We walked through San Lucas this morning on the way to the Promised Land Ministry School for breakfast and absorbed the sights and sounds of a city coming alive. Our team was rested, refreshed, and ready to serve. The path to the school is familiar already. The faces we pass are landmarks of the route. We are feeling comfortable in San Lucas after only a few days of being in the country. We are excited to serve.
After breakfast, we broke into two teams and headed out to build houses for families in need. Over the years, Promised Land Ministries has built over 1000 houses in the hillsides surrounding San Lucas Toliman. They are simple houses. Cement floors with a few rows of concrete blocks to begin the walls. The rest of the house is built from rough-cut lumber. The roof is made from sheets of tin. It is certainly an accomplishment for each team to construct a house from any material in a single day, but the truth is that the houses are simple. There is no plumbing. There is no electricity. But when the families walk through their finished homes, they are filled with joy. Each of the families we built homes for today has a hard story, and we were privileged to hear them. It was an honor to share a day together and to end the day praying a blessing over their new home and over our new friends. It was good.
The team came back to the hotel after building full. Full of lunch. Full of the difficult things we had seen as we built homes for families in need. Full of the challenging things we have seen so far in our time in Guatemala. Full of the beautiful things we have seen Jesus at work in every step of the way. We spent our remaining time meeting some of the citizens of San Lucas on the basketball court at the center of the town square. We laughed, we played, we shared a snack. It was good.
Tonight at porch time, we looked at Matthew 25, where we discussed that when we serve others, we are serving Jesus himself! And that failure to do so has consequences. We talked about things that hold us back from leaning into these opportunities when they arise. We talked about how it can be the most awkward to help those who need help the most. We asked how often we are serving just to get something in return? We asked, Do we take the opportunities to serve seriously? Are we taking it seriously right now? We talked about why it is so difficult. We looked at 1 John 3:16-19. It was good.
Today was good. Tomorrow will be good too.
Tired but excited to serve,
The Guatemala Team
