Guest Writers 

The full text of the latest Guest Writer Article for Trinity Life and links to past articles.


An update from the Frizelles

Hi Holy Trinity, can you believe it has already been over a year since we were there last in person?

We are so grateful to have the support of you all behind us and want to thank you again for the support – prayerful, financial and more – that we have received from you over the last year.

This Last Year

For those of you who haven’t been receiving our updates directly (please email us – thefrizelles@gmail.com – if you would like to receive them!) we thought it might be nice to give you a short overview of how the last year has been.

After getting back to Guatemala (following an unexpected extended stay in the UK when little JJ came down with chicken pox!) we managed to quickly find somewhere to live and moved our things down from Puerto Barrios to Antigua. We started working with the base full-time at the start of April and started to get to know the ministries of the base and the staff a bit better. We would go out as a family to do Bible Distribution, discovered what the other ministries looked like, and as part of that orientation, Peter wrote a report about how the base was doing from conducting interviews with all of the staff. During this time we also started his residency application.

It was not long after that that ‘Teams Season’, so to speak, began. Each year the base receives a number of teams, but many of these come during the summer months, particularly June, July and August, making these a busier time than usual. As well as the usual ministries, there are more ministries that teams are taken out to help with (at that time this also included relief ministries for the victims of last year’s volcanic eruption), as well as things to do in terms of hosting the teams (meals, translation, driving, etc.). This time was made busier by the absence of a few members of staff, away for furlough, conferences, or otherwise.

In the last few months of the year Peter was working with a committee of some of the staff to update the Staff Handbook – going through and reviewing the various policies that make up the base and so on. He also “inherited” the finance office as the staff member in charge of it and his family had to leave for an undetermined medium-term length of time for health reasons. During this time, another staff family had left to take a year’s sabbatical and a new team for running the children’s ministry was developed, which we were invited to join as a couple. We were also happy nearer the end of the year to complete the residency process.

Throughout all of this time worship leading has been something that Peter has been involved in, learning Spanish translations of songs to be able to lead bilingually in our staff gatherings and also our weekly evening meeting that is open to the community. There have been a few other admin related things to get done as well.

Since 2019 started, after our base hosted a staff conference for the three YWAM bases in Guatemala, our focus as a family has been primarily on being part of the staff team of the Discipleship Training School (DTS). This year we are running the school in conjunction with the YWAM base from the capital, since we each have a very small cohort of students. This is a very full time program though and we ourselves are at the base for usually 12 hours a day during the week. The lecture phase ran for 12 weeks from February to May and we are now in the Outreach Phase which will last until the beginning of July. There really is a lot that goes into a DTS and we could fill at least another page just talking about that. If you would like a bit more information about that please do get in touch, or perhaps we can provide more of a look at that in our next update. In the meantime we would be very grateful if you would pray for us as the students are looking to put into practice what they have learned from the lecture phase – in developing in their own relationship with God and in reaching out to help others develop in one too.

The Year Ahead

After the school ends, we will have a short time off and be helping with teams (it’s that time of year again), and then at the very end of July we will be coming to the UK again. This August it will be Peter’s father’s 80th birthday which we look forward to celebrating with him. We are looking forward to time with friends and family of course, but also for the opportunities to be able to share with our churches and supporters how things are going. In that vein, we are looking forward to seeing you all in Ashby over summer and are planning to be in the town from Wednesday the 21st to Wednesday the 28th of August. If anyone would like to meet up we would love to do so – please send us an email so that we can get a date in the diary, as some of that time has already been allotted for particular meetings or get-togethers!

Beyond that, we would like to ask for prayer as we look to the opportunities ahead of us. We have enjoyed being a part of the DTS so far this year and at this juncture are praying about whether we should be a part of the one that runs at the same time next year, or whether we should focus our attention on some of the other ministries and/or areas that God has given us a heart for. Please help us as we pray and try to discern where God might be calling us to put our focus in the coming year – we do not wish to do things on autopilot, or even get caught up in the busyness of things that are good, if they are not the best things God has in mind for us to do.

Thank You

Once again, we really want to thank you all as a church for the support that you give to us and the covering over us that you provide – we are blessed to have you walking alongside us in serving the people of Guatemala.

God bless you all in your lives as individuals and families but also in your life as a church.

Peter, Andrea, Charlie & JJ


Past Articles

The exam season is now upon us from SAT’s already been taken or in the process of being taken whilst I write this and the start of GCSE, AS and A level exam season.
Goodbye from the Marcus-Smiths as they join a church plant in Leicester.
A poem by Iris Holt
Some of you may recall that together with Martin Gage of Christian Aid, I attended and gave a report at your meeting on 29th June 2017.
Christian Aid Week will be from 12th - 18th May this year. Those taking part in the house to house collection last year collected £6,775, some 70% of all the monies we managed to raise
We would love to include your writing in our magazine, if you are a local author or have something to write of strong local interest.
Dear Beate, Thank you so much for the gift of your beautiful poem.