OK, No we haven’t all fallen off the face of the earth. And we are so sorry for not keeping a better day-by-day account for those who are keeping up with Bethel’s mission team. Week 1 is complete, and we are amazed by how God used us in this village. The team ministered in one village the entire week. We saw God pour out his blessings by focusing our energy and attention to one oppressed village. Bethel’s team worked in perfect harmony alongside each other. Not just in construction of houses, mixing of mortar, tossing of cinder blocks but also in passing out crayons, candy, and food.
The primary focus was the building of the church. `The church is well on its way, and hopefully the structure will have a roof and floor by the end of the second week. All together we had 34 and ½(Cadence isn’t quit tall enough to be counted as one yet, though she eats as much as another person!) gringos invading el Rodeo daily with the love of Christ. The first day is always a little crazy and hectic because new comers don’t really know what to do, the old timers have to figure out how to square up a 12x12 building again, and we had the added element of some just jumping in and working alongside a Guatemalan brick mason. It was interesting to say the least. Marvin was the man of the hour…”Donde esta Marvin?” everyone had questions for Marvin here, there, and everywhere. He was awesome, and in his niche. Everyday he has handled problems or complications that has come up, has been an excellent translator, and has bridged the gap between the Americans and the Guatemalans.
One exciting way that we ministered in the village was cooking the people a hot meal. A few weeks ago, we purchased a gas stove for the church with money raised by Toxey Baptist Church. We are Baptists….we like to meet and eat. So we fed people. We fed around 80 people 3 of the 5 days we were in the village. One sweet boy, Freddy, received his bowl of beef stew and rice on Saturday and just held it for awhile, staring. Finally, a lady from the team walked over to him, smiled, and motioned for him to eat. Once he tasted, the bowl was licked clean just a few minutes later, and he was so grateful for having a full stomach for once. Watching those children eat those hot meals were beautiful and a picture of God’s providence.
Another form of ministry in the village was Vacation Bible School. The V.B.S. in the village was filled with lots of games, singing, coloring, reading Bible stories, and of course snacks and candy. I foresee us really needing a dental mission trip to this village in the next few years due to all the candy we’ve passed out in the last week! We averaged about 60-80 kids daily with one day hitting the 100 mark. It is always amazing to invest in children, and plant seeds early in life. We poured the love of Christ into the future church of el Rodeo, and we know that God will see the harvest even if we don’t.
The highlight of the week was the worship service Sunday on the church property. The work we are doing is to provide a structure, the people gathered on Sunday was the church. Sunday’s church service deserves an entire blog entry alone. Satan did NOT want us making it to church. That morning we ran late due to a marathon that had traffic slowed to a crawl for several miles, then we found ourselves in a political party parade. When we finally made it to el Rodeo, we all saw one the most beautiful sights. We saw a church family praising and worshiping the one true God despite the construction hazards all around. The people of Santa Rosa el Rodeo sat on benches borrowed from another church. There were over 75 people gathered from the village to worship that morning. As soon as we arrived, it was pretty much time for the kids and the group to sing some of the songs that were sung during V.B.S. The kids did great, and the gringos tried their best to hang in there and sing all the songs in Spanish. Marvin preached in Spanish and spoke about being a disciple. He told a little about the disciples who followed Jesus, and read the great commission for Christians to “go into all the earth.” Marvin also laid out the plan of salvation, and explained why exactly we were in the village building a church. Pastor Max then summed up what Marvin had preached, and had an invitation. Do you recall Reuben that was mentioned a couple articles ago? Well, he and his significant other accepted the gift of salvation! Many others came forward, asking for prayer, and many of the people seemed genuinely broken and just cried out to God. It was probably one the most powerful church services I’ve ever attended. One teenager described the service by saying, “I didn’t understand a lick of what was said, but I felt the power and spirit of God in that place.” The stunning element of the service was that the community gathered for church was the exact people that were ministered to during the week by our group. We saw a direct correlation between the love of Christ we shared, and the people overwhelmed to search for that love from the Lord.
Monday and Tuesday we were all back at it again; building houses, mixing mortar, cooking lunch, singing songs, kicking balls, blowing bubbles, and throwing blocks. The village was buzzing with joyful people all around. Tuesday we dedicated five houses, giving those families a Spanish Bible, bed, blanket, and groceries. All were very grateful, and broken that people would help them out so much. The group also built two more houses that will get concrete floors, fronts, and doors this week before we dedicate Then the gringos had to tell the kids they wouldn’t be back tomorrow because they were returning home in America. Not good. We had a lot of crying children in need of plenty of hugs and candy this afternoon from the handful that stayed back to finish out the day in el Rodeo. I think for my emotional sanity, I may not tell the kids when our last day in the village will be this summer.
And so we end week one with sad goodbyes, but with a promise of more progress and seeds planted during week two. Adios Bethel, it was a blast! We love our church family in Citronelle, AL and we are excited to see where God will lead us next to continue to fulfill the Great Commission. We all need to be reminded to disciple those around us and continue to have compassion for the nations around the world.
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