A Stupid Thing I Did that Mom Doesn't Need to Know!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all! 

As you read this, I am probably somewhere near the border of Guatemala and Honduras, getting ready to get grilled by some nameless border official.  

"Passport Please..."

I know the drill. When I slide my bulging, 8-year-old, frayed, passport under the window, the official will flip through the pages for several minutes searching back and forth through the haphazard collection of stamps I have accrued. Finally, she will find the stamp of my flight into Guatemala last night and nod her head in relief. Then she will get a puzzled look on her face and ask in Spanish, "Donde vas? Que vas a hacer?" ("Where are you going? What are you going to be doing?") "Why would you fly into Guatemala last night only to go to Honduras the next day?"

The grilling will last two or three more minutes. I will offer my spiel of explanations. Then with a final whomp! whomp! I'll get another stamp for my passport collection and enter Honduras. 

Getting grilled by a border official is one thing. But that is nothing compared to the grilling I've received from my mother! Can I get a witness?

I Helped My Mom's Prayer Life... 

My mom comes by this naturally, though. With all the stupid things I have done through the years, I have given her plenty of ammunition for her questions! Truth is, for over half a century I have given my mom a long list of reasons to be a dedicated prayer warrior.  

Since my mom reads every one of these updates with a magnifying glass, today I muster up the courage to tell her of one of the stupid things I did on my last trip.

Confession to My Mom... 

On Friday morning,  February 3rd, I was at Cesar's place in Amberes, anticipating Nola's arrival into Guatemala to join us for the next 10 days. I got up as the sun rose for a morning run. One of my favorite routes near Cesar's house goes up a mountainside on a trail with some beautiful overlooks of the valley. Along the way I have to pass through a couple of clusters of houses where dogs usually bark and yap. 

As I ran through the first housing area, a pack of dogs came running out to bark at me. They had done it to me dozens of times through the years, and all they had done was just bark until I passed their territory. But this day, a tiger-striped mutt chased and then caught up with me and nipped me on the back of my right calf. I stopped and shooed the dogs away with my baseball cap and kept on walking.

After getting away from the dogs, I looked at the back of my leg. I could see that the bite was more like a scratch on the surface of the skin. It didn't really hurt. So I decided that I would finish my run and doctor it up once I got back.

Stupid Thoughts...

As I ran, I thought about the fact that if this dog had rabies, I would probably have to get a series of shots. But it was just a scratch! No big deal, right? 

When I got back to Cesar's and looked at it again, there was a little blood dripping, but I jumped in the shower and quickly cleaned it up. After I got out, I put hand sanitizer on it and covered the wound with a big band-aid.   

I thought about telling Cesar, but I knew that we had a bunch of things to do that day to get ready for Nola arriving that night. Besides, I was overdue for writing an update and needed to get my clothes ready and packed for the next week of activities. So I said nothing. 

Avoidance...

I stayed mum about it at breakfast. Then I went to work checking email and writing. Mid-morning I got a call from Nola in Dallas. She had made it there and was awaiting the flight to Guatemala. I didn't say ANYTHING to her.   

At lunch, I avoided the topic. But a couple hours after lunch, as Cesar and I were gathering ourselves to go to the airport in Guatemala City, Cesar looked down and noticed the band-aid on my calf and said, "Esteban, what happened to your leg?" BUSTED!

Did the Dog Have Rabies?  

When I told him, he got a concerned look on his face, and no matter how much I downplayed it, he knew better. "Esteban, this is not the United States. Street dogs rarely get their immunizations. No matter how insignificant a bite, the dog punctured your skin, and if it has rabies you are infected, and you must get the shots." 

I knew he was right. I should have said something before. Now, because of my withholding of information, we didn't have time to get it checked out. On the way to the airport, Cesar told me that we would need to find a clinic in Quesada Saturday morning before we started the activities with the ladies groups.

Is There a Doctor in the House? 

The next morning in Quesada, we entered a clinic and asked if we could see a doctor. "No tenemos doctor aqui hasta el Lunes." ("We won't have a doctor here until Monday.") After further probing, we found out that if we went to a certain pharmacy, they might be able to help us track down a local doctor. Once there, we learned that he was out of town. After telling the pharmacist my story, she called the doctor. He told her to give me an antibiotic and then come see him Monday.

We also found out that even if the doctor wanted to give me the shots, they didn't have that series of shots on hand. With no other options until Monday, I decided to take the antibiotic and proceed with our schedule. 

Saturday, Sunday, Monday...

We dove into the activities. Saturday was a birthday party for Nola and a meeting with some of the women leaders in the region. Sunday we were in Jalpatagua with a ladies group and a few men from the Cattlemen's Association. Monday, we spent the day with a mayor and his wife in collaboration on future women's related projects. All the while, my bite was healing fine. 

Tuesday...

On Tuesday, we were back close to Cesar's house to meet with longtime friends, Humberto Solares and his wife, Enma, to do a Play.Story.Eat. activity with her class of 9th graders. We were to eat in their home around noon and then about two hours later would meet Enma's class for their last hour of the day. Since we were going to be playing with the teens, Cesar wanted me to look like a soccer player, so I wore my shorts and tennis shoes. 

Steve and Nola sport big smiles with Enma's class of 9th graders !

