Guatemala 2024 - Day 6! Last Blog post!

Today our students worked hard. Really hard. One of the many ways that the ministry we are supporting, Promised Land Ministry Guatemala, seeks to serve the community in San Lucas Toliman is by painting local public schools. These schools have very little funding so painting the walls is a low priority for school leadership. Knowing this, our team was asked to paint a school set in a hillside village overlooking Lake Atitlan. The setting could not have been more beautiful, but the school definitely needed a fresh coat of paint. It’s a lot to ask 21 teenagers to paint a school. And even more to ask them not to drip any paint on the floor or get any paint on the windows. In fact, it really is too much to ask. (Let's just say, we made a mess.) There were more than a few extra rides to the local hardware store to buy more rags and paint thinner to mop up the spills. But as the day drew to a close and we washed the sidewalk that looked like a Jackson Pollock painting, we stepped back and marveled at what 21 teenagers can do in nine long hours of work. We painted with joy and in the end, the school looked great.

After painting, we challenged our new Guatemalan friends to one last game of soccer on a local “futbolito” court. It was a great way to say goodbye. As the games came to a close, we shared our deep appreciation for their kind partnership (let's face it, we could never build a house without their help and guidance) and then the students prayed over them and we all walked to dinner.

For our final porch time, we shared communion together. Tonight, as we considered how Jesus poured himself out for us, we considered how we can pour ourselves out for others. Jesus doesn’t mince his words in Scripture, he says that if we want to save our life, we must lose it. He says that following him, means following him to the cross. As we shared communion, we served each other and poured ourselves out. It was a holy moment for our team.

Tomorrow we head to the village of Antigua and then catch our flight home late tomorrow night. We will be back at the Chapel on Saturday. We will text the details as the day unfolds.

Gratefully,

The Guatemala Team

Guatemala 2024 - Day 5!

 Tonight, as we debriefed our day, we asked the kids to write down three words or phrases to describe the people of Guatemala that we have met so far. Some of the words they shared were:

Generous

Kind

Open

Humble

Welcoming

Grateful

Genuine

Joyful

Selfless

Our students described the kind of community that I want to be a part of. The kind of community that they want to be a part of. The kind of community that seems to have their priorities in order. In Luke 12:13-20 Jesus teaches us to “be our guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possession.” I wonder how much our possessions and our love for our possessions change the kind of community we are. The kind of community we are becoming. Today we learned that the communities we have been serving, communities that don’t have the things that we have, in reality, have all the “things” that we want.

The photos can tell the story, but let me just say our students were incredible today. They played hard, loved deeply, and learned so much.

Ready to serve another day! 

Guatemala Team 

Guatemala 2024 - Day 4!

After breakfast we split into small groups and weaved our way through the local market. The central market is open three days a week and is the lifeblood of San Lucas Toliman. On market day the central streets are closed and hundreds (if not thousands) of vendors line up to sell everything a local resident may need. We saw sides of beefing hanging in the warm morning sun, roosters and rabbits. We encountered clothing vendors, fishmongers, spice carts, fruit stands, baskets filled with vegetables, bags of beans, brooms, and buckets. The walkways were filled with women dressed in traditional dresses with children strapped to their backs or walking swiftly behind them. Blind and crippled men and women held out hats and small buckets. And everyone was loading their bags with what they need for the next few days. We saw it all in the market. We smelled it all in the market. We opted not to taste any of it.

After the market we once again headed out to build houses. Today we served a family of four, the father of which is a day laborer making about twelve dollars a day when he can find work. We also built a home for a single mother of two who works seventy hours a week in a local “restaurant,” toting along her two young boys each day to work. The boys eagerly helped our team build them a home and the mother wept as she expressed her gratitude for our team's work. The third group built a Sunday school room for a rural church. The pastor took a day off from his many jobs that he works to support his ministry to build alongside the students. His prayer for our students was powerful even as our students prayed for him.

After a very late lunch it was back to the basketball courts for some intense but joyful games with the locals. The students on the sidelines quickly drew a crowd and in a flash the bracelet-making materials were out and the conversations began. Our students don’t all know Spanish, but they are pretty good at finding out names, ages, and if the person they are talking to has a dog. It is beautiful to watch them work hard to communicate and to connect. They are all in!

