Greetings from rainy Guatemala!
We started off today with breakfast at 7AM. Today, we made our own, which was nice! We could eat between 7 and 7:30AM. After breakfast, we headed upstairs for our morning devotion, which was led by Aracely and Cesar translated. The main points were that it is not easy to be a christian. We read about Jeremiah and the famine and the drought. She pointed out that sometimes the drought is within us – we need nourished and fed. We all make mistakes, but we are forgiven. Too many times we as christians decide who is worthy of being amongst us. It is not our place to judge, but instead to spread the news of forgiveness. She reminded us that we will encounter people who want food or money, but giving them money or food will not fix their problem. We instead are to say ‘God Bless You’. She encouraged us to ‘put on our best face – smile’ because people are hungry for peace and love.
We then loaded up in vans and headed to El Rincon, which was about a one hour drive. When we arrived, we broke up into groups and did house visits.
Bruce, Artees, Anna, Carlos were one team. They visited an elderly couple. The man was 91 and was on his way in from his fields. He loved being out in God’s creation, and he sang them a praise song. They prayed for his family.
Margaret, Marge, Sharon, Jona, Sandra were on a team. They visited an elderly woman who had two painful knees and could barely walk. She lived in a compound with 5 families – all relatives. Her daughter was also there and had 2 children and was there because she had been in an accident and could not work. The daughter was concerned about her 12 year old daughter who was not too anxious to go to school. I am told she greatly enjoyed hugging Jona….hmm…not sure if he gave her his cell phone number. Might be that match made in heaven! They prayed for the physical needs of the mother and daughter, and for the 12 year old that she might make good choices.
Daniel, Katelyn, Luann, Dawn, Aracely, Kevin were on a team. They visited a 30 year old who had been in an accident. He was riding his bicycle and was struck by a vehicle. This was a follow up visit from last week. Last week, there was a nurse with them who told him his leg wound might be infected. He stated he had been to the doctor, and it was in fact infected. They cut out the bad skin but did not give him an antibiotic. Last week, he had no feeelings in his legs. Today, the feeling is coming back, which is great news! They prayed for healing of his leg, his family, his mother who is helping to take care of him, his wife, who is now needing to provide for the family, and his mother requested that they pray that she sees her son walk again.
All commented at dinner that their house visits were inspiring!
After our visits, we had lunch. Then, we headed to our areas (adults, teens, children) for our faith lessons.
Children’s Faith Lesson (Dawn, Sharon, Luann, Oscar:
The children started arriving about an hour before the lesson. Soon after, a wonderful storm brewed, and we had heavy rain on the tin roof. It was really neat to be there under shelter, but hear the rain on the roof. They read books (some read to Dawn), they played tag, played with putty, played cards, and jumped rope. Katelyn, Luann and Sharon did the jump ropes for the children. They loved to have us swing the rope! We had quite a line!
They were smiling, laughing, playing and trying to communicate with us. They asked our names and had many hugs for us.
Then we started our lesson. We sang, told the story, then did our craft. On the way out, they all got a juice and a snack.
Teen’s Faith Lesson (Daniel, Jona, Bruce, Cesar):
The team was joined by a ‘walk on’ – Anna. She is a student studying abroad and had been here on a mission trip 10 years ago. She stopped by to visit for a few days, so she joined this group for their faith lesson.
The team started by having the teens take off their shoes – this grabbed their attention. They did this because God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. The lesson went well, the team engaged the teens, and they enjoyed their time with this group. They did not sing any songs…..teens don’t sing. They did the craft with them and they seemed to enjoy doing this.
Adult’s Faith Lesson (Margaret, Artees, Marge, Carlos)
The adults start with their own lesson. They sign songs and pray. Then our team takes over with their faith lesson. They did the craft with them, sang songs, and ended with prayer.
After the lessons were over, we all met back at the vans for our trip home. Shortly after arriving home, it was time for dinner.
After dinner, George stopped and visited with us. He shared more about his ministry. It was a nice visit.
We had a team work on our lunch for tomorrow, then we all gathered at the table to work on putting our crafts together for tomorrow.
Marge led us in a wonderful devotion, with the help of Jona.
Miles: So sorry we left you out yesterday. I heard you did end up with a copy of it – getting the e-mail out was more challenging than anticipated….it was a team effort to get this done and in the team effort, seems like you were not added to the list:( You are now in the group:)
Written by: Luann
Approved by: The Group