When we got to the Solares house and sat down to chitchat before lunch, Humberto looked down at my calf and asked "Que paso?" ("What happened?") I then told him about the dog bite. Since Humberto had worked for a former mayor organizing various public health programs, he immediately went into his health care mode. "Do you know where the dog is?" he asked. 

"Si." I answered. "It's about a ten minute walk up a trail from Cesar's house."   

"Esteban, we must find the dog today! Even if your wound is healing, you can't take a chance." Looking down at his watch he said, "We can eat, and then before the class we have time to find the dog." 

After a delicious lunch, we headed out on our search. Since the place was off the beaten path, we couldn't drive. So from Cesar's house, Humberto and I set out on foot. With the sun beating down at the hottest part of the day, I was glad I had my water bottle in hand.

A Wild Dog Hunt...

Finally, we reached the house. As we walked up, the dogs were lazily lying in the shade. "Hola!" Humberto called. "Is the owner of the house here?" Immediately the dogs sprang up and started barking. I looked around and no tiger-striped dog. Soon the lady of the house came out, and we told her of my dilemma. "Are these all of your dogs?" 

"Si." 

"Do you see the dog?" Humberto asked me. 

Here is "Tigra" the dog that bit Steve. ("Tigra" means female tiger in Spanish).

"No." I said, now getting a little worried that maybe I had not remembered as well as I thought. From there we went up to the next house. No dog. For about 30 minutes we talked to people and checked out dogs. Nothing. Finally, when we hit a part of the trail that had no houses, we decided to turn around and walk back to Cesar's. As we came back past the first house, I looked over at the dogs again. "Humberto, there it is!" I declared.

"Are you sure?"

"Si. I'm sure."   

Humberto called out to the woman of the house and told her of my conclusion. Being polite, she waited for Humberto to get through talking about the importance of knowing that her dog was healthy. Finally she said, "Your amigo doesn't need to worry. All my dogs had shots this year. A group came through here vaccinating animals. I think I still have the certificate they gave me."

Tigra's Rabies Vaccination Certificate

Sure enough, she produced her proof. "Hallelujah!" I shouted.

"Gracias a Dios!" Humberto replied. ("Thanks to God!")

 

 

 

The Blessing of Friends Who Have Your Back...

Since that day, I have thanked God for His provision and care. Even though I didn't tell very many people, I knew that people were praying for me and that even if they didn't know what I needed, God did.

Besides the many prayers, I am grateful for friends like Cesar and Humberto who have looked out for me and loved me even when I have been stupid.  

10:02 Prayers...

Pray for safety as we travel in the next few days, and pray that we will be the kind of friends for others like Cesar and Humberto were for me last February. 

Invest...

Thanks for your continued giving. It really is making a difference! 

Engage...

Take a moment to ask the Father who needs a dose of God's love through you today.  Then follow through and love them like Jesus would.

By the way, since that day, when Cesar calls me, he asks if I'm frothing at the mouth or anything. "No. I'm good." I answer. "But I do have this strange desire to chase cats and bark at cars!"

Love y'all!

Steve

PS...You can mail checks to:

Daybreak International, 11628 Oakmont St., Overland Park, KS 66210

On PayPal, you can give using the email daybreak.international@gmail.com.

On our websites, you can give at www.PlayStoryEat.com or www.DaybreakInternational.org. 

Ooops! I Forgot!...A Bank Teller Catches You In the Act!

Good morning all!

One of our newest members on our updates called me yesterday and said "Steve, I'd like to send my $10.02 to you, but in your email you didn't tell me where to send it." 

Ooops! My bad. I will include it at the bottom of this page and will do my best to remember to do that for future updates. 

While I've got your attention, I want to tell you that our bank teller is on to us! Yesterday when I went in to get my cash for the upcoming trip to Guatemala and Honduras, I also made a deposit. As the teller was going over the deposit he kept looking back and forth from a particular check to the deposit slip. "Is there supposed to be two cents added to this one?" he asked. I looked down and noticed that we had left off .02 on one of the checks.

"Yes, I believe we missed that one!" I said. "Thanks!" Since I had already told him about going to Guatemala, I added, "In fact, when you see a funny number with an .02 at the end of the amount, it means someone is praying Luke 10:2 for our ministry--that God would send more workers to help."

"Wow! That's cool" the teller responded.  "Hope you have a great trip!" 

Let's keep confusing our bank tellers! Here's the giving info below...

Love y'all!

Steve

Mail checks to:

Daybreak International, 11628 Oakmont St., Overland Park, KS 66210

On PayPal, you can give using the email daybreak.international@gmail.com.

On our websites, you can give at www.PlayStoryEat.com or www.DaybreakInternational.org. 

Texas Cowboys Make a Difference in Honduras!

You can help!

In our last update, we encouraged you to begin praying the Luke 10:2 prayer at 10:02 am/pm each day and to begin to give an extra $10.02 a month as a tangible prayer for workers to engage in a harvest that is ripe and ready all around us. Several of you jumped on the bandwagon, and we are grateful to you for that! Keep those cards and letters coming! 

As I write today, I am getting myself prepared to head to Guatemala and then to Honduras starting the Monday after Mother's Day. I would like to tell you about a couple of Texans who will be meeting Cesar Gonzalez and me in Honduras for the week of May 18-24. These guys are true heroes, and I want to tell you why.   

