Dios es muy bueno

Hello friends and family!! I wanted to start off by thanking each one of you for the way you’ve prayed for me and this year —— it means more than you could ever know!! My time here so far has been filled with an abundance of the Lord’s goodness, and presence. We flew into Guatemala City on the October 4th, and after eating at pollo campero, Guatemala’s version of Chick-fil-a, we were driving to the house when our van broke down! We were stuck on the side of the highway for around 3 hours! Then! A tow truck came and right when they were pulling in, they got into an accident with a different car… after that, instead of it taking just the van, it took us in the van with it! So we rode in the van on top of a tow truck down the mountain! After arriving at the mechanic, we got in the back of trucks and road into our pueblo! Weeks before we got here, men had been going around the town robbing women at gunpoint and the other people in the town didn’t like that obviously, so now whenever someone tries to enter our town, they’re met with dozens of men with machetes, checking each vehicle. So that’s what we saw driving into our new home, definitely making it an interesting bienvenidos a Guatemala!! Also, since we’ve been here, some of you may have seen on the news, but a new president somehow got elected that the people didn’t want, so they’ve been protesting and there’s been blockades at all the big streets and ports, making it impossible to go into the city, or for stores or companies to get any supplies. So the airport was shut down, same with the places we get our groceries from and prices on most things have gone up, so that’s also been super interesting.

We’re staying in a small town called San Antonio Aguas Calientes, and its usually called “the bowl” because it’s surrounded by beautiful mountains all around. This country really is so so breathtaking, and I’m so privileged to get to wake up in a place such as this. It’s been so sweet already, and it’s barely been 2 weeks. I’m just so in love with this place, and the culture, and the weather, and THE PEOPLE. Gosh the people here are just the best. I’m constantly met by awe that the Lord’s given me this opportunity. He’s so clearly confirmed that this is exactly what He wants me to be doing. THANK YOU JESUS!!!

In Guatemala they have these buses called chicken buses, that are basically decorated school buses, and they are incredibly packed and go incredibly fast, so we been taking those into different pueblos!! The first day we got there, we took one to Paramos, the town over, and got groceries and other things, then walked around San Antonio. We visited the church we’ll be involved with too: Nueva Esperanza! Our field directors started the church and are the pastors, so we’ll be serving there, and I’ll be leading worship — playing guitar, and working with children on Sundays!

Our first full week was so sweet. And God blessed me so much with this team. They constantly show me what living for Jesus really looks like, and sharing Jesus together has been a dream. We’re able to spend time with Jesus each morning, and we’ve also had some time to spend in worship as a group. The Lord has revealed so much to me, and keeps showing me that living for Him is a daily surrender. Just like it says “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross”, we’re called to humble ourselves by becoming obedient to the point of death to ourselves and our flesh. We been listening to Missionary Anthem so much, and a lyric has been so prevalent in my heart lately: “I will preach the gospel, I’ll die and be forgotten, as long as you get the glory”. Just so good. I’m so unworthy of this life and even getting to know Him. It brought me to tears the other day just thinking about the reality that we get to experience freedom in Him. He could’ve just left us in our brokenness and sin, but no, He DIED FOR US! What a love!

Our schedule isn’t fully set since we just got here, but we did do some things that we’ll be doing each week! We were trained on sharing our testimonies in Spanish, and sharing the gospel in Spanish using the 3 circles!! The ministry we’ll be doing most of the time here is called Harvest! It focuses on sharing the gospel with the lost in the community — making disciples, and discipling and training Guatemalans to go out and share the gospel with others. I’ve absolutely loved Harvest so far, and getting to meet so many new people that we’ll be spending time with weekly! Monday, we went to a house that has been meeting with our ministry for quite some time, but we’re working on getting them to be confident in sharing the gospel with the community. Tuesday, the whole team went to a larger family’s home because they wanted to host us. These people lived with dirt floors, and tin walls, and I don’t even think had doors, but welcomed us with open arms. They brought each one of us cups of ponche (a special Guatemalan fruit drink that is usually only served on Holidays), and large loaves of bread. Their hospitality and love inspired me greatly. After talking to them, we were able to share the gospel with a man outside of their house who had a very wrong view on religion and Jesus. Wednesday wasn’t a ministry day, but we did go to Antigua which was super fun! Thursday, we went to 2 homes, both who had very little, and had nothing to eat for their next meals. We were able to talk with them and pray with them and just love them! Friday was so special. While another team was playing soccer with some kids, a few other teams walked in the community. We started out Harvest by going by different shops and sharing our testimonies and the gospel with some women, but they weren’t very receptive so we moved on. We were knocking on the door of a home of people we know, but they weren’t answering so we started talking to the people next door and they invited us in! They’re highly catholic and said they look for God on Sundays at church, but obviously that’s not what relationship with Jesus looks like. So we shared the gospel with them, and we’re planning to make another visit soon! Then, we made a trip over to the old neighbors house! These people are extremely extremely catholic, but the older man living there has cancer so they were desperate for anything. We walked into a room full of saints and catholic idols on the wall, and just random saints all over the room. But we prayed for healing and that God would reveal the true gospel through it. Then we still had 30 minutes, so we walked down a random street and started talking to this kid outside his house when 10 other kids ran over. We told them we were just praying for the community and asked what they needed prayer for, and all the sudden the women seemed so surprised and even asked again if that’s what we were really doing, but then invited us in. We soon found out why she was so shocked, when 6 other women walked in. We followed them into a back room in the house, where chairs were surrounded a bed with an older woman. We realized we had stumbled upon an already scheduled prayer meeting for their mom recovering from surgery, while we were just walking asking if people in the community needed prayer. What a God we have come on!! So these women started reciting Psalms 23 from memory, and then broke out in a Christian song, singing desperately to the Lord about their confidence in His healing. And then immediately as they finished singing they each went into prayer and most of them sobbing, crying out to the Lord. Another example of just how this community and these people have given me a view of what faith really is. They sit in homes with barely anything, not knowing if they’ll even have food to eat for dinner because they don’t have enough money, but with the biggest smiles on their faces, and hearts knowing 100% that God will provide. I think back to my life in the States, and how I got upset so quickly with the littlest things, but these people walk in true faith and desperation with the Lord. Anyways, after this, we were about to leave, and they brought us food and drinks. Like come onnn. The hearts of these people!

Thank you Jesus!!! Dios es bueno!!

https://livransome.wixsite.com/guatemala/gallery

Photos from this week!!!

As we walk through this season, here are a few ways you can be praying for my team and I:

• Boldness for sharing the gospel and our testimonies with anyone God might lead us to.

• The hearts of the people here, that they would be open to the gospel.

• The country, as it’s going through political unrest, and this town too!

• For our leadership!

• Our team as a whole to be continually unified.

• To be growing daily in relationship with Jesus!

Con Amor,

Olivia Ransome