We are waiting on the runway in Atlanta. The Lord has provided safe travel for us. Please continue to pray that God will do a mighty work in and through us. Thank you all so much for your support.
Everyone is doing great. Even sitting on the plane has allowed us to experience the wonderful Guatemalan culture.
God is good.
In Him,
Breck
Well, by the time we loaded up and got back to the mission house, it was after 9 o’clock. We ate dinner and cleaned up then headed to bed. Our teams had put in about 12 hours of work that day.
Wednesday was similar to Tuesday at the school. We met with the remaining three classes (before learning that there really were eight, not six). The build teams carried on and realized along the way that they would have to do the concrete floors of these homes (typically, the family receiving the home does the floor) before they could finish the fronts. Hustle, hustle.
That afternoon we started food distribution. This was one of my favorite parts of our work. Not sure if it’s because I’d been a part of building and playing with the children before or if it was a different type of food distribution from last time or if I just realized how special it was to provide for a family’s physical hunger while sharing about the Bread of Life. We took bags of food to families whom the pastor felt needed it, presented it as a gift from God and shared how God provides for our physical and spiritual needs, how His word and Spirit nourish and sustain us. Seven of the 15 bags went to families high up this steep mountain. The hike up there was one of the most physically demanding things I’ve done in a long, long time, and I literally prayed at one point, “God, I know you didn’t bring me here to die, so please put air in these lungs.” You may have read this in my earlier blog. Our experience on this mountain was probably the most emotional I had this trip. Mary Hickman presented the food to the eldest of the families in that area. They were a sweet couple who professed Christ as Lord and God as the provider of all their needs. Through Estuardo and Daniela, we talked with the man for a while about other needs they had, primarily their need for water. They presently walk 30 minutes to the nearest well for water but for $250 could have water to their mountaintop. Wow! What insignificant things could we sacrifice in order to provide water to those families?!
After being up there a while, chatting, playing with children, face-painting, and handing out treats, the pastor asked if I would lead us in prayer for those families. So we circled up around them, and as I held hands with a Guatemalan man on one side and our Guatemalan translator on the other, it occurred to me that their God was my God, that He created all of us and all the places of the Earth and that little insignificant me had the privilege of praying to that God for these kind, hospitable people. As you may have read in the earlier post, I sobbed. My spirit was so full.
Coming down off that mountain, some of the kids showed us a shortcut. Yep, that steep hike was unnecessary. But I sure learned a bit – not everything God has planned for us is easy, the realization of His will make the work worthwhile, and my hike up that hill pales in comparison to Jesus’ walk up Golgotha.
Wednesday night was more relaxing, and we met as a group to reflect and praise God for His work. One of my favorite memories is Birdsong leading us in “God of this City” as we looked out the windows of the top floor of the mission house, down on the city lights nearby. Oh, and another good part of Wednesday was that Taylor woke up feeling much better and was able to re-join the work.
Thursday would be our last day in San Martin. You may remember that we were to finish the last two classrooms at one school. Then we were headed (to what I think would equate) to a pre-school for VBS activities with young children. After that we would finish food distribution and do all five home dedications. Meanwhile the build teams were to finish concrete and fronts of the five houses. Busy day. The most memorable part of that day was God’s provision.
Think about the five loaves and two fishes. We had a similar experience. It all goes back to Tuesday afternoon when the church crowd came along with us for the school assembly. We had plenty of bracelets for everyone that day and in the first six classrooms, but having enough for the last two classrooms was iffy. The school told us on Wednesday that there were 80-90 kids in those last two classes. When we counted Wednesday afternoon, we came up short. I jokingly said at one point, “…Unless God multiplies them…” I can’t remember the exact number we started with…but not enough. We dug through everything, combined them, counted them, and put them all in a plastic bag in one of the supply suitcases. A little bit later, someone went to get something else out of that supply suitcase, and there was another unopened package of bracelets. That added 12 to our number. A little while after that, Steven Hickman went in the church for something and there laying on one of the pews was a random package of bracelets. Add 12 more to the tally. We’re up to about 64 at this point and were just hoping that not all of the 80+ kids would show up at school the next day, or if we had to, we’d come up with something else to do if we didn’t have enough.
Okay, so we go into the first classroom Thursday morning, and there were 40 kids, leaving us with 24 bracelets. We met outside before going into the second classroom, trying to figure out what to do since we were short. Then Estuardo tells us that he’s been in that classroom, and there’s no way there are 40 kids in there, maybe 20. Huge relief – we’d have enough after all! So we walk into that classroom with our supplies in hand. Whoa, there were 41 kids present! Mary Hickman looked at me and said something like, “Just start passing them out. We’ll just trust God to multiply them.”  I start digging in the bottom of the bag, putting loose beads together to make kits. We’re handing out supplies all over. Mary asks, “Who doesn’t have one?” About 4 kids raise their hands. Mary had four in her pockets from the times she’d made demo bracelets while instructing. Again she asks, “Does anybody not have one?” One lone little child doesn’t have a bracelet. We look around a second, and wait – Mary is wearing one! If you’re paying attention, you realize we walked into that room with 24 bracelets, but all 41 children got one! WOW moment!
