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| Sunday: The Return Home (PD)Finally, here are some pictures of
our return flight home from Guatemala. As the team looks back, it was a
fantastic two weeks with so many new and memorable experiences even for
it being our fifth trip down to Guatemala. Each person has their own
new testimonies of God's faithfulness, returning back different people
-- better people -- than who they were before they left. Priorities
were reshuffled, preconceptions challenged, comfort zones stretched.
I've been very proud of this group since they've come back to the
States and have been tremendous in bringing their stories back to our
church and to their friends and families.
Happy news is that the
missions committee, in response to my report of my observations and
recommendations of this trip, in addition to the collected comments of
our team members, has agreed for our church to continue to go to
Guatemala next year in 2009. This means we'll have another team that
will be assembled, trained and enjoy what God has in store for us in the
summer of next year. The dates of the trip are set for the first full
two weeks of August -- August 2-16, 2009. Let me know if you're interested! Thanks again for all your prayers and support. God bless!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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| Safe Arrival in the States! (PD)Happy Monday everyone and
thank you for all your prayers all these many months and especially for
these last two weeks. Praise the Lord, we all arrived back home safely
Sunday night after a 4 hour delay due to, at first, bad weather all
along the East Coast, and later to mechanical problems on our airplane.
But better safe than sorry. All in all, everything went well and we
were greeted at the airport as we were coming out of the security
checkpoint with warm hugs and handshakes by friends and family. It's
good to be back with everyone, but at the same time, as one team member
said, it's bittersweet to leave all the people and ministries that have
become so dear to us. If any of you in Guatemala are reading this, we
miss you! However, we've brought much back with us as a team regarding
memories and experiences and many in the group have grown much in their
faith from the trip. Looking forward to sharing with everyone!
I'll
be posting the Sunday blog about our last day of travel sometime soon.
As a special bonus, here's the last video we recorded while we were in
Guatemala last Saturday for showing to our church members this past
Sunday. Enjoy and God bless!
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| Saturday: Abdeel, Children's Program, and the City (Ruth Wang)Hola everybody! Today was our last full day in Guatemala, and even though we are sad to leave, we are excited to be coming home. The day started out with a devotion led by Pastor Dan on Matthew 25:14-30, the passage containing the parable of the talents. After finishing breakfast and our talk about reverse culture shock, Pastor Rafael’s family came to visit and say farewell. After many hugs and blessings, they packed themselves back into their family pickup and headed back home.
 
 
After a little bit, we headed over to Abdeel to help out with some final work projects. The guys were assigned with outside duty, organizing and burning trash, Steph and I were assigned with painting the office, and my mom busied herself helping the Abdeel staff with the production of the plantain treats. After a little while, though, the painting crew needed help with reaching the high spots, so we got Vince to come help. Pastor Dan worked on the website and later went to the internet cafe to post the latest blogs.
 
 
  
After saying goodbye to our brothers and sisters at Abdeel, we headed back to the compound for our noontime grubadubdub and prepared for the children’s program. When the kids arrived, Hernan began to lead them and explain to them what would be happening. We sang a few songs, performed our skit for them, and Vince shared his testimony before starting activities.
 
 
We had three stations, three-legged race, Frisbee, and arts and crafts which we tied to Bible stories or character lessons. We enjoyed our time with the kids, and our time with them was ended quickly. We said, “Adios!” many times and gave many hugs before parting.
 
 
After we finished cleaning up after the program, we began to pack up our luggage and bid our farewells to the Blacklocks, Becky, Nelson and Melissa, Bruce, and everybody else. We loaded the van, Felix being the driver and his cousin coming along. When we finally arrived in La Ciudad de Guatemala (the city of Guatemala aka Guatemala City), we stopped in at a Pollo Campero, a fried chicken restaurant to have dinner. It was muy delicioso.
 
 
After paying the bill, we headed off toward our bed and breakfast, and
upon arrival, we unloaded our luggage and gave our farewell hugs to
Felix. We dropped our luggage off in our rooms and began to hang out a
bit. After a little while, we debriefed, discussing our day, and then I
began to blog. See you all soon!
   
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| Sunday's Flight InformationFlight - Continental Airlines (CO) - 457
Depart: La Aurora Arpt (GUA)
GUATEMALA CITY 06:25 AM
Arrive: George Bush Intercontinental (IAH)
HOUSTON 10:16 AM
Flight - Continental Airlines (CO) - 276
Depart: George Bush Intercontinental (IAH)
HOUSTON 12:45 PM
Arrive: Philadelphia Intl Arpt (PHL)
Terminal D 05:14 PM
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| Friday: Door-to-door, Abdeel and Mama´s House (Lucas and Andrew)
Good morning, Lucas here. The morning began with a devotion lead by Ruth from Isaiah 40:28-31 about finishing the “race” strong and not to let up before the end. It’s a passage of encouragement to let us know that our God will give us strength and hope when we grow weary. He is always with us.
After breakfast we headed out for another round of door-to-door visitations. This time around we went to houses around Fe Viva. The houses we went to were in walking distance. We have been so blessed to be able to meet these wonderful families.
 
