Hey everyone,


First of all, I apologize for my lack of communication lately. This is the first time I’ve had access to the internet since my last post. Well I’ll just start off where my last post ended and try to catch you all up to the present, one post at a time.


The drive up to the pastor’s conference was quite an experience. I wish I had taken a video of one of the many times we played chicken with oncoming traffic while attempting to pass a semi-truck on a winding two-lane mountain road.  Fortunately, we were distracted by great conversation. Sophia opened a theological can of worms by asking everyone’s opinion on the doctrine of election. With a Doctor of Philosophical Theology (Greg), a DSC Elder (Tim) and several other theology nerds (including myself) in the car, we were more than able to keep ourselves occupied and pass the three-hour drive in what seemed like only an hour. Arriving at the mountain retreat hotel where the pastor’s conference was held, we were pleasantly surprised to find the Guatemalan equivalent of a 5-star hotel. They had running water, good food, nice weather, and two pools. The rough life of a missionary ;)


The conference was great. Tim, Greg, Bart, Dr. Jacobo, and Francisco (an Acts 29 pastor from Guatemala City) all taught on the theme of accountability. Around 20 local Achi pastors attended the conference and it sounded like they got a lot out of it; I certainly did, even though I could not understand most of the teaching, as it was all in Spanish. The conference provided me with my first opportunity to lead others in worship though song in both Spanish and Achi. Some lovely ladies and some very strong Achi singers joined me in singing as an opening to each session. I will never get used to the incredible experience of singing the same songs to the same God with people with whom I can’t even fully communicate. Talk about union in Christ. The locals at the conference named us Piedras Vivas (Living Stones), which I assume is a reference to Matthew.


For the three days we spent at the conference, I was blessed to room with Greg, Eder, and Hector. Most of the conversation in our room was in Spanish (Greg is fluent in Spanish, and Eder and Hector speak about as much Spanish as I do English), but I Eder and Hector and I were able to communicate well enough to get to know each other pretty well. They are great guys and the Achi people are blessed to have such strong spiritual leaders.

Sunday afternoon, we packed up our bags and set off for San Miguel, which was about an hour drive. I’ll stop this entry here, and tell you about San Miguel in my next post. Thanks for reading everyone.

Love,

Brian Whippo

Hola Amigos!

We have arrived in Guatemala City and all is well. This morning I finished moving all my possessions from my parents house into my new apartment, since my parents officially move to Houston on Saturday. From there, my Dad dropped me off at the airport around 10:45, where I met up with the recently-declared DOCTOR Gregory Clifford Schneeberger III Esquire, Bart Faris, Tim Ragsdale, Sophia Edwards, and Rachel Breidenbach. The flight was relatively uneventful (other than Rachel almost losing her passport while getting hit on by a drugged up TSA agent), and I was presently surprised by the fact that Guatemala is on the same timezone as Albuquerque, which is much easier on the body than the 9 hour time change I experienced last summer in Ukraine. We made it through customs surprisingly easily, and were greeted by Dr. Jacobo (a local medical missionary), Hector (an Achi youth minister from San Miguel), and two of their friends. They loaded all our luggage into their van and drove us only a mile or two to a small hotel where they had pizza and soda waiting for us. We all sat at the table trying to break through the awkwardness and embarrassment of not speaking each other's language very well and getting to know each other for about an hour or so. Luckily, Greg and Bart both speak spanish fluently, and Dr. Jacobo and one of the ladies speak english fairly well. I had no idea how terrible I really was at Spanish. It is already becoming frustrating, but I know it will get easier with time.

Guatemala City is a pretty cool place from what I could see (it was dark when we landed). I was told it has a population of around 9 million. We are in a pretty rough part of town, but the hotel is really nice. We even have a TV. In the morning we are driving up to the pastor's conference, which is about about 3 hours away. There, we will meet up with Marvin Gibson, our team leader who has been here studying Spanish for the past few weeks.

Please continue to pray for my team and I. I am honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed and under-qualified at the moment (especially in regards to my lack of Spanish speaking ability), but I know that I am not here for myself. My temporary comfort is of the least importance in light of the glory of God's will. I am weak, but I know that His power is made perfect is my weakness.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

It is raining now, which makes me pretty happy. I can't wait to see what God will do tomorrow. I have to get up somewhat early, so I need to get to bed. I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again, but you know I'll post another update as soon as I do.
Peace and Love,
Brian

Hey everyone,

We (God) did it! I have officially reached my fundraising goal, my mind is blown, and my trip is now fully funded. And to think that I doubted the Author of Eternity. Thank you all so much for your support. Any additional donations I receive will go toward the rest of the team. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as our departure date slowly but surely draws nearer.

Brian Whippo

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him, all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Hey friends,


I will use this blog to keep you all updated on my mission in Guatemala. We fly out on May 23, and I am counting down the days (and also frantically wishing for more time to prepare). I pray that through this blog, you will behold the miraculous work God is doing though the Achi people of Guatemala as His glory is being spread broader and deeper. 


This is my first post, and since I don't yet have much to say about Guatemala yet (seeing as I won't get there for another month), I figured I'd take this opportunity to give you a glimpse of what my time in Ukraine looked like last summer. The following is a "snapshot" testimony of God's work in a small village outside of Odessa, Ukraine called Petradolina, where we held an english bible camp through an organization called East European Missions Network. Before leaving Ukraine, we were asked to write about an experience we had at the camp. This is what I wrote:


"I led the worship through song during the music rotation at the camp. Before I even left for Ukraine I had the idea to try to learn something to sing in Russian, just to surprise the kids. In my naivety, I had no idea how difficult that would be. My wonderful translator, Tanya, helped me learn to sing the chorus of "Jesus Loves Me" in Russian. We sang the song all week, but I saved the surprise of singing it in Russian until Friday. That Friday, when we started singing the song for the very last time at the camp, I got just about as nervous as I've ever been as I realized that I was about to sing in a language that I had never learned more than a few words of, in front of a crowd of not only kids who spoke that language, but a dozen or so translators who were fluent in both English and Russian. "How stupid am I going to sound?" I thought. My girlfriend Rachel who was singing with me on stage, looked over at me every chorus with a look that screamed "Why aren't you singing the Russian version?!?!" It wasn't until the last chorus that the Holy Spirit provided me the kick-in-the-butt I needed to sing it in Russian, but when I did, you should have seen the smiles that swept across the faces of those children. So worth it. They started singing along louder than I had heard them sing all week. It is quite the experience to hear over 100 children who had perhaps heard the Gospel for the first time that week singing "Yes! Jesus loves me!" in their own language, fully understanding what they were singing, and belting it out as loud as they could. Praise God."


The trip as a whole was a powerful testimony to God's grace. I'm stoked to get down to Guatemala and see what God is doing there too. Please pray for my team and I. I'll try to keep you all updated as much as possible. 
Grace and peace,
Brian Whippo