala.

August 12: Pray for Young Life Guatemala (Vida Joven), a ministry that ministers to kids in Guatemala City.

August 13: Please pray for our health, that we would be protected from the many illnesses that we could be exposed to, also that Maureen’s lymphedema would be under control.

August 14: Please pray for discernment for us as we meet new doctors and learn which pharmacies dispense quality medication. Pray also that we can easily obtain the medication we need while in Guatemala.

August 15: Pray for the Guatemalan government, that God would give wisdom and integrity to those who run the country and those who work for them.

August 16: Pray for the complicated paperwork process we will wade through to become residents of Guatemala.

August 17: Please pray for those people in Guatemala who have very little, that they would teach us how to be content, and that God would supply all their needs.

August 18: Please lift up the International Justice Mission and their work in Guatemala, bringing those guilty of sex crimes to justice. Pray also for the victims left to heal.

August 19: Pray for God to use Todd specifically and mightily as he serves with Servants for Him.

August 20: Please ask God to prepare people’s hearts for Jesus both here and in Guatemala.

Again, thanks for praying. Your prayers help form the foundation of our ministry.

We are praying our way through August and would love to have you join us. Mo has put together a great list and here is what we are praying for the first third of the month:

August 1: Praise God for the housing He has provided for us in Antigua.

August 2: Please pray for the ministry that will take place in Guatemala, both formally and informally. Acts 1:8

August 3: Please lift up the kids’ adjustment, specifically that they would make friends and quickly learn Spanish.

August 4: As silly as it seems, please pray that we would adjust to the changes in food; that we would find new favorites and be able to still find some of our current favorite foods. Keep us from eating anything that would make us too sick.

August 5: Ask God to direct our finances—all money is God’s and he has trusted us with great supporters. Give us enough to meet our needs and help us to be good stewards with what we have.

August 6: Pray for Destiny Church, our sending church, as they open the new campus in Winchester, Va.

August 7: Please ask God to provide safety … that we would be wise in where we go and what we do, but that no matter what happens, we’d know that God our Father is always with us.

August 8: Please pray that God continues to prepare our hearts for all he has for us in Guatemala. Pray that God would break our hearts with the things that break His heart and that we would have His eyes.

August 9: Please pray for Todd and I as we attend many months of intense language school. “Give us your favor as we study that we can learn the language well and quickly.”

August 10: Please pray for our health insurance needs as we move to a group policy with S4H. We need to quickly find something that will cover us in both Guatemala and the United States.

Thanks for praying on our behalf, it makes all the difference.

I’ve worn Clinique makeup since I was 18 years old. Yes, I had a stint wearing Mary Kay and yes, I’ve bought a thing or two at CVS, but when it really comes down to it, I consider myself a Clinque girl. I spread out what I need so I am never spending a lot of money at the same time and when I would get mall gift certificates from students they were spent at the Macy’s Clinique counter.

So as I consider moving to Guatemala, and as I realize that I am out of eye makeup remover or my lipstick is almost gone, I start to panic. You may think it shallow of me, but hear me out. I realize that they will probably have replacements for what I am used to in Guatemala but at a time when my life is full of unknowns, running out of Clinique moisturizer just won’t do.

So, I decided to go to Macy’s and buy everything I think I’ll need for 3-6 months. Todd found this to be crazy and unnecessary and I appreciate that, but I told him, it was a security thing for me. I am sure that after I feel settled, I will be able to make do, and the brand just won’t matter but I didn’t want running out of blush the first month we were there to be the thing that pushed me over the edge.

So, I went to Macy’s and I started to load up. I felt like I needed to explain my duplicate purchases, so I started to tell the nice sales lady about my move to Guatemala. I barely got it out before she started beaming, telling me she used to be a missionary in the Philippians.

We stood and talked deeply about the Lord for a good 15 minutes and then went back to the sales transaction. She was just about to start to ring my order up when she said, “I have to tell you something. I wouldn’t normally tell this to a customer but I know I can tell you. My regional sales manager is here today and I really needed a sale, so about 5 minutes before you walked in I prayed and asked God to send me a sale and here you are.”

So there we were. Me, buying more than I had bought at one time, ever and satisfying my shallow sense of security and her getting a sale while her manager was there. But really I got so much more. I got a sense that God did care about what was important to me. I got an amazing, encouraging conversation about the Lord. I got the joy of knowing that my sale was the answer to her prayer. What I really got was the sense that God is in everything and can be found everywhere, even on both sides of the Clinique counter. Oh yeah, and she threw in a free gift. -Maureen

The editors of this blog do not own stock in Clinque nor do they get any financial compensation for the products mentioned in this blog post.