First Worship Service In Santa Rosa el Rodeo

Over fifty people gathered together to worship.

Sunday was by far the best, and most memorable day that we have spent in Guatemala so far. It was a milestone because it marked the first worship service that was held on the church property in Santa Rosa el Rodeo. We are so thankful for all of our family, friends and supporters for praying for the service. Also, we want to thank you for letting us be a part of something so exciting in the kingdom of God.

The weather and attendance seemed bleak when we first arrived to the property. We were supposed to start church at nine, but Max was running late and the rain started to pour. Our family and friends think we always run late, but in Guatemala we are always on time because everyone else is late! However, God poured out his spirit in that place and we had an amazing worship service.

Jennifer leading "Te Doy Gloria" with Kaylee's help.

The rain quickly faded as the worship service began, and it subsided until the worship service was over. As soon as everyone was leaving, the rain started again.

Over fifty people joined together to worship God on the property. I was overwhelmed and saw an unbelievable worship service transpire on the property. The amazing part was that we did not meet in a building, there were no chairs to sit upon, and a live band leading worship was absent. Yet, people humbly joined together to worship the Lord in a way that I have not ever experienced.

The children in the village singing during the service.

The service included various people leading out in worship. Pastor Max’s son-in-law, Guierrmo, shared verses and led in prayer numerous times throughout the service. A lady from the village led everyone in worship choruses, and later Jennifer led a praise song in Spanish. Max dedicated a portion of the service to bring the children up and allowed them to sing and then gave them a short devotional. I was blessed with the opportunity to preach, and it was the first sermon that I have ever preached in Spanish. All together, everything was simply astonishing. The service concluded with people gathered around pleading for God to guide their lives, while at the same time, 2 or 5 people decided to follow Jesus.

Men and women pleading for God's leadership.

I walked away from that service extremely excited, overwhelmed, and convicted. I have described the reason why I was excited and overwhelmed, but I was also convicted during this service. I saw first-hand that we do not need all of the luxuries of our American churches to truly worship God. It reminds me a lot of the topics that David Platt has wrote about in “Radical.” Most of us are so comfortable in our lifestyles and it seems to bleed over into our worship of God as well. We seem to believe that he enjoys us to be comfortable and take a relaxed position in our Christianity. I’m not saying that he doesn’t bless us with certain comforts, but everything that he entrusts to us are intended to be used for his glory. We are definitely excited about building the church building in Santa Rosa el Rodeo, but more importantly we are excited about making disciples of the people that live in that village. The proper perspective is that people are always more important than buildings, programs, or things of this world. Thank God for his grace so we can extend his glory!

Rain, Rain, Rain, and More Rain...Have I Mentioned That It Rained?

 In the United States, most of us have a bad habit of desiring to have things immediately when we want them. We have little patience for change of plans, being late or not receiving what we want. That type of thinking is very dangerous and uncommon in other countries, especially Guatemala. I must confess, I displayed that type of American thinking today.

Today was suppose to be a major work day on the church property in the village. The plans were to finish building the fence, construct a 12'x24' material building, erect a house for the workers, and build a kitchen. All of this seemed like a lofty goal, but let me assure you that it all could have  been done. However, the plans changed completely!

We arrived on the property at 8:15 this morning anticipating a full day of work. Max and five other men arrived shortly after us. A few of the men went to work on the fence quickly while Max and myself designated the placement of buildings on the property. From this point forward, plans changed drastically.

First, the materials for the buildings didn't arrive until 9:30. After unloading the vehicle, Max informed me that he forgot his wheelbarrows and we needed to travel to Escuintla to buy a couple. It took us longer than expected and we didn't return until 11. Unfortunately, the sky looked like it was about to burst open and slap us with a fury of rain. The weather turned horrible and we were all huddled under some tin stretched over the vehicles. I guess that was a good time to rain because our lumber still had not been delivered.

After a quick lunch and the rain subsiding, we went to work full throttle. Thankfully, we were able to finish the material building on the property. It seemed like we were going to be able to meet our lofty goals. Suddenly, the clouds congregated overhead and poured rain upon us fiercefully.

We all gathered under the newly erected building. It rained for a solid two hours. We finally decided to call it quits, but we had to gather all of the material that stretched from one end to the other on the property. All of us was soaking wet when we concluded.

I'll be honest, I was very frustrated!

I wanted to have all of this done today, so the workers can begin living on the property and start on Monday. I was in a bit of a foul mood while we were driving home. Then the Guatemalan Police pulled me over. I was thinking, "What else could happen today."

Everything was fine, but God used that brief moment on the side of the road to correct my thinking. He used Jennifer to show me how he had blessed us today. Everyday, we have certain goals and expectations that each of us set. I wander, how many of us pray for God to guide our steps, expectations, and goals for each day?