Tonight, as we gathered for porch time, we considered the excuses that Moses made when God asked him to join him in his mission (Exodus 3 and 4). God saw the suffering and oppression of his people and was ready to intercede. He was ready to rescue them. He asked Moses to help and yet Moses quickly considered all the reasons why he could not. Moses made excuses. Tonight we got honest and asked God to show us where we make excuses. To reveal to us the ways that we say “no” to Jesus as he invites (commands) us to join him in rescuing the world. I can't answer the question for you, but it is good to ask yourself, “What excuses am I making that prevent me from joining Jesus’ mission?” Today I marveled as our students leaned into what Jesus has called them to do. I hope we can all lean in with them and leave behind our excuses as we join Jesus on his mission.

Ready for more ministry opportunities tomorrow! 

The Guatemala Team 

Guatemala 2024 - Day 3!

It was a cool walk through the town this morning as we headed to breakfast. I love how quickly the walk has become comfortable for the team. Even familiar. Each student knows the way. They know what turns to take, where the potholes are and even the names of some of the people we pass each day. The students voices fill the air with the words “buenos dias,” greeting each person we pass and being greeted in return. Even with the diesel fumes from passing trucks and the whizzing motors of the three wheeled taxis that maneuver through the town, the students meet the cold morning air with joy and eagerness, watching the town come alive with the morning sun.

After a hearty breakfast, we broke into three teams and headed out to build houses for families in need. Over the years the organization we are working with 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 three-bedroom house from any material in a single day, but the truth is 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. They are moved to tears knowing that for the first time, in what feels like a lifetime, someone has heard their cries for help and their pleas for mercy. Each of the families we built homes for today have hard stories and we were privileged to hear them. And we were honored to not only build a home for them but to share a bottle of coke and some chips with them and to listen. 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.

I wonder if the man beaten and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho felt like the families we served today did when the Good Samaritan stopped to help him. To acknowledge his presence. To lend a hand. To bring hope and healing. I wonder if he too finally felt seen and loved and known. We considered this tonight as we studied Luke 10:28-37 together. Serving is hard. It takes time. It takes a commitment. It means rearranging our own lives to make room for the suffering we encounter along our journey. Along our own walks through town. Along our daily commutes and as we go about our day. Jesus tells us that loving our neighbor means stopping for them. Today the students took the time to stop, to help, and to see and experience the suffering of another.

The day ended with a rain soaked game of basketball in the local park that we walk through each morning. Our students wouldn’t quit. Even the heavy afternoon rains couldn’t dampen the excitement they found for meeting and loving new friends. 

Guatemala 2024 - Day 2!

 The drive to San Lucas this morning was beautiful and a bit terrifying. The landscape captivated our senses as we drove the steep windy roads. We marveled at the volcanoes puffing black smoke, the farms cut into the steep hillsides and eventually, at the views of the lakeside town we will call home for the week. At the same time, the steep cliffs caused us each to let out a few gasps as our skilled drivers navigated our minibuses around mudslides from the previous day’s rain. Like I said, it was both beautiful and terrifying.

Once we were checked in to our hotel we explored the village and ended up playing basketball with some local kids that were hanging around the town square. I was so proud to see our students courageously navigate a new language, culture and the street dogs as they intentionally made friends with those they met. After a good meal and some cold showers we got dressed up to head to church. We are not used to a three-hour church service with a sound system that could power a football stadium, but once again our students rose to the occasion, joining in the worship and prayer times with eager hearts. It was a full day experiencing and joining a new culture and a new place.

As we circled up on the hotel roof-top deck for our evening “porch time” we studied Matthew 25 together. Talk about something that is both beautiful and terrifying! Matthew 25 teaches us that when we serve others we are serving Jesus himself! That’s beautiful. It also teaches us that failure to do so has some severe consequences. Terrifying.

