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 Me and Pastor Mike on the final Friday night, preaching the sermon on The Holy Spirit & The Unpardonable Sin. |
 Sabbath morning, wearing the dress one of the church members made me. |
 Sabbath afternoon, waiting in line for lunch. |
 Enjoying potluck with my pastor. |
God Prevails Over Faulty Sound System
July 26 2010 / ShareHim in Guatemala, Jul. 9 - Jul. 24 '10 #456by Amanda Gruesbeck
Personal Testimony of Amanda Gruesbeck.
Hi. My name is Amanda Gruesbeck and I’m currently starting my 5th and last year of college as a Secondary Ed major (specializing in Spanish & History) here at Southern Adventist University. I’m living in Collegedale, TN with my aunt & uncle while attending school, although I’m originally from Michigan and am a member of the Michigan Conference.
This July I traveled to Chiquimula, Guatemala to preach an evangelistic series. There were fifteen people in our group including our director, and we all stayed in a central hotel in Chiquimula but were taken out to our separate sites every night to preach. My site was about half an hour away in a small town called Quetzaltepeque. I only preached in the church there on Sabbath mornings; the rest of the time I preached outside in this area with a roof and make-shift stage. Every night we had about 100-150 people attending, about 20 of them visitors. The last weekend we had a total of 15 baptisms.
Going on this trip really helped to strengthen my relationship with God. I felt like this put me right in the middle of the battle going on between God and Satan, because I was doing God’s work in preaching every night. There were various things that happened to me and others in our group that showed Satan was angry, and was trying to deter us. However, God always wins.
The first weekend for example, my pastor was going out into the community driving around to announce the meetings, and the car he was using just died. He went a little way, but then as the driver tried to shift up, the car simply wouldn’t go. It quit.
And then in our final week, just 2 days before the end of the campaign, the entire sound system from our church was stolen—the sound board, microphones, two electric guitars, everything. The only things left were two very large speakers that had been left right inside the door. We ended up having to borrow a sound board and microphones from somewhere else, although the quality was not as good. When my pastor and I arrived late to the site Friday night, they were still testing the equipment and the sound quality was awful. I was not sure how we could even be understood clearly with the borrowed sound system. But we prayed over it, and God worked everything out. I knew then that the message for that night was especially important for the people because Satan was doing everything he could to stop us. But God prevailed!
This trip was amazing! I loved being there; the warmth of the people was just so encouraging. Before going, I had already traveled to various Latin American countries, and I knew a bit of Spanish which really helped, so there weren’t really any adjustment to make. I love the people there and they were so welcoming and supportive. It was such a blessing to be able to work with them because they were so loving and they treated me so well. The last weekend was so hard, having to say goodbye. But I know that one day I will see them again in heaven, and that truly brings joy to my heart.
This July I traveled to Chiquimula, Guatemala to preach an evangelistic series. There were fifteen people in our group including our director, and we all stayed in a central hotel in Chiquimula but were taken out to our separate sites every night to preach. My site was about half an hour away in a small town called Quetzaltepeque. I only preached in the church there on Sabbath mornings; the rest of the time I preached outside in this area with a roof and make-shift stage. Every night we had about 100-150 people attending, about 20 of them visitors. The last weekend we had a total of 15 baptisms.
Going on this trip really helped to strengthen my relationship with God. I felt like this put me right in the middle of the battle going on between God and Satan, because I was doing God’s work in preaching every night. There were various things that happened to me and others in our group that showed Satan was angry, and was trying to deter us. However, God always wins.
The first weekend for example, my pastor was going out into the community driving around to announce the meetings, and the car he was using just died. He went a little way, but then as the driver tried to shift up, the car simply wouldn’t go. It quit.
And then in our final week, just 2 days before the end of the campaign, the entire sound system from our church was stolen—the sound board, microphones, two electric guitars, everything. The only things left were two very large speakers that had been left right inside the door. We ended up having to borrow a sound board and microphones from somewhere else, although the quality was not as good. When my pastor and I arrived late to the site Friday night, they were still testing the equipment and the sound quality was awful. I was not sure how we could even be understood clearly with the borrowed sound system. But we prayed over it, and God worked everything out. I knew then that the message for that night was especially important for the people because Satan was doing everything he could to stop us. But God prevailed!
This trip was amazing! I loved being there; the warmth of the people was just so encouraging. Before going, I had already traveled to various Latin American countries, and I knew a bit of Spanish which really helped, so there weren’t really any adjustment to make. I love the people there and they were so welcoming and supportive. It was such a blessing to be able to work with them because they were so loving and they treated me so well. The last weekend was so hard, having to say goodbye. But I know that one day I will see them again in heaven, and that truly brings joy to my heart.