A Memorable Day

The last few days in Guatemala, we have been extremely exuberant because of the amazing experience on Saturday in the village. The day was rather exhausting as we all joined together to clean the land and prepare for the church. Jennifer led a group of men, women and children as they continued to gather debris left from the concrete structure that was demolished the day before. The debris ranged from small rocks to large boulders. The ladies of the village were extremely resourceful, and gathered nylon sacks to carry the rocks to the disposal pile.

Meanwhile, Pastor Max, a few men from another church, and myself began building the fence that will encase the perimeter of the property. The post that was used for the fence was recently gathered and cut by a man that lives in the village. In my mind, I was expecting a round 6” post. However, the post were branches that were 6” or greater in diameter that were more or less straight. When the work was concluded in the afternoon, we dug and set over fifty posts. The barbed wire was strung and we had erected the entire fencerow for the right side of the property.

A couple of distinct things occurred on Saturday to make the day memorable. One memorable part of the day was the children! There were kids everywhere on the property. Jennifer reminded me of the ‘Pied Piper’ of the nursery rhyme. The children followed her and Cadence everywhere they went. It was cute to watch them cling to her and be embraced by her warm love. My heart was overjoyed to see these children laugh, play and work on the property. I have a feeling that God is going to use these children to shine his light in this village, throughout Guatemala, and possibly the world.

Another memorable moment during the day was a political rally or parade that traveled down the road. The country is littered with candidate and political signs everywhere. The election for president and other offices will take place in September. Various political parties will hold small rallies or parades in different locations. Most of the locations are in heavily populated areas on main roads. However, this parade was held on this small dirt road in the middle of the village. All the kids were extremely excited to watch the trucks, hear the loud music and watch the green-shirted individuals shout. Suddenly, a man walked over to me, along with thirty other individuals. I was a bit beleaguered in the occurrence. Then the man began to ask me questions and I told him that we were starting and building a church in the village. He informed me that he was running for the head office of Escuintla, the nearby major city. He continued to talk and sounded like a politician from the United States! Within a moment, he quit talking, and suddenly lunged his stocky body towards me. He opened his arms wide and clinched my rather sweaty, stained with dirt body, and embraced me with a hug. Randomly, a person in his party took a picture and videotaped that awkward moment. I would love to see the expression on my face! He was probably thinking this transaction could be a great political video and motto: “I embrace the Gringos and I am their friends!” However, the video paints a different picture due to the shocked and horrified face I was probably making.

The greatest memory that I will take away from that day was the people. I was overwhelmed by the willingness from the men, women and children to help work on the property. It is exciting to see men sacrifice their bodies after they worked all morning in order to help build the church. It is amazing to see women to sacrifice cooking and taking care of their children for a few hours to help build the church. It was definitely moving to watch small children try their best to assist any way they could to help build the church. The whole reason that we are doing all of this work is for the very people that were lending a hand. Those precious people need to experience the life, love, and story of Christ!

Please be in prayer for a few upcoming events. First, we attended church with Pastor Max on Sunday. After church, we talked about the church building and prices. Pray that the structures built on the property will be God’s plan and not our wants. Yesterday, I had the frame of our vehicle wielded and fixed. I also learned that the suspension is fine, praise the Lord. We are really excited about this coming Sunday because we will have the first worship service in the village. Please pray for the people attending the service to clearly hear the gospel of our King. Also, lift me up in prayer because it will be my first sermon in Spanish. The following week, we will start hosting a medical clinic one day a week and a backyard Bible study another day. We are excited about all of the upcoming events and we thank you for your prayers and support. 

The Crazy Gringo With a Sledgehammer

We continue to be overwhelmed and excited to be in Guatemala. There are so many opportunities to minister to the people here. Today, we met up with Friendship Baptist Church mission team staying at the GRACE house in Chimaltenango. The groups were building homes in Alotenango, in a place where Max and us were finding homes this past Saturday. There are so many people living there in homes that are unequivocally inadequate to dwell or raise a family. I have seen things constructed in the United States, and have heard sounds from construction sites there as well. However, the sounds of shovels breaking the ground, hammers tapping nails, or tin being hung is such a beautiful sound in Guatemala. I believe it is the sound of God looking upon the oppressed of this country, and letting them know that he sees their needs. The houses are a representation that God has blessed them with something physical, but their oppression goes so much deeper than a physical need. They have something in common with us in the United States and all over the world, spiritual oppression. We are broken all over the world and need to be reconciled to Christ. That is the reason that it is so exciting to plant and build a church in the village of Santa Rosa el Rodeo

This afternoon, we visited the village to work on the property. Our hope was to demolish a former concrete structure located towards the front of the land. I was the entertainment for the community as I began to smash the blocks with the sledgehammer. Everyone gathered around to watch the crazy gringo destroy the structure.  Then something amazing happened. Small children began to pick up fragments of brick, mortar, and concrete. Before long, some men in the village gathered their sledgehammers and pry-bars and pitched in to help. I’ll be vividly honest. My heart was overcome with joy and excitement. We arrived believing that we would do all the work, but the people are so excited about the church that they want to help in any possible way. I’m excited to see them want to be a part of something amazing and greater than any of us. I pray that God’s presence will be overwhelming in this village. I pray that God will use these oppressed men and women to display his grace and glory to people of all nations. How great is our God!

