So, some of you may be wondering...does Rebecca actually do anything in Guatemala, in between all of her traveling? =) Well, I have had the privilege to be involved in some amazing things here in Guatemala over the last few months...allow me to update you!

Since October of last year, I have begun to travel one or two weekends a month with a small team of people from the Church of God (the denomination of my church here in Guatemala City). We go to cities up to three and four hours outside of the capital and meet with groups of Sunday School teachers, offering them a full day of training in how to work with children. Unfortunately, the mentality of Sunday School in Guatemala (and most of the world, I think!) is that we need to get the kids out of their parents' hair while the pastor is preaching. They need to be entertained with games and songs for awhile, so anyone can be their teacher. However, if we miss the opportunity to really teach and mold these children, we may lose the next generation of the Guatemalan church! My specialty in these training times is teaching the Sunday School teachers how to teach missions to kids. 70% of the missionaries that are serving in the world today received their call to missions before the age of 14 -- so if we don't teach Guatemalan children about missions, we will lose a huge percentage of the future missions force!

I have also been working on an exciting project with another teammate from Sepal -- Prayer cards of unreached people groups for children!! They are bright, colorful, full of information that is interesting to children, and offer hands-on activities for kids to do related to each people group. We have been working on these cards for almost two years now, and are finally coming to the publishing stage! It has been a long process, but it will be so exciting to see these cards being sold all throughout Latin America and Spain, and thinking about all of those children who are being exposed to the needs of people all around the world!

I am also part of a women's ministry in Sepal, whose purpose is to train intelligent, working women from the capital in how to teach, and then take them to rural areas of Guatemala to teach other women. Just last weekend we offered a training in Spiritual Gifts to a group of women, helping them realize the value they have and gifts they have to offer the church. We are currently reading John and Staci Aldredge's book "Captivating" (the female version of "Wild at Heart" - if you haven't heard of these books, check them out!) and hoping to offer a course soon explaining the unique way God made women. There is a great need in Guatemala to build up the self-esteem and position of women in society.

These are just a few of the many amazing ministries I am able to be a part of here in Guatemala. God is doing great things in this country and I am honored to be a part of it.