The first family we visited was the “tortilla lady”. Fe Viva has been buying tortillas from her family for years. When we got to her house, the “tortilla lady” and her daughters were making fresh tortillas. The group joined in on the tortilla making process as we shared the word of God. After we made some tortillas with our own hands, the “tortilla lady” cooked it over an open fire with a large circular hot plate for us. Once the dough was cooked we ate them and they were good. The next family we visited was right next door. It was a family of 5 which consisted of a husband and wife with three young girls. The husband is in Guatemala City working on the weekdays and comes home on the weekends, so it’s tough for the wife to take care of their three daughters. Even though there are struggles that they go through the wife’s faith in God is strong. She knows that God has been good to her family. We prayed a blessing upon them and protection for the husband when he is away from his family.
 
The third house we visited we all could tell that their faith was weak. Gene shared his testimony with them about how God has worked in his life. Please pray that Gene’s testimony and the message of God will open up their hearts to welcome Jesus Christ fully into their lives. The fourth house we visited, I (Lucas) was bless to have the opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ to a 13 year old boy by the name of Hugo. I told him that Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for our sins, rose from the dead and went to Heaven to prepare a place for all of us and now He offers that gift of eternal life everyone. Please pray that Hugo will accept this free gift that God has given us.
 
The next house we went to is the one behind Fe Viva’s compound. It’s the house of a young boy by the name of Angel that past G-team members made friends with. He greeted us with a great big smile. Angel and his sister Elizabeth were so welcoming to us that Steph gave Angel a bracelet and Ruth gave Elizabeth a necklace. They both love their presents. The last house we visited has a lot of chickens, ducks and turkeys in their yard. They raise them as their source of income. After we prayed for them and their family, they decided to bless us with a live chicken to take back to the compound so that we can make a meal out of it. We were all in shock and touched by their generosity. Soon after they captured the chicken they wanted to give to us, we went back to Fe Viva for lunch.
Please continue to pray for all the families we visited. A lot of the little children and family members we came across today had minor fevers (simply because of the conditions they have to live in), so please pray for their health to improve.
 
 
Andrew here to continue the blog -- After the door to door visits, we had lunch and then quickly went over to our friends at Abdeel to pray a blessing over their land and the new stove. The stove was now all installed and they’ll be using it for the first time this Saturday for their food preparation and sale.
 
One of the things Abdeel wants to do is to purchase the building in which they are now renting. They wanted us to join them in praying prophetically for the day they would have possession of the land. We performed a symbolic act with Alex, Herbert and Becky in which we buried a bible with wine, salt, water, and oil in to the land we prayed for. It was a very moving time for all of us as we prayed in faith for what this property would accomplish for the youth in Chiquimulilla.
 
Our next scheduled event was a service over at Pastor Rafael’s home, so we came back after the prayers, changed and went straight to the pastor’s house for a service and a wonderful dinner. We were late for Pastor Raphael’s house so we arrived seeing many of the church members sitting outside ready to greet us. To me I’m at home when I am at the Pastor’s house. We gathered in the hot oven of a church, but it didn’t matter because we were with family.
 
 
After a few songs together, one in English, one in Chinese and one in Spanish, and our skit, I shared my testimony and I think I moved a lot of people’s hearts. It’s getting easier and easier for me to share my testimony and I can see how it’s affecting people as well. Pastor Dan preached on 1 Kings about the story of Elisha, and how he hears God’s voice in the silence. It’s important for us to grow in our relationship with Christ, not just relying on the big spiritual events in our life, but more importantly on the day to day stillness and constant embrace of our Lord.
 
 
After service we ate at his house. It was THE BEST FOOD EVERRR. We had a full menu of bean salad, pasta salad, and veggie salad. We also had chicken that was raised by Mama Rosa (Pastor’s wife). We had steak… which was the best beef that Guatemala can offer. The steak was topped with salsa and avocados. Last but not least we had chicken soup. It was a pot full of love that Mama Rosa had prepared for us. We had a wide range of drinks. We could’ve had soda, or a home made juice. But I think all of us drank the coffee the most. In the words of Lucas “this isn’t just a cup of coffee it is COFFEEEE.” I thought the food was truly a blessing to all of us. We gladly ate all that we can fit in to our stomach. Even Vincent had a belly at the end of that meal. I believe that meal was not just good for the body, it also satisfies the soul.
 
 
  
After dinner Pastor Dan and I took a look at some of the MRI scans of Pastor Raphael. We also took a look at his medication so Pastor Dan can look at some things. We prayed in a circle as a big family before we went off and say our good byes. We embraced each other with much love and compassion. For we know we probably won’t see each other for a whole year. We gave our thanks and off we went to the concert.
The concert was in town. Our sister Carol Gleeson was the one to inform us of this event. There is a team of missionaries from New Jersey who came on Tuesday they are a music orientated group and they are planned to hold concerts and talks in public. We got a chance to talk to some of the people on the large 40 people team. They needed some prayers as far as equipment is concerned. The gear they had was a little broken and needed some fixing. It was great to be able to meet other missionaries and to see what other churches are doing to help people in Guatemala too.
 
Some prayer requests… Safe travels tomorrow to Guatemala city and catching the flight. Also the continual growth in spiritual life after this trip. We´re almost finished our travels! Thanks so much and God bless!
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