A Volcano and Compassion

Jennifer and Cadence at the church property

Yes…we are behind on giving everyone an update. We are still alive, and haven’t dropped off of the face of the earth. Life just slows down a lot outside of the U.S. and before you know it, a week has passed by quickly!

Last week we continued language tutoring with our amazing new friend Vivian, whom was mentioned in last week’s blog. She is very patient, kind, and continues to encourage our attempts of speaking Spanish. Last Sunday, and yesterday we attended church with her in Antigua. Both services were very vibrant, and worshipful. The people gathered together worshipped our awesome God with total abandonment. It is an amazing experience to be apart of another culture’s worship of the same, one and only, Jesus Christ.

A couple of days we spent engaged in scavenger hunts to “ find” and “price” certain food items for the groups coming in July. Vivian went with us on Wednesday to Guatemala City to check out the prices at Wal-Mart and ClubCo (similar to Sam’s Club). To our surprise, the Wal-Mart closely resembled those in America! Marvin did get in trouble for writing prices down, and was even followed by one worker a few aisles to ensure he wasn’t sneaking prices in his notebook. It was quite comical. We also decided to really be American, and stop in at Pizza Hut for lunch. That decision was a bad idea because we got turned around. Guatemala City is the capitol city, and ALWAYS packed with lots of people and lots of traffic. Needless to say, Marvin was a great driver and finally got to our destination after only a few detours. Let me assure you, the pizza was worth it! However, it was an exhausting day, as we were told by Vivian we would only be allowed to speak Spanish…no Spanglish. Our brains were tired after that day.

Saturday we were able to spend a wonderfully tiring day with Pastor Max, and his wife Theresa. Part of the day was spent in the village of Santa Rosa el Rodeo. All of us traveled over, and checked on the 100 posts that were cut for the fence that we be erected on the property. Each post was hand cut by a man that lives in the village. We paid him, and arranged the day for the posts to be delivered. Then we went to the property to make plans for the placement of the fence, storage building, dormitory, bathrooms, and the church. It was exciting to actually be on the property, talking and dreaming about the future ministries that will take place in this village. Visions of kids running around during VBS, groups of ladies and men studying God’s word, the people of the village fellowshipping with one another, and worshipping Christ together was exciting.

Off-Roading in Alotenango

After our visit to Santa Rosa, we traveled to nearby Alotenango. While we were there, we explored potential spots for other groups to build houses for various families. There were three things that happened here that characterized this trip.

First, we drove down some of the smallest pig trails we’ve ever seen! The first road we were traveling down was small enough, then Max put on his turn signal. We actually thought he was turning into a house. However, it was a small trail that went up a steep mountain. We weren’t sure if the green hornet (Isuzu Rodeo) was going to make it up and down some of the rough terrain that Max was gallantly leading us through. One spot was so bad, a Guatemala man told us, “That piece of road is no good.” In order for a Guatemalan to proclaim a road is bad means that it is practically undriveable!

Another part of the trip to Alotenango occurred while we were talking to families that potentially needed homes built. We were walking up a fairly steep mountain when a vigorous, auditory sensation, tickled our hearing. It was a frequency that sounded like a cannon explosion, synchronized with thunder, with a little bit of ‘enormously loud’ sprinkled on top. All four of us looked at each other and then Max informed us of the source of the occurrence. In his exact words, with a nonchalant look on his face, “Oh, el volcan.” The what? I thought to myself. I was thinking of the ancient Roman city Pompeii. I didn’t want to be a monument somebody would look at years down the road. So many thoughts filled my mind, but Max kept on going.  Needless to say, everything was fine, but what an experience.

el Volcán de Fuego near Alotenango, Guatemala

The last part of the trip that stood out to us was the process of finding families that needed homes. Practically, everyone that we saw needed a home. We were visiting places that reminded us of section-8 type neighborhoods that you see in the United States, but built with dried cornstalks, mud, and plastic. We were visiting plots of land where five families were living on less than a quarter of an acre. Before the end of the day, Max counted over forty families that needed a house. Unfortunately, the houses that will possibly be built is nothing to covet compared to the ‘American Dream.’ Both of us were overwhelmed with the awful living conditions of these people. It never becomes normal to see families drink dirty water, live in deficient homes, sleep on the dirt, or have possessions that we would consider rubbish. We were moved with compassion for these people and their physical needs. On a deeper level, we know that their spiritual need for Christ outweighs every physical need that they have.