Rick Watson, Cowboy Missions Recruiter 

Rick getting ready to serve as the announcer at the Sergio Andrade benefit bull riding event at Denton County Cowboy Church last summer.

Some of you know Rick and have heard me talk about his role in getting some of his Texas friends to come down to Honduras in the past couple of years. This past summer, he was one of the go-to guys helping us receive a group of Hondurans in Denton, Texas. I think Rick has been on about 5 or 6 trips now. He retired a couple of years ago, and in his spare time he has recruited cowboy missionaries through the connections of friends in the American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches. 

Last year on one of our trips I mentioned to you that Rick's wife, Peggy, was in critical condition dealing with the final stages of Huntington's Disease. I ask you to remember them in your prayers. Rick has been faithfully attending to her needs and has a team of family, friends, and caregivers who lovingly care for Peggy as well. Thanks to them, Rick is able to be away from time to time to serve on these mission trips. 

Frank Milano, Spanish Cowboy Encourager

Frank Milano (orange shirt) and Alfredo Andrade (of Honduras) talk with Nick Gas (cowboy pastor and horse trainer) in a break in the action at the Denton County bull riding event put on in honor of Alfredo's son, Sergio, who was a professional bull rider and friend of ours who was murdered a couple of years ago.

Frank is a cowboy of Mexican descent who grew up in the North Texas region outside of Fort Worth, where Frank's dad was a pastor to Mexican immigrants. In the mid 1980's, Frank was the chaplain at high school rodeo events and had a tremendous ministry that saw many kids come to Christ. Today, many of those "kids" are pastors and leaders of cowboy churches. Currently Frank is serving as an interim pastor at a cowboy church near Fort Worth. 

This past summer when the Hondurans came to Texas, Frank spoke to our mixed group of Texas friends, Hondurans, and one Guatemalan. Opening the scriptures, he shared how Jesus said that seeds don't sprout and produce fruit unless they die first. Then he confessed that he felt like God wanted him to follow through on a promise he made that morning and sow some sacrificial seeds in Guatemala and Honduras. Here is what Frank said that day.  

"Six years ago I lost my wife to complications related to her diabetes," Frank informed. "A year or so before she died, a missionary to South Africa had spoken at our church, and I had felt compelled to give a couple of valuable rings I owned to help her out. One of those rings was one my wife had given me a few years after we had gotten married. When she saw me give those rings, I'll be honest, she was not happy with me! But what was done was done, and I prayed that the rings would be useful to this missionary in some way."

"After my wife died," Frank continued, "I got a big check from the life insurance, and for some reason I bought several rings. I don't know why I did it, particularly. I just bought them. But I have not worn them much at all. Today, I believe God is asking me to give up something I value very much in order to die to myself and plant a few seeds in Honduras and Guatemala."

Frank then pulled out four rings and called up Cesar and three Honduran men to the front. One by one, Frank gave a treasured ring as a token of his prayer that thousands of cowboys and ranchers would be won to Christ. As I dabbed my eyes, I looked around and saw others doing the same. 

Next week, Frank goes down to catch up to the piece of his heart that has gone down before him. 

Let's Bring in the Harvest Together! 

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." Luke 10:2

10:02 Prayer

Pray for us as we come alongside men and women of peace who are open to explore what God might want to do in their neck of the woods. During our time in Honduras, we plan to be in two regions. First, in Catacamas, we will be with the National University of Agriculture and with several of our Christian Rancher groups in that region. Then we plan to be with new friends wanting to start new groups near Comayagua. 

By the way, the latest news from the University of Agriculture has not sounded good. To those new to the updates, over the past 5 years, friends from this University have introduced us to leaders all over the country.  In that relationship, we have participated in agriculture and veterinary related projects and have used that as a platform to promote Christian Rancher groups. In the shakedown of the past few months, only one of the key leaders that we have worked with was retained. Fortunately, he is a dedicated Christian who has been a good friend to us. 

1. Pray that our connections with the University would continue to be positive and that they will continue to be open to us working with their extension programs. 

2. Pray that the newest Christian Rancher groups would gain momentum and that they themselves would naturally reproduce on their own by their own initiative.

3. Pray that God would use Rick and Frank's stories to point many folks to Jesus. And pray that the new stories that flow from their time in Honduras will spur on more of our friends to join us in this big harvest in Central America.   

4. Pray for Cesar and me as we drive from Guatemala to Honduras. Pray that we have divine appointments along the way. We plan to see several of our key ministry friends both coming and going. Note that after Rick and Frank fly home, Cesar and I plan to spend 3 days doing Play.Story.Eat. training with our Kekchi leaders in the jungle in Guatemala. 

Invest 

Please consider sponsoring a PSE Missionary like Rick or Frank. The average trip cost is $1600 for a 7-day trip. Any amount is helpful and could be strategic in getting more and more of your friends in strategic places where God wants us to be part of His harvest team.

Engage

Plan to go on a PSE Mission Trip to Central America! Here's what is coming up... 

July 18-23, 2017...Guatemala Dental Scout Team trip and Play.Story.Eat. training

July 24-31, 2017...Guatemala Women's Ministry trip

August 12-18, 2017...Guatemala Medical Clinic Construction Team trip

October 8-15, 2017...Honduras Fair and Rodeo trip

January 5-12, 2018...Guatemala Rodeo trip

Love y'all! 

