Berean Bible Church - Guatemala Trip - Day 5

Another wonderful day, very similar to the previous days, however there were 3 highlights of the day.

After breakfast this morning we had the group that went to the nutrition center share some of the things they saw and the lessons they learned.  They talked about the way the testimony of the pastor impressed them.  They talked about the children who were shy and the parents who were a little tentative to hand their children over to the team members.  They recalled the story of the massacre that happened in this village over 30 years ago and how that impacted the pastor and many of the people there.  They had much to share, but I am certain as they process their own thoughts and the things that they saw, they will have much more to talk about.  Maria gave us pictures that we put on a powerpoint to encourage conversation.

Lunch time brought another opportunity for a special group to share.  Five of the team members had the opportunity to go on home visits today.  They went to 3 homes, but only 2 of the families were home.  The people that went talked about the kids, the homes, the families, and how blessed they are to have the things that they have.  I wish more of the team could go on these visits, but space was limited.  Again, I believe they will have more to share after they process for a while.

Finally, after dinner and some worship songs, Jami shared her testimony.  She is the daughter of the administrator of the hospital and his wife (Julio and Veronica), and on June 4, 2010 they were all in a car crash.  Julio should have died, and Jami  had deflated lungs, a severed intestine, and a broken back.  She was told that she would probably never walk again – as a matter of fact, only 2% (Julio told us) of the people with her injury ever walk again, and most of them need some form of assistance.  Here we are just 2 years later, and Jami is walking around, with a little assistance, but she truly is a miracle.  God spared their lives and gave them a story to tell.  As a result, Jami wrote her story down and a brief movie (20 minutes) was made.  We had the privilege of watching that movie tonight as well.  It was very moving.  The coolest part is it is being shown on television stations around the area, and in churches and other places.  They give all glory to God.  It is an amazing story.

The rest of the day was pretty similar to the other days – the projects are coming along.  We are praying that they will be finished by Friday, but the pharmacy team in particular is running against the clock.  They have spackling to do tomorrow, and hopefully by Friday they will have it done.

I spent much of the morning uploading pictures to the FTP site, and much of the afternoon cleaning out the maintenance shed.  This might become a job for about 5 more people tomorrow – it truly is a mess!

Soccer tonight for half of the team, and the rest stayed and played games at the hospital.  Some went out and had some local Guatemalan Ice Cream – I hear that is something you will have to ask about.  I didn’t have any tonight, but I have always loved it.  However, I never had dried pickles and avocado in my ice cream – Logan said that she did.  Erin said she got the bubblegum flavor, but did not realize it had bubble gum pieces in it – she said she almost choked.  Well, I guess they will learn to stick to fresa, vanilla and chocolate.  :-)

Tomorrow is more of the same – more work, more laughing, more sharing, more study of God’s word…  I am looking forward to another day of serving God here in Guatemala with this crew!