Fellowship Bible Church Guatemala Trip - Day 1 - 4

Yeah, I can’t believe it, we have been here in Guatemala for 4 days, and I have not taken a moment to jot down my thoughts.  We have been busy but I finally have a few minutes to write down some thoughts.

We arrived in Guatemala on Saturday and headed to Panajachel for the evening.  We stayed at a little “Christian Resort” place right near the lake. The facility was nice and the team got settled in for the night.  We were a bed short, so I had the privilege of sleeping on the couch.  It really wasn’t bad except I didn’t have a blanket.  It got a little cool in the evening, but it wasn’t too bad.

Sunday morning I awoke early and opened the curtains and wouldn’t you know – there was a pheasant right outside.  I took some pictures – it really was cool.  We ate breakfast and headed across the lake to San Pedro for church.  The water was smooth so the ride was quick.  We made it to the Getsemani Church by 9 and the service began shortly after. (I did take some time before the service to check out the hole the Navigator’s team dug – it was much deeper and larger.  UNBELIEVABLE).  During the service, 2 young ladies got up to sing – one was blind.  It was a lesson on faith as I watched the blind young lady follow the lead of the other girl without question – even when she returned to her seat, she did not check to see if a chair was there, she just sat down.  Oh that I would have that kind of faith in my Savior. 

The rest of the day was filled with shopping, heading back across the lake, riding on the zip line again, and driving back to Guatemala City.  This is a difficult way to begin a trip, because it almost feels like a vacation.  However, with the things we have coming up this week, it probably is a good idea.

Monday started with devotions in the book of Romans.  We tried to combine the first 2 days devotionals together, but it didn’t happen because we didn’t have enough time.  After devotions we headed off to Verbana to work.  We had 4 rooms to paint 2 colors – yellow and purple.  About halfway through the day, I was wondering if we were going to finish in 2 days, but everyone seemed to be doing the work, so it went rather quickly.  When the kids were out of class, we stopped and played with them.  The team is really enjoying seeing the kids and playing with them.  Ron began to feel ill early in the day and spent most of the day in the van sleeping.  We all prayed that he would feel better on Tuesday – thank God he did feel better Tuesday morning.    Monday evening we sat around and talked, I was rather tired, because I really had not slept well since Thursday night, but Monday night I got a good nights rest!

Tuesday was more of the same, but we also had visits with 12 kids from various child care centers.  Fellowship Bible Church has a number of kids that the sponsor (or church members sponsor) so when the team comes they visit with all of the children. What a wonderful time playing with the kids, talking with them, encouraging them, telling them about their sponsors.  It was a blessing as always.

We finished the day by giving t-shirts to the maintenance crew and playing soccer with them.   They are a great group of guys – what a joy it was to spend some time with them.

Tonight some of the group has gone to a Bible study while others are resting here at Thelmas.  Tomorrow we begin working at Las Vistas – and I get to see Ludsvin again.  Praise the Lord.  For now, it is time to rest.

By the way, Dee had a difficult time at work today – I do wonder what God is doing – I pray that He will speak clearly to her and that we will know what the next step is.  I miss her now and do wish that I could be with her because of the struggles she is going through right now.  It is not a surprise to God – we can rest in that.