Steve 

Make a DIFFERENCE today at 10:02 am/pm

The Prayer Jesus Wants Us to Pray ...  

At the Play.Story.Eat. Experience in Kansas City a few weeks ago, an unexpected thing happened. I had just highlighted some of the open doors presented to us for the coming year. I had mentioned the fact that we now have invitations to go to 10 new countries and have dozens of opportunities in virtually every aspect of our ministries in Guatemala and Honduras.  

In sharing this reality, I asked for prayer support like we have never had before. In short, I asked the 22 of us at the retreat to recruit friends to pray Jesus' words from Luke 10:2. Jesus said...

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." Luke 10:2

As an aside, I mentioned that a friend of mine had challenged his friends to set their alarms for 10:02 am or pm each day to remember to pray that God would send out workers into His harvest.

"Let's do that right now!" exclaimed Susan Taylor, a longtime friend of ours here in Kansas City. So a few of us set our phone alarms right then--some for 10:02 am and some 10:02 pm. Every day since the retreat, we have been getting "interrupted" to stop and pray.  

Would you be willing to get interrupted too? And would you take one more step beyond that? 

What is God calling you to do with regard to the harvest?  

God wants you and me engaged in some aspect of bringing in His harvest. In coming updates I want to unfold more of how we can do it together. For today, I want to invite you to do three things...

1. Pray the Luke 10:2 Daily Prayer and invite others to join you. 

If setting an alarm at 10:02 am/pm helps you remember, please join us in that. If you have another time that you regularly can pray, please do. And by all means, invite others to join us. 

2. Invest $10.02 in this endeavor.

On the financial side of things, we need help like never before. This year we are committing to spend more resources to train up Play.Story.Eat. missionaries of all interests and backgrounds to get to the newer countries and the newer opportunities.  

Without going into a long itemized list, we need to raise an extra $38,920 for the first phase of our strategy to go to the nations. Beyond that, we need to raise at least another $10,980 to expand our training online in both English and Spanish. 

To break this down, here's some weird math. Adding up the extras from above ($38,920 + 10,980 = $49,900) and dividing that number by the 415 of us on this update, that equals......$10.02 a month!! 

So if those of us on this update prayed at 10:02 am/pm and then gave $10.02 a month extra, we could be both praying for and providing for the funding to walk through the open doors before us and the plentiful harvest that is calling out to us.     

3. Engage in Play.Story.Eat. Training and Trips.

In addition to praying and giving, consider where God wants you engaged personally. We have all kinds of trips coming up. Pray about that. 

While our training (Play.Story.Eat. Experience) helps you get strategically prepared for a mission trip, please consider engaging in this training for your own increased ministry effectiveness at home. 

Note that we have a Play.Story.Eat. Experience coming up June 23-24 at the Open Range Fellowship in Lone Jack, Missouri. We would be thrilled to bring this same training to you and your church. 

Ready to take the 10:02 challenge? Me too. Let us know if we could support you in what God is calling you to do.  

Love y'all! 

Steve 

PS...You can mail checks to:

Daybreak International, 11628 Oakmont St., Overland Park, KS 66210

On PayPal, you can give using the email daybreak.international@gmail.com.

On our websites, you can give at www.PlayStoryEat.com or www.DaybreakInternational.org. 

I Can't Get Women Off My Mind!

My Problem

I have a problem. And after my trip to Guatemala with Nola, SHE knows I have a problem! Maybe you and Nola can help me with this.

How My Problem Got Started 

For years, Cesar, Bill, and I have been working to varying degrees with some tough guys. Cowboys. Ranchers. Farmers. Motorcycle nuts. Prisoners. Etc. To be sure, in prisons, we have met some of the meanest, baddest hombres you could imagine. In addition, we have run across some bad dudes in Guatemala. There have been a couple of times after an event when someone in the know has told us that we had just spoken to a known narco-trafficker (and we didn't know it).

We have figured that if we present the good news of Jesus to people any which way we can, that inevitably we will encounter some rougher characters. And here's what's funny. The more we are successful in winning the tougher-to-reach men, the more we have women getting excited!

"Whoa up there, Steve! You said women get excited?!" Yep. That's what I said.   

As you have heard reports of our male-dominated events, you might not be aware of how women have strategically helped us out. I don't get it, but many women love these knuckleheads! (I mean, "slower to respond" men!) And they get really happy when their men begin to change for the better.

Latin American Men and Church

Here's some sociological background. In Latin America, women have responded well to church outreaches and the efforts of churches of all kinds. Yet, in many cases, the men have been slow to respond. Among certain groups of men (like cowboys and ranchers), men rarely attend church, because they feel that they don't belong there. Truth is, most evangelical church leaders are scared of cowboys, because they have the reputation of being trigger happy, womanizers, heavy drinkers, and the like. So when church people are scared and resistant to these rough and tough guys, that feeling has helped repel a whole class of people from the church.

Latin American Women Often Feel Alone at Church 

Because of this reality, many a cowboy and rancher wife has resigned herself to attending church for the rest of her life without her husband. But when we have done an event for cowboys and seen dozens of them respond in faith and then get started going to a Christian Rancher Group or a Cowboy Church, the wife is often overjoyed, and comes to thank us for what we have done.

