Raymond Baptist - Guatemala Trip - Day 2

Sunday morning, August 4, and we are up and ready to go.  We had breakfast around 8:00, and followed that with devotions.  We did a quick overview of the book of James and laid the ground work for the rest of the week.  Just a small book (5 chapters) that can be read in under 15 minutes, but the theology it contains is life changing, and that is our prayer and our aim for this week.

We headed to the Fraternidad shortly after 9.  It is always neat to watch as we pull into the monstrosity of a church and see the responses of the team.  The church has a 12,000 seat auditorium, that was about 3/5ths full by 10:00  (the service began at 9:30).  The group was given headphones for translation, so that helped them to understand what was going on.  Over all, the experience was good for the team - seeing such a large number of believers, watching many come forward after the service, witnessing many making professions of faith...  It was a great experience.

After church we headed back to Thelma's only to find that we had been locked out.  We made our way inside, but Thelma was not there.  Eventually she showed up (she was getting food for our lunch), and we had lunch.

We drove out to Camp Caanan (an AMG camp facility located about 45 minutes from here), and we met with Jose Luis (the camp director).  He shared with us about the origin of the camp.  He told us his testimony (with tears in his eyes and a shakiness in his voice).  He gave us a tour of the camp, and showed us the ministry he has been involved with for over 30 years.  At the end of the tour, we took a brief hike over the mountain that is part of the 40 acres that the camp owns, and we viewed the valley beyond the camp.  It was beautiful, and awe inspiring.  We took some time to pray together as a group for Jose, the camp, the children and the ministry of AMG.  It was a wonderful time on the mountain.

We followed that with a game of soccer.  Originally we broke into teams (Jose and his son were playing too), and we all played together.  Eventually we played young people against the "old people".  Of course, we won - but really it wasn't about the score as much as it was about the team building.  We had a great time.

We drove back to Thelma's and had dinner - followed by the movie "Reparando" - a movie about ministry here in Guatemala that gives history and a hope for the future of Guatemala.  The team enjoyed the movie, but I think they are all tired.  So after the movie (at 9:00 at night) they all headed to their rooms to do devotions and head to bed.

Tomorrow we are going to Verbana to begin our physical work on the wall and the drop ceiling, and the relational work with the children at the school (nearly 900 students).  We are praying for a balance of finishing the tasks assigned and building long term relationships with the children and workers.

Thought for the day: During the service today, as the people sang some familiar songs in Spanish, an unusual thought occurred to me. It was especially funny since later in the day I was joking with Jose Luis about whether God speaks Spanish or Greek (AMG is a Greek ministry, so many there say that God speaks Greek).

The thought was - maybe when we are all in heaven our "first" language will still be our language when we get to heaven.  Imagine "Amazing Grace" being sung in all of the languages of the world at the same time.  English, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, French, Chinese... Each people group praising God in their own tongue, but all praising Him at the same time - singing the same song.  Wouldn't that be amazing?  Yeah, it might sound chaotic to us, but to the ears of our God, it would be marvelous.

One tongue in heaven?? Maybe.  But really it doesn't have to be...  Just a thought.