Jan - Feb 2012

Dear Believer,
We made it home!! Praise the Lord! We are so excited to be back in Guatemala! It has been quite a journey, but Gods fingerprints have been evident in our lives the whole way. We met with my Preacher, Dr. Gene Wolfenbarger, in January, and he gave us his blessing to come back down and start an independent Baptist Church. Although our support decreased drastically at times, the Lord enabled us to raise enough for my family to live on and to have approximately a $500 work fund. Just recently weve had several churches take us on for support that we visited months ago. What a great surprise and blessing! We also were very blessed by the churches we visited right before we left. We had the privilege of participating in the services at Cross View Baptist Church in Marble Falls, Texas. The Boothes have always been in support of our ministry, and it was so much fun to visit with them. Their generous love offering helped us transport our belongings to the field. We also said goodbye to our home church, Joshua Baptist Church. It was wonderful to see everyone!

We had budgeted to buy a small sound system before we left, but we were thrilled to find out that the church decided to donate an even nicer one to us! So we packed up our new sound system, along with all of our things and headed to Oklahoma, where we visited with my family and attended our last appointment with Cornerstone Baptist Church. They warmly welcomed us and by the end of the service, most of us were in tears, and the pastor said they would be happy to support our ministry! With the help of my family, we packed everything in our truck and SUV, and I made my way for Guatemala. As you know, Mexico is a very dangerous place to travel this day in time, especially with a loaded down truck. Thanks to the Lord answering prayer, this was the smoothest trip through Mexico Ive ever had! I didnt get stopped by a single policeman or soldier (or thief!). Im so thankful that God paved the way for a good trip. I picked Lauren up at the airport in Guatemala City, and we stayed in Ciudad Vieja, where we had the Bible study before. After much prayer, I felt very strongly that the Lord was leading me to start a church here, so we started looking for a house to rent. After only two hours one morning, we found a beautiful house in the perfect location to minister to this city.

Despite the owner being Catholic, he was very supportive of our desires to start a church and even encouraged us to begin it in the house! Some of our things were left in a storage building from our previous move. Due to the humid climate and the time in storage, we had to have our microwave, stove, and TV fixed, but that was much cheaper than having to buy new ones! Were getting settled in very well, and its a great relief to finally be home. Weve seen several people we met before and have made some new acquaintances already. Above all, we give honor and glory to Jesus Christ for calling us into the ministry and for guiding our steps. We are thankful that God uses His people and His churches to further His gospel. We sincerely thank everyone who has helped us come thus far. We are so excited about what God is going to do here in Guatemala! In His Grace,

Rhyan & Lauren Ashcraft

Ministry of Joshua Baptist Church P.O. Box 1210 Joshua, TX 76058 (502) 5087-8178 www.rhyanashcraft.org rhyanashcraft@aol.com