The Women Start Getting Happy About Their Men 

And here's where we started hearing more and more from women. They loved the fact that we play, tell stories, and eat with their guys, but they wondered if we could help them do the same thing with their friends. You might recall a couple years back when, in a scheduling snafu, we had a group of 9 of our North American cowboys show up at a city hall to do a women's event! Cesar and I didn't tell them much of what they would be doing until the morning of that event. I wish I had snapped a picture of the guys at the breakfast table when we told them that our given topic for the day was "Improving a Woman's Self Esteem!" I think a couple of them about spewed out their coffee in reaction to that idea!

Our First Women's Event With a Group of ... Cowboys?!  

Fortunately Cesar had a plan for us to play first and get the ladies laughing. Then we storied a couple of Bible stories. And then our saving grace came at the end of the event when we served a meal to the women with the help of some of their cowboy husbands. One woman commented after the meeting that it was the first time she had ever been served by a man in her life. Women were begging us to come meet their husbands or to come back and do more with their groups of women. 

Ladies Invitations Won't Stop 

So after that unlikely beginning, we started paying more attention to the ladies. For the last two or three years, we have been doing experimental meetings with women in the Quesada, Guatemala, region (where this city hall I just mentioned above is located). There, a core group of women are working with the mayor's office to do micro-business training for women in their region. They teach skills like sewing, cooking, and making various crafts that can be sold to improve the family income. In addition, these groups speak on many family-related subjects, and they also speak up for women and children who are encountering abuse or neglect. Currently, they have about 38 active groups of women in the various villages working together and meeting regularly.

Last summer we hosted 4 ladies from Quesada who came to Kansas City, and some of you got to meet them. They have each started the women's equivalent of a Christian Rancher group. Right now, they are trying to figure out what they are going to call themselves! What they want to do is introduce the Play.Story.Eat. process with every ladies group in their region. In the meantime, ladies from other nearby departments and towns have met us to say that they would like to do the same thing in their regions. We haven't done the math yet, but we believe that upwards of 100 or more of these ladies groups would be open to learning how to start Play.Story.Eat. groups among their lady friends.

Nola's Trip 

"I had no idea what you were talking about," Nola said to me that first day in Guatemala with these ladies. "Now I see why you have been asking for more ladies to come on these trips!"

Note that the best mission trip connections come in exchanges. You teach them something in exchange for them teaching you something. One of Nola's most fun days was the day the ladies taught her how to make tortillas over an open fire.

"I want my tortillas hot and crispy!" I demanded while seated at the table and while Nola was slaving away, slapping out a tortilla.  

"Ooooo!" the ladies reacted, waiting for Nola's response. Nola shook her head back and forth, and, squinting her eyes, looked directly at me and gave the unmistakable "you-better-watch-out" grin!

"Machistas!" cried one of the ladies. "Esteban has become just like our Guatemalan husbands!" And they all cackled even louder.

In spite of my best efforts to the contrary, during those days with the ladies, they treated Nola like a queen, and even threw her a birthday party with tons of food and cake and special dishes. And that has been a little of a problem for me since coming home! She kind of got spoiled! But such is the cross I have to bear.

Your Help is Needed 

Before I dig my grave any deeper with my wife, let me get to the bottom line! I need your help. Can you help me get the word out about these women? Can you pass this email on to others? If you are a woman, would you pray about getting trained in the Play.Story.Eat. method and then go on a trip this year to interact with these ladies in Guatemala?

And if you do come down to Guatemala, could at least one of you bring your husband? I don't want to be the only man demanding hot tortillas! 

Yes, with your help, maybe I can get these women off my mind and into your hearts. 

Love y'all!

Steve

Mysteries Revealed From the Daybreak PSE Summit!

Hello everyone! 

We goofed! 

Tuesday when we updated you on the dental team in Guatemala, we mentioned that there was still room for the upcoming Play. Story. Eat. Experience here in Kansas City. The big reveal? We already had it! Tuesday's update was written last week before the event, but we decided to wait and send it this week--forgetting to strike the first paragraph. Sooooo, if you were getting all geared up to come to KC this weekend, sorry! We have no back-to-the-future trick up our sleeves.  

The First Play. Story. Eat. Experience, March 2017! 

However, that does bring up the question, "How did it go?" Speaking for myself and Bill Burrows, our official Play. Story. Eat. coach, we think it went great! We had 22 of you who came, and the energy and participation was terrific. Thanks to Kenny Warren, we should have some video snippets to use in future training videos on the website. Special thanks also goes to Joyce Burrows, Nola Reed, and Barb Cates for supporting us in the many logistical aspects of the experience! 

News from the Play. Story. Eat. Experience 

There were three things we wanted to accomplish last weekend.

1. Give you a Play. Story. Eat. Experience and a basic understanding of the vision and values that under-gird and inform what we are trying to do.  So much of what we are doing in our projects has to be experienced. We can talk about how we use Play. Story. Eat. to do evangelism, discipleship, and professional seminars, etc., but until you experience it, we don't believe you get the full effect. My job this year is to get better at communicating some of this. In the meantime, we invite you and your friends to experience this with us and help us pass it on to others.      

