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.