We talked about the things that hold us back from leaning into these opportunities. Our fear, our pride, our misplaced priorities and our self-interests can easily become excuses not to help. Not to live out our faith as Matthew 25 teaches us to. Currently the students are journaling through this as they read 1 John 3:16-19 and James 1:19-27. You can read these passages too. Do your faith and actions overlap? What’s one thing you could do differently to encounter Jesus tomorrow as you serve those around you?

Excited to build three houses tomorrow!

The Guatemalan Team

Guatemala 2024 - Day 1

The heavy rains meant that the safer choice was to stay on the grounds of a seminary campus here in Guatemala City for the night. Tomorrow we will finish our journey to San Lucas Toliman along a twisting mountain pass. I can tell the team is eager and even excited to get to our home base for the week and to serve. But it was a good stop. Maybe even a needed stop.

Tonight we circled up on the grass, surrounded by tropical flowers and a “cotton candy colored sky” as one student put it, and considered Jesus’ journey to the cross. He too made a stop. He too circled up his disciples to make sure that they ready for what was to come. I am curious that there in Jerusalem, just days before Jesus would give his life so that we could find life in him, his disciples would be arguing over who is the greatest. What a juxtaposition. The Lord of the universe ready to surrender, to lay down his life, to take the role of a servant, and his disciples were arguing over who his number one follower was. In the midst of this, Jesus grabbed a basin and a towel and began washing their feet. Let's say that again! Jesus washed their feet!

Tonight we stopped and washed each other's feet. To be honest it was awkward, and vulnerable, and humbling, and jarring, and GOOD. It was good to feel the story that we so often read and gloss over. It was good to be reminded that there is a bigger backdrop to our lives than we often see. That our God gave of himself and laid down his life while we were busy looking at ourselves instead of others. Instead of at him!

Philippians 2 encourages us to have a new mindset. To share Jesus’ mindset. To join Jesus on his journey. You should read it (Philippians 2:1-11). Does this describe your life? Does this describe your attitude? I’ll be honest, sometimes I’m more like an arguing disciple than a humble servant. I’m glad Jesus still washed my feet.

More tomorrow,

The Guatemala Team

Guatemala Day 4!

 

Guatemala (Day 4)

Today, after building three more houses, we rented a “fuboilito” court and played soccer with adults and children from the San Lucas Tolimán community. Many of the folks that played with us were men from the construction crews that helped us at our work sites. One word can describe our experience, JOY. It was actually the second time we did this, but our students were so insistent on doing it again that we decided to skip showers and ice cream to rent the court a second time.

You see, when you play soccer with a group of Guatemalans there is the resounding sound of laughter. Of joy. It is what every student spoke about after the first time we played. And the truth is, our kids did not play the same way. Our students were intense, competitive, and out there to win. So really, what our students wanted was not merely more time to play, but more time to learn from our Guatemalan friends. To learn that life is not always about winning or losing, scoring or assisting, outplaying or overpowering. That time on the fubolito court can really just be fun. That soccer can really just be about having a good time. That it can be about joy.

Each night as we debrief our days and ask Jesus to open our eyes to what he wants us to see, we share about the things we saw that were new, challenging, and beautiful. And each night at least one student will say “These people have nothing, but they have so much _____.” After playing soccer, the statement made by our students was, “These people have nothing, but they have so much JOY.” I love it when students begin to realize that joy is not linked to their circumstances, or their possessions, or the score at the end of the game. It certainly isn’t for our Guatemalan friends, and it doesn’t have to be for us either.

In fact as the week has gone by, our students have noticed that our new Guatemalan friends are not just filled with joy, but they are generous, kind, accepting, patient, welcoming, hospitable, and incredibly hard working. And all of this, as our students have observed, while having “nothing.” It really makes you wonder if we have the right definitions of the words “nothing” and “everything,” doesn’t it? Because what I really think is that are Guatemalan friends may be the ones with “everything” after all.

Tonight we opened our Bibles and read Luke 10:25-37 together. In this account a lawyer asks Jesus to define for for the crowd the definition of “neighbor.” Jesus answers with a story. You should read it. It just might be the case that we have another definition backwards too.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story of the rest of our day.

Privileged to Serve (and really proud of our students),

Rich and the Team