2. Invite you to consider using this process with family, friends, and co-workers where you live and work. We believe that there are people around you who are not being touched by any current church or Bible study group. They don't have friends who love Jesus. Maybe you are God's agent for doing something about that. We would like to help you do what God is calling you to do. 

3. Change the heroes in the ongoing Daybreak Story. Here is the actual big reveal from the weekend. The future heroes in the story of Daybreak/P.S.E. are not Steve and Cesar. THEY'RE YOU! You are going to be the heroes of God's story as we move into the future. Here's why we are thinking this way.

Why You Will Be The Heroes for Daybreak International 

For years you have heard or read stories about Cesar and me and others in our work who have been slugging away for 17 years in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. God has opened so many doors to us, and it has been incredible. Both Cesar and I could be happy doing what we do for many years with volunteers just like we have done, going to the same places. (Currently that list is at 75+ between Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.) 

But both Cesar and I have become increasingly convicted that to continue doing this ministry like we have done (with us at the center) would be unconscionable, because it would mean that we will not be able to respond to the many invitations coming to us from other countries.

Just on this last trip alone, we received invitations to go to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, and Argentina. If we had time and money dedicated and the teams ready, with one phone call, we could go right now to any of those countries and see very similar results to what we have experienced in Guatemala and Honduras.

What does that mean? For us it means that we can no longer do this by ourselves. We need to focus on you--on preparing you. In faith, we believe that, ultimately, being responsive to you and whatever God is calling you to do will perfectly align with some of the opportunities that are open to Daybreak.

But what if I’m not a cowboy? Well, what we are finding is that the principles and process we have used with cowboys work with anyone. We believe that almost anything that you could say that God is calling you to do, we could find a way to help you fulfill that commitment. In short, we believe that the principles and process we are using in Latin America are relevant to you here in the U.S. 

So the question is, "Will you play other peoples games, tell your story, listen to their story, and eat their food, no matter who they are?" 

One Part of Our 2017 Strategy Revealed

This year we would like to raise up 250 Play. Story. Eat. Missionaries. Over this weekend we had about a dozen of us say that we will be the first ones. What that means is a commitment to join Jesus in being faithful to His Great Commission (Matthew 28) and being intentional about developing transformational friendships by playing, storying, and eating with people.  

So to bring the Play. Story. Eat. Experience to you, help us out! Currently, we have scheduled the Play. Story. Eat. Experience for September 8-10 in Carthage, Missouri, and November 10-12 in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. We also have it scheduled in Spanish in Guatemala and Honduras.

If you would like for us to come to you, that just might be possible! Let's talk!  

Steve

Coming in 2017--Dental Team Guatemala

Hi Everybody! 

We are excited about our upcoming PSE Experience next weekend and have a good group signed up! We still have room for a handful more of you to join us. Let us know! 

Water Update

The last time that I wrote you a full update, I was down in Guatemala and mentioned some water project needs in the jungle. Since then several called to coordinate efforts to help. Thanks to the generosity of Orangecrest Community Church in Riverside, California, the next one is paid for and ready to go!

And by the way, last week when I called Cesar to touch base, he happened to be in the jungle in a place where he could get a signal on his phone. When he answered I could hear some of my Kekchi friends laughing in the background. They had just finished installing one water system and were driving to town to get more supplies for the second. By the time you read this, the two projects mentioned in the last update should be fully functioning. Jose, one of my Kekchi pastor buddies grabbed the phone from Cesar and told me to tell everyone "Thanks!"  So from our friends in the jungle to you..."Muchas Gracias!" 

More Untold Stories Coming

Since that update, so much has happened in other places. I haven't told you about the day we made a deal with a mayor in the jungle to bring him some cowboys, or the day we ran a 10K "marathon" and played soccer, or the day my wife Nola danced with about a dozen senior men, or the ladies who threw Nola a birthday party, or the mayor's wife who wants us to bring women to teach various skills, or the day we spoke to a school, or about the last day in Guatemala when we were relaxing on the beach and bumped into a Cattlemen's Association President who invited us to bring a rodeo team to one of the largest rodeos next January!  

Excuse me for a minute while my head spins! Okay. I'm back. I get kind of dizzy thinking about all this! And don't worry, I won't try to tell you all of these stories right now! Over the next few weeks I hope to share them one by one.  

Our Heroes from Second Baptist Church in Springfield 

Today I have to tell you about our friends at Second Baptist in Springfield, Missouri. Bill Burrows and I attended their annual missions conference. Here's a link to an interview they did with us on Saturday night, February 25th. Go to the 11:30 mark, and you'll find us. 

For the past 3 or 4 years, Second Baptist has invited us to be among other missionaries to talk with their people about the ongoing ministry opportunities in Central America and invite them to join us in the various projects. Mark Green and Dean Kucharski have been instrumental in leading the charge with a couple of teams that have done both cowboy-related trips and construction on a medical clinic last year. But this year we are planning to add a new twist: dental!

Construction on Medical Clinic Paves the Way for Dental Team 

August 12-18, a Second Baptist team will be going down to finish the clinic at Cesar's place in Amberes. All that's left is laying a tile floor, electrical work, and installing a bathroom and sinks.

In September or October, a dental team from Second plans to go down to inaugurate the building and do a two-day clinic. That team will then go with us to the jungle to do two different one-day clinics in that region. 