Our team had worked really hard that day to finish everything in San Martin, and we attended a service with the Pastor’s main church in the area. Thankfully, Laura Beth and Daniel had joined our group this day after doing music for the USA team in another village all week. Again, thankfully they were with us because we were asked to provide some music, a drama, and a testimony as part of the service. After all that, the pastor preached with passion then had his congregation pray over us. That pastor, Julio is his name, is such an amazing man of God. Very selfless and hardworking. He seemed to be everywhere at once, always with a smile. And I guess that after four days of working through plans with him and seeing his heart for the people, it was sad to me to part ways. That for me was another emotional point in the trip.
I believe Thursday night was the night we had the super yummy chicken casserole dinner, but we were all starving by the time it was ready. And we were totally exhausted but excited for the big sports clinic the next day in Ixtapa.
As we rolled up, we heard children from the upper level windows chanting with enthusiasm, “Grin-gos, grin-gos.” I think they were excited to see us. The USA team did a great job organizing this. The children came out in shifts – grades I think is what I understood – and could choose any of the following activities: kickball, parachute activities (which actually came to be parachute, face paint, and woofle ball when the kids got bored of the parachute), soccer, basketball, some game with a huge beach ball, or jump rope/hopscotch/bubbles. Except for basketball, we were on this large, very dry and dusty field. It was hot, and my mothering nature came out as I scurried around nagging our group to drink more water and reapply sunscreen.
Mid-day was our break for lunch. The group was sick to death of PB&J, so Estuardo took almost everyone to a not-so-nearby Burger King for lunch. I say “almost everyone” because Benji and I were left behind. We ended up hitching a ride with the USA team to a nearby market/park. I was able to pass some time there by handing out some balloons and treats to a few kids. I guess only God knows why we were left behind that day.
That afternoon the older children were at school. We had less time with them, and after Daniel shared Jesus, our time was focused on basketball. Well, with the guys anyway. Most of the girls just sat around the perimeter. Our girls did a great job striking up conversation, and at one point Laura Beth had a group gathered ’round singing whatever song they could find common in both languages.
From Ixtapa we headed to the Mayan ruins. The drive through this part of the country was beautiful, and I was so thankful the group got to see it. The drive to San Martin didn’t showcase much of the countryside. We were excited to spend a little time as tourists, and “little time” it was. We arrived at the ruins within about 30 minutes till closing time, and the admission was pretty expensive. Estuardo felt it wasn’t worth that fee for less than 30 minutes. He tried to haggle, but the guy in charge was not having that. So, pretty much all we saw of the Mayan ruins was the public bathroom beside the parking lot.
From there, Estuardo took us to a restaurant with a market out front. I guess he felt bad about the disappointment with the ruins and wanted to provide some other tourist experience. Unfortunately, none of us had taken money, so all we got was the icecream bars Anthony bought us.
Friday night was USA’s last night with us. After dinner, we met as a big group to discuss and reflect, then Anthony led our team in prayer for their team’s safe departure and their future work. We had to pack our things that night and have our suitcases out of the rooms before we left for Antigua the next morning. So again, a busy night.
I packed the remaining supplies for Breck’s team to use in April. The Hickmans helped me. And what do you think we should find? A bracelet. I suppose it was the reminder of God’s provision, kind of like the leftovers from the loaves and fishes. Amazing.
Well, Saturday morning we headed for Antigua for a day to wind down. Some boot-lovers had us stop in El Pastores on the way to Antigua, and I’ve never seen anyone so intent on finding the right shoe as Patrick Dreher. Finally, he found the ones, just as the rest of the group was plotting to leave him. By the time we left El Pastores and got to Antigua, it was lunchtime. And thank goodness because I was so hungry. We took Estuardo’s restaurant advice, and it was a very nice choice. Great atmosphere, so pretty, and delicious food. From there, we headed to the market. Dads, be proud of your daughters. They can haggle.
With our souvenirs in tote, we headed back to the mission house to load the suitcases and head to the hotel. The sunset at the mission house that night was beautiful, almost as if God were smiling and putting a stamp of approval on the work we were completing.
We ate at Pollo Campero on the way to the hotel, then said our goodbyes to Daniela, Estuardo, and Edgar. You’ll read in a little bit about my friend Daniela. It was so hard to leave her. Ant got us checked in then gave instruction for