I recall in the book of Mark when the author shares the story of Christ feeding the multitudes. In both accounts, the author takes note of Jesus being moved with Compassion. One time, he was moved with compassion for their physical need. The other, he was moved with compassion for their spiritual need. Jesus proclaimed, “They are like sheep without a pastor.” We need to plead with the father to help us be moved with compassion daily for the people around us. Each of us comes in contact with real people, with real physical and spiritual problems. What are we doing daily to ‘LIVE. LOVE. GO.’ around those people? I am challenged to plead with God to move my heart with compassion and brokenness for the people around me similarly to Christ. 

Beans, Nachos and United As One!

Altar view from proposed church in Santa Rosa el Rodeo

Our Spanish lessons have been the primary task for us this week, along with vehicle shopping. We both knew how to speak basic words and phrases in Spanish, but this week has been focused on grammar and sentence structure. Jennifer does a better job at listening and pronouncing Spanish than I. Unfortunately; I speak a weird Southern Alabama style of Spanish. People make fun of the way I pronounce words in English, so just imagine how I sound in Spanish! Jennifer is always laughing at my pronunciations. However, our Spanish teacher is very patient with me. Vivian, our teacher, has an amazing testimony and we are blessed that God has united us together. She attends a Seminary here in Antigua. Recently, the school informed her that she had to start paying for classes. It is amazing to us how God has worked all of this together for his glory. We are paying her to teach us to communicate the story of Christ with people of Guatemala. The money that we are paying her is being used for her education so she can learn more about the Bible, and teach others about Christ as well.

A few nights ago, I was on the phone with my mom and dad, Ricki and Edna Robinson. Thankfully, we are able to Skype our parents every night. During that conversation, mom asked me, “Teach us something in Spanish.” I quickly laughed because both of them have a habit of distorting words into funny statements. Then I decided to teach them to say ‘good night’ in Spanish. The phrase is “Buenos Noches!” My parent’s grandest effort was an expression articulated with the words “beans and nachos!”  We all started laughing hysterically at their Spanglish!

Escuintla Watermelons and Cantaloupes 

Talking about beans and nachos, we actually had our first taco night in Guatemala. All of our family and friends know that we have a tradition on Thursday nights to gather and eat tacos. Part of our meal actually consisted of beans, nachos, homemade guacamole and homemade Salsa. By far, the meal was one of majestic proportions and seemed to help us feel more settled into our new home.

We enjoy buying fresh produce and fruits in the market. A friend informed us that the city of Escuintla sells watermelons that are grown by local farmers. Immediately, I thought about Citronelle, the Turner family, and our love for the pink, fleshy fruit. Today, we traveled to Escuintla to look around and find one of these ample watermelons. Thankfully, God worked everything out and we have an Isuzu Rodeo that we have named “Green Hornet.” After a couple of wrong turns and some lunch, we found watermelons everywhere. People were selling them in their stores, in the market, on fruit stands and on the back of a truck. The man selling them on the back of his truck seemed to be more familiar to us so we bought one from him. We are excited to try the watermelon later!

Lindey Family and Cadence

The best part of today was traveling to the village of Santa Rosa el Rodeo. We went to the property where the church will be built. Today was the first time that we have been able to visit the village since we have arrived to Guatemala. We prayed over the property and the people of the village. At one point, I stood approximately where the altar will be and looked upon the Guatemalan landscape. It was overwhelming to imagine people gathered together to worship the Lord and have their lives changed.

When we were leaving, we saw a family that we met last year. A few of us built a house for this family and the little girl was named Lindey. The whole family was overwhelmed and praised God for their home last summer. They were overcome with joy and happiness when they saw us today. I am excited to be a part of this amazing project in order to have a church that can teach these precious children. Their mother told us that she couldn’t wait for the church to be built. She was praising God that a church would be built so close to her home for the children of this village. While she was praising God, she told us that they are currently attending a church that is extremely far from her home. The church that will be built this summer will only be 100 feet from her home.

Since that conversation today, I have been pondering about our communities, towns and cities in the United States. In Citronelle, you can find a church on every other street. In some cases, there are churches across the road from one another. Unfortunately, most of our churches in Citronelle were not formed because of the lack of a place to worship God. Instead, they were formed because of division and turmoil in other places. Even among denominations you will find multiple churches in the same area. We are all called to unite together to worship Christ. This lady in Guatemala, the college students in East Asia, the Wolof man in West Africa and Christians in Citronelle are supposed to be united together in the body of Christ. The world is broken and people need Christ. We must put our differences behind us and learn to LIVE. LOVE. GO. for Christ!

“There are many parts, but one body… Now you are the body of Christ, 

and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:20,27