Dr. Jose Caceres, a member of Second Baptist and a native of Nicaragua, with his wife Rebecca, is leading the dental team and will be doing a scouting trip in July to lay the groundwork with Cesar. Collaborating with Jose will be friends from I-Tec, a company started in 1996 by Steve Saint.

"End of the Spear" Connection to Dental Team 

Steve's dad, Nate Saint, was one of the missionaries murdered many years ago in Ecuador. The movie, "The End of the Spear," was made about Steve and his dad. We met Steve's son Jaime, who is VP of this company, during the conference.   

Jaime shared how they have created medical tools that can be carried in backpacks to hike into remote areas where medical personnel can use them to provide medical care. He even demonstrated how a 34-pound dental pack turns into a dental chair! Way cool! Bottom line: the Second Baptist team has already used this equipment in other countries and plans to do the same with us. 

Dental Team Needs 

Incidentally, this team will be purchasing and preparing the equipment for this project. Currently we are looking to raise about $3,000 for dental instruments to be purchased in Guatemala when Dr. Jose Caceres goes down in July. After the team uses the equipment, it will be left for continued use. My understanding is that Second Baptist plans to purchase the dental backpacks that their teams can use in multiple projects in multiple countries. For now, they are exploring all the logistics in this kind of ongoing ministry.  

If you have any interest in any of this, or know of someone who needs to be a part of it, let us know!  

Talk to you soon! 

Steve 

PS...If the link above to the Second Baptist video didn't work, here it is for one more try!  Again, just go to the 11:30 minute mark. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ci7yd3Nxag

New Location: Daybreak's Play.Story.Eat. Experience March 17-19

Hi Everybody! 

Our original location was tied to us needing rooms to stay in, and as it turns out, almost everyone who has signed up is either local or will stay with a friend. So...to save some shekels, we’ve changed our location to the Best Western near the Kansas Speedway in the Legends area of Kansas City, Kansas.

New Location

Best Western Premier KC Speedway Inn & Suites
10401 France Family Dr.
Kansas City, Kansas 66111
(913) 334-4440

Schedule:

Friday, March 17 - begin at 6 p.m. (Sandwiches & salad provided at 5:45 p.m.)
Saturday March 18 - 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with an afternoon break
Sunday March 19 - 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Payment Options:

Experience Cost: $59 per person, including all meals and snacks for the time we are together

You may pay at the door OR online at PlayStoryEat.com OR mail a check to -

Daybreak International
11628 Oakmont St.
Overland Park, KS 66210

Please wear comfortable clothes. Not all our time will be sitting and talking. Embedded into the schedule are times to play (like we do in our work).

It's Not Too Late to Sign Up!

Currently we have about 24 people signed up. We have room for about 12 more to slide in, even at the last minute. To sign up, respond to this email. If you have any special issues, concerns, or questions, please let us know. We look forward to seeing you!

Love y'all.
Steve

P.S. Talked to Cesar in the jungle just as one of the two water projects was installed! In the background, I heard some of my friends hootin' and hollerin'! They wanted me to tell everyone in the Daybreak family “thanks!”
 

Water Project Brings Living Water

Hi all! 

Today I want to focus on some water projects we have been involved with in the jungle. While my recent trip there was not primarily dedicated to water, we carved out part of our time to evaluate the water-related needs for a couple of villages we have been working with for over 10 years. 

Completed Project in San Manzanila

Before I tell you about those, let me say that our project that was completed in the Fall of 2016 is working well. This is the one that Lance Green was involved in when he went down in September. Funding came from the village itself and from friends of Grace Baptist Church of Oak Grove, Missouri. 

The project unfolded naturally after playing soccer with the village in March of last year. After practically the whole village responded to the gospel message at the soccer game, we spent one day eating with them and seeing the water system they had created. It was a crank-turned operation that certainly worked. But they were trying to make it better. Since we had some funds dedicated for this kind of project already in our coffers, we were able to respond quickly. We added a generator and a tank and some know-how from several people. The community did all the tubing, and the celebration was sweet! 

 

 

New Projects Are in the Works...

After the success of the project in San Manzanila, more money came in for water projects through Ray Gurney and Cross Creek Baptist Mission in Grain Valley, Missouri. Along with that was a donation from Orange Crest Community Church in Riverside, California, for parasite medication for the village of Sepoc. Since all of that is related to water issues, we took the time on this trip to see how we could help two other villages obtain clean water for both bathing and drinking. 

Water-Fetching Gymnastics for our Friends in Sepoc...

I must admit that the folks in Sepoc are some of my favorite people in the world. On almost every trip I take in the jungle, I spend at least one night at pastor Jose´s hut. He and I have a bond that is beyond words, and last March they threw me a 54th birthday party I will never forget. 

During the rainy season, Sepoc´s primary water hole is about a quarter mile from the center of the village. But during drier seasons (like it was on this trip) the closer source dries up and the next closest spring is about a mile away going up and over a rocky hill. It´s a pretty good workout for any able-bodied person, but for anyone not as nimble on their feet it would be tough. When I was there this time, I had already hiked over 3 hours to various villages, then when it was dark, I went with Jose by flashlight to the spring to take a spit bath. I must say that even an exercise nut like me would get tired of this daily ritual.   

Thank God for Clean Water!

