Caroline's Promise News

On one of the last nights of our trip the women’s team decided to read the lies and truths that the women from both retreats (Pana and Gerona) wrote.  We cried as we heard the ugly things satan has spoken over them. Lies: I’m never going to prosper – get ahead – I’ll go to hell.  I’m not worth anything.  Noone loves me.  Jesus doesn’t listen to me when I pray.  I’m not worth anything.  My family is bad.  I have no future.  I can’t pray for anyone. God doesn’t exist.  Who would believe in God?  God can’t forgive you.  You are a bad mother.  You are a sinner.  God doesn’t love you. You’re not a good mom.  You’re not a good wife.  You’re not a good daughter.  God cannot use you.  You are weak.  You don’t have any ability.  You can’t be happy. Nobody values me.  I’ll never be successful.  I’m not worth it. I don’t do things that the Lord finds pleasing.  God...

Our partner church, Iglesia Adonai is planting a church and holding services for kids and women every Sunday afternoon.in the community of Gerona, right outside of Guatemala City.  There is a beautiful Christian camp there called Shama. As we are blessed to know the owners of this camp, our ladies team was able to join the women’s ministry team from Iglesia Adonai to host a retreat for women from both communities. Twenty ladies from Adonai and Gerona arrived on Friday afternoon for a 24 hour retreat. Upon the arrival of the women from Gerona, the ladies from Adonai greeted them with corsages, and our team placed beautiful gifts on their bed, at the table for each meal, and in the services.  After the warm welcome and corsages, their first stop was a Mary Kay makeover. While walking them through this process, Ruth and her team spoke life over them. After makeovers, the ladies got their hair cut and styled…and of course had their nails painted! You could see the beauty they hav...

Our vision for the women’s team was to invest in the women’s leadership team from Iglesia Adonai (our partner church) and then help them lead a retreat for women from their church and the community of Gerona (where they are planting a church). God gave us three things that we felt like He wanted to accomplish: Help the ladies feel and understand God’s love. Establish unity by walking them through the process of forgiving themselves and others.  Encourage them to believe what God thinks of them and begin walking in the beauty of who He created them to be. Teachers, students, moms, worship leaders, speakers, first timers, and veteran mission team members, all between the ages of 11 and 46, created a very diverse team. Despite the unexpected challenges and changes that the first 24 hours of the trip brought, God helped us fight through the frustration. Our diverse team of 13 boarded a bus with 15, full of laughter and excitement, ladies from Iglesia Adonai as we travelled to...