Guatemala Mission Trip
June, 2008
Wow, as you all know missions trips are always fantastic. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Without those prayers I know we would not have had the success we had. Okay, so to sum up what happened I will try and remember everything significant. On Friday everyone safely left home and by Saturday morning 06:00 we were all in Guatemala City. The group from the Northwest District met up with about 40 people who were already in Guatemala City (from Michigan) and we loaded onto busses for the 4 hour trip to the lake area that we were working in. On the way we stopped and visited some Mayan ruins. Pretty cool, I had been in the area 4 times before and never stopped there. By the time we made it to San Pedro where we were staying everyone was tired, but excited about the week. Also, about 15 more people from Michigan with a medical team caught up to us there so we had the whole group. Not much else happened on Saturday, but back home there was $2000 that showed up in the church mail! Sunday morning we drove to the neighboring town for one of many trips we would make there. We were eating breakfast and dinner at the church in San Juan as well as doing a couple of projects there so that bus ride got to be very familiar. After breakfast, we had church service for the missionaries (us) and then went to the Promised Land to see how projects there had been progressing. Because of the heavy rains, the prep work for our teams had not been done at the Promised Land, but we got to see some of the work of other teams. Then it was back to San Juan for lunch, and some free time. That was nice because many of us had built houses in the area before so everyone got to go and visit friends they had made in previous years. Then it was back to the church in San Juan for dinner and the local church service. They meet in the evening, and with the local congregation and all the missionaries it was standing room only! If you have traveled to other countries you know other cultures are comfortable sitting very close, so that is really saying something. Monday morning the work started. The medical group went up into the mountains to a village and did some health clinics there. Work on the 4 houses began in the town of San Marcos (2 for the Northwest team and 2 for the Michigan team), and groundbreaking began for a Sunday school classroom and a retaining wall at the church in San Juan. Ironically, at this point we did not know that more money has come to the church back home, but Pastor Luis had told the people in San Juan that they needed to help us with a work project to put in the retaining wall. When they mentioned they didn't have the money to purchase materials he had told them that God would provide. At this point it was just a little money to move some piping and a lot of digging to prepare for the footings that needed to be poured, so the money didn't need to be there yet. Work went well, but it is hard to work in the heat and humidity-manually doing jobs that would be done in minutes by heavy equipment in the states. The team put on a VBS at the church in the afternoon, which is always a hit with the kids. Tuesday morning Luis said that Pastor Kerry had called his assistant about the money that had showed up, so I called him and got him to send it overnight to Luis's office. That enabled it to be wired into Guatemala, and we purchased block, cement, and rebar to build the retaining wall with. While we were rejoicing about God's great timing and the willingness of the people in St John to give there was a lot of other work going on, and people at the house projects were starting to really bond with the families that would be living in them. We also got to see some of the intense rain that comes during the wet season, the skies turned black and rivers ran down the streets in the evening. Wednesday was a much slower day at one of the house projects, but a great day for ministry. The house that Pastor Darrell Cole was working on was in mourning when they got to the job site. I am not clear on the relationship, but I think that the wife that would be living in the house had a brother that was killed during the night. That left her mother (a widow) without support. The team that was building there was blessed to be able to go to her house and pray with her. At the end of the week, we were able to leave some money for her which I am sure will be a big help. This was the day that the local pastors gathered at the church in San Juan for some meetings, and so the medical team held clinics there for the pastors and their families. There were shoes given out to people from the town and the medical clinic was opened up to them after the pastors were done. The group from Medford had taken some items such as Bibles, first aid supplies and flashlights for the pastors and we purchased staple food supplies and gave everyone of them a basket. I think it was also during devotions on Wednesday when Pastor Luis laid out the plan of salvation to the missionaries and asked if there were any who had never accepted Christ. To my surprise, God had planned for 10 people to go to Guatemala as missionaries before they would begin their relationship with him! What a great God we serve, and I don't know why I am amazed in the ways that he works, but it sure is fun to see. Thursday came quick. Our last day of work, and the dedication of the houses we built. Believe it or not, by 10:00 when we were starting to do the dedications all of the walls were up, and one roof was nailed down before the prayers began. If the one house had not taken the day off from building for mourning both houses would have been complete, but without a doubt the work done that day was more important. The materials were purchased, and a local builder will stay on the project until it is completed if we don't get them done. Dedications are always nice times, and the group from Spokane had some wonderful house warming gifts for the families that would be moving in. After the dedications everyone ate lunch together and then either went back to work on the house, or put on another VBS in the town of San Marcos. Everyone had a hard time saying goodbye to families that afternoon. Friday morning after loading our bags on top of the buses, we ate breakfast and boarded a boat. A trip of about one hour across the lake and we were in Panajachel to walk through the open market and pick up some souvenirs. After shopping, we ate lunch on the buses as we drove back to Guatemala City. Once there we ate dinner and settled in for the night. Saturday we were up and had the buses loaded by 4:00 so we could make it to the airport.... and then the long trip back to home. I know that every time I go on one of these trips I am changed, and I am sure that everyone that went will say the same. The friends I make on these trips are people I look forward to seeing in heaven where the language barrier will not exist. I will attach a couple pictures of some of the work that was done by all of us. When I say that I am including all of you, because without your prayers and financial support none of this would have been possible. Thank you so much for obeying God's voice as he asked you to join him in His work.
Submitted by Rod Geiszler