While both spring water sources for Sepoc are good and clean, when you have people stepping in and out of the water nearby, contamination happens. And hence the parasite issue. So, the plan is to pipe the water from the second spring by gravity into a big holding tank. From there the water will be pumped up to another tank on the mountainside where water can flow by gravity in pipes to the village. In a deal we worked out with the regional mayor of the department, they promised to provide the PVC tubing to get the water down into the village. 

Women Trying to Get to the Well

The other water project we are working on is with the village of Ochul Choch. This is a remote village that is an hour and a half hike up and over a mountain from Sepoc. It has a great source of mountain spring water, but in drier seasons, the only way to get to this water is down a notched log that goes down 30 feet to a cave where the spring comes out. In visiting the spring, two of the women told us that they had slipped and fallen down this past year. One of those ladies was the wife of Lorenzo, the pastor of the little church there. He told me that his wife fell so hard that she struggled to get out and was unable to work for many days. Another lady looked like she must have been at least 60 years old, and I winced thinking about her falling. I wondered what women back home would do if every time someone in the household needed water, she had to climb up and down the height of a typical suburban two story home to fetch it. 

While it sounds challenging, this project is a lot easier than the Sepoc one, because the water just has to be pumped up out of the hole into one large tank. Cesar plans to come back to them in early March to install everything. We already bought the main holding tank and by now the men of Ochul Choch have probably already built the platform for it.  

Living Water...

While we were in Ochul Choch, the ladies knocked themselves out preparing their special spicy turkey soup. After eating together, we gathered in the church hut to talk. Since we had been talking about water, Cesar had me share the Jesus story of the Samaritan woman at the well. This story speaks volumes to me on so many issues. But I think that the ladies in Ochul Choch really felt a strong identification with the woman in the story. The reality of their lives so closely matches the lifestyles of the Bible characters. And when Jesus talks about living water, the whole metaphor just rings so powerfully to the people in this culture. 

I added my own story of the first time I met a Kekchi woman at a well nearly 13 years ago. I won´t try to redo that here, but those ladies in Ochul Choch were howling with laughter as I shared my foibles in communicating back then with no cultural sensitivity at all! 

 

 

Future Projects...Future Funding

Since the projects we have just mentioned have already been funded, we are not asking for anything extra for them. However, in reflecting on what has happened in these water projects, and the impact they can have in opening people up to talking about the living water of Jesus, we want to keep being responsive to future water projects as they come up. It has only been because of folks with a heart for this kind of ministry that we have been able to respond as quickly as we have on these stories I have mentioned. 

If you have interest in helping us continue to respond, keep those cards and letters coming! We will funnel those funds to the projects that come up as we continue to work with our friends in the jungle regions. 

Love y’all! 

Steve
 

Divine Appointments Near Comayagua Honduras

Hi everybody!

I have one more story I would like to share from our trip to Honduras.

Belia and Jose Miguel´s Bulls...

In my last update, I introduced you to Belia and Jose Miguel Argeal. They have stepped up to help us stay in better communication with folks wanting to start Christian Rancher groups in Honduras. Toward the end of our time there, they insisted we travel about 6 hours from Catacamas to Comayagua for a rodeo. Belia´s family would be providing the bulls for the bull riding event in San Sebastian.  

We hit it off well with Belia´s family, and were quickly invited into the inner circle of the cattlemen´s association and a big meal with all the parade participants. When going into a place for the first time, we usually don´t know who is who and what is really going on until after an event. In this case, Belia and Jose Miguel whispered to us as we went along to help us realize that we were really hitting it off with mayors and leaders and such. While all that was fine and good, something else happened that blew us away.   

The Random Meeting that Surprised Us Most...

When we pulled up in our truck to the rodeo arena to look it over for future events, we had slowed down trying to figure out where to park, when a man and a woman started waving frantically at us. At first, we thought we had pulled up into an area that was off limits. But then we looked closer. It was Heling and Flor Nolasco, a bull fighter and his wife, who had been a part of our first baptism last April in Juticalpa! I jumped out of the truck and we laughed as we hugged one another. This couple, along with Jose, their 13-year-old son, were a part of a group of bull riders and rodeo personnel who had come to Christ and wanted to get baptized in a horse trough right outside the arena in Juticalpa on one Sunday morning a almost a year ago. When I looked closer at them, both Flor and Heling had their Denton County Cowboy Church hats on!

Bull Fighting Runs in the Family...

After sitting down to catch up, we realized that though they travel with the rodeos, their home was only about 15 minutes away in a village called Lamani. So we took a little detour and enjoyed getting to know their story better. We drove to their home and met Heling´s mother and soon we were looking at pictures of Heling´s dad, who was a bull fighter and had died after getting run over by an out-of-control bull when Heling was only two years old. As we looked at pictures and marveled at how Heling was living out his late father´s dream, we could also see God reaching out to this family. It seems that their decision to follow Jesus is strong, and we talked about them starting a couple of different Christian Rancher groups--one would be in their home and another with folks they travel with.

Now that we are in touch again, we feel that with Belia and Jose Miguel on the ground in Honduras, we can help folks like the Nolascos a lot better. Please pray for the success of these friends of ours as they learn how to use the Play.Story.Eat. format with their friends and family.

Love y’all!

Steve