This blog entry is written by my 21 year old daughter, Ashley.
Guatemala Mission Trip
July 1-11, 2008
Three days before the mission team was
scheduled to arrive in Guatemala, my dad and I flew down to spend some
time with my good friend Sweet Ruth and her family, who recently moved
back to Guatemala after spending a few years here in the States. It was
so wonderful to see them again, and great to spend a few days just
catching up.
Besides the visiting, one thing I
particularly enjoyed was getting to see more of Guatemala City, the
capital. It has been six years since I spent time in the capital, and
even then I was only in one section of town. Spending a few days with
Sweet Ruth and her family, I was able to experience some of what the
"city life" in Guatemala is like (Americanized and lots of traffic! J)
On Friday, July 4, we made a big
"Welcome" sign and went to the airport to meet the rest of the mission
team. In all, there were 24 of us from my church, joined by 4
individuals from a sister church. It was a large group this year, with a
wide range of ages (16 to 60's) and personalities.
After driving to Antigua, we did some
shopping and spent the night there before making the long drive up into
the mountains the next day. That drive always, with rare exceptions, takes much longer than we are told it will! J
Our hotel this year was the Park Hotel, a very nice place near Coban,
Guatemala. It was a little further drive from the villages, but nicer
and a bit cheaper than last year's hotel. I was able to room with Sweet
Ruth and another good friend, Shannon. The three of us had a great
time together.
After arriving late Saturday afternoon,
we were scheduled to be at an evangelistic crusade service that night.
Our group sang some songs that we had learned in Spanish, and one of
our men preached with a translator. We prayed with the congregation at
the end of the service.
On Sunday morning, we returned to the
church in Purulha that our team built last summer. It was so neat to go
back there, see Pastor Jorge and some other people that we met last
year, and worship with them once again. As someone else said, being
there felt, in a way, "like home."
It was a wonderful service. We sang
again and our team leader preached a great message, then there was a
sweet time of prayer at the end. After the prayer time, Tim (our
leader) led us all in singing "How Great Thou Art," with the Guatemalans
singing in Spanish and the North Americans singing in English, all at
the same time. It was beautiful. I'm so thankful God isn't bound by
language barriers!
Sunday evening was the second meeting
of the evangelistic crusade, and it was great, too. Another of our
young men preached, and two other girls and I danced an interpretive
movement routine to the Spanish version of "Shout to the Lord." There
was more sweet, strong prayer at the end... one thing about Guatemalan
Christians is that they are not prideful. They are not ashamed to come
forward at the invitation to pray and to ask for prayer. Some pray
silently and others cry out audibly, but it's just such a blessing to be
able to go up and put my hands on someone's shoulders and pray with
them.
Also that night, we laid hands on and
prayed for a sweet young girl named Jesica. I had met her the previous
day, but we found out that she has something wrong with her brain and
the doctors have given her no hope. I'm continuing to pray for her, and
would appreciate your prayers for her, too. (Jesica is the girl on the
left in this photo.)
Monday morning was spent running some
errands and doing a little shopping in Coban before the work in the
villages began that afternoon. The construction team got started on
their various projects in the village of Mocohan -- putting glass in the
windows of the conference center, painting, building doors on the
bathrooms, and putting up siding in Rolando (the local missionary)'s
apartment.
The VBS team was transported back over
to Purulha for day one of VBS, in the church we built last year. Our
theme for VBS this year was "Children of the King." One of the ladies
from our team taught the lesson, and the kids got to decorate paper
crowns with crayons and adhesive-backed jewels. They were so excited
about that! They also had a blast learning a fun dance that we taught
them.
On Tuesday morning, the construction
crew went back to work, and the pastors' conference began.
Approximately 45 pastors came to Mocohan from various areas of the
jungle to be encouraged in their ministry. One man, who has come in the
past, walked for nine hours to get to the conference. That's
commitment, and I hope that they were all blessed by being there!
The VBS team spent the morning
preparing craft supplies and goody bags. We also packed some bags for
the pastors, and for the children in Mocohan, since we didn't get to do a
VBS there this year. It was fun to hand out the bags to the people as
we walked back to the bus for lunch.
We stopped to meet with a local pastor
and look at his church building, which was recently destroyed by a
mudslide. The church is in the process of trying to buy new land for a
new building. We prayed with the pastor and are continuing to pray
about making that church a future mission project.
That afternoon, we returned to Purulha
for day two of VBS. After the lesson, the children made felt banners
with the words "Jesus es mi Rey" (Jesus is my King). I enjoyed sitting
with some of the little girls and helping them spell the words; however,
it was sad to see how some of the 8-9 year old children didn't even
recognize the letters. For Guatemalan children, going to school is a
luxury that many aren't able to afford. I knew this, but had not seen
the affects of it in reality until that day.
On Wednesday, the pastors' conference
continued, and the women's conference took place. We had a women's
conference last year, too, but I was not able to participate, so I was
really looking forward to being a part of it this year. I was put in
charge of writing nametags. J The
conference went really well. The theme was "God's Heart for Women." I
believe the ladies responded well to the messages, and we were able to
pray with many of them as they asked for prayer about specific
situations in their lives.
Since Wednesday was our last workday,
we had a group "share time" that evening after supper. The team prayed
together, sang some songs together, and shared special memories or
lessons learned from the week.
Thursday morning, we loaded the bus and
made the drive back to the city. It was one of those "rare exception"
days when the bus ride actually went faster than expected! J
We were able to do a little more shopping in the city, then spent the
night in Antigua again before flying out the next morning.
This year's trip was somewhat different
from last year's -- we didn't get to spend as much time just "hanging
out" with the people. But it was good and I do believe God was
glorified in the work... which is what it's all about! I'm thankful
that God allowed me to go again, that He protected us, and that He is
sovereign. I'm thankful for the time to "catch up" with some good
friends. I'm thankful to know that I have brothers and sisters in other
parts of the world, for the opportunity to spend time working and
worshipping together with some of them, and for the things we can learn
from each other. How great is our God! Cuan grande es nuestro Dios!
Thank you so much for praying for us.
God bless,
Ashley
"You will go
out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills
will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the
field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12
A few more photos that Mom added~
sunrise in Antigua
Yes! This is the bus going down the wrong side of the road.
On to the Purulha area~
Praise dance to Shout to the Lord~
Ashley is on right
This photo is a little blurry, but I love it. This man had just shown the lady the picture he had taken of her.
