Sweet Provision

I'm a little behind on writing about our last week in Guatemala. I've been resting and enjoying time at home with my family, while still trying to let everything that I learned this summer sink in.

We led 4 different groups our last week: Faith Baptist from Memphis, East Brent Baptist from Pensacola, and 2 smaller groups from Oklahoma. It's a blessing to get to meet believers from all over and serve with them. We didn't go back to Santa Louisa this week, but split up into 2 different sites. Half of the group went to the village of Heirba Buena to build a retaining wall at a school and minister to the children. The other half of us partnered with an organization called Loving Arms.  We did work in several villages in the town of Parramos. In the course of the week we helped build a retaining wall to protect their homes and crops from floods, helped till land and plant squash that would be a source of income for impoverished families, built stoves so families won't have to cook over hazardous open fires, painted a school classroom while we ministered to the students there, delivered food to families who are sponsored through Loving Arms, held a dental clinic, built a house for a widowed man and his children, and had opportunities to do Bible schools and minister to children at a couple of schools. Though we weren't able to build relationships like we did in Santa Louisa, it was clear that it was God's will for us to be in Parramos.

Some of the team members were led to sponsor some of the children we loved on. Those kids will now have the opportunity to go to school and will be fed 2 meals a day. I was blessed to watch a couple really see how the American Dream of having more and better stuff just really doesn't line up with what God is doing around the world. They decided to give up things like NetFlix and thousands of dollars on Christmas gifts to care for a little girl in Guatemala. They did this for the sake of the Gospel.

I watched a lady humbly come to our team and though she was embarrassed, she was sensitive to the Spirit telling her to come to us, and she asked for help for her village. Last year, a hurricane wiped out their living- their corn crop. They had received a little help since last year, but just not enough to care for them all. So she asked us to pray for them. Some of our team members took up an offering among themselves which payed for about 300 pounds of corn for the village of Parrojas to plant. A humble woman's prayer was answered.

This same lady and some of the other village ladies also fed us a farewell lunch. They wanted to bless us for the work we had been done in their village. Blessed is just what we were. They fed us the food that probably would have fed them for a few weeks. Soup, chicken, corn, whiskeel, potatoes, squash, and tortillas. It was such a bitter sweet moment as we were humbled and honored that they chose to give us this meal but knowing how limited their resources are, we didn't want to take their food. However, we prayed over it (that our bellies would not be harmed by anything in the food) and that God would richly bless them in abundance for giving out of the little they have.

Before we left, we were able to have a farewell with some of our friends from the church. They have touched my heart in a way I will not soon forget. The loved us and they taught us and they grew in the Lord with us. I was blessed to see their faithfulness. Even though we are gone now and I don't know when I will be in Guatemala again, I praise God that I can still pray for them and the work they are doing in their country. I thank my God every time I think of them (Philippians 1).

Lunch at the church 

Meter long pizza 

Coffee plant

Skit of Jesus calming the storm

Pepper squash! 

Dental clinic 

Dedicating the new classroom to the kids 

The new house our team built

The 'house' he lived in before 

Mobilizing Students staff with Loving Arms staff 

Sunrise the morning we left Guatemala

Overall, the last days in Guatemala were amazing. We were tired and we were beginning to miss family and friends, but o how we felt the JOY of obeying the command of Jesus to care for the least of these.

Thank you all for your prayers this summer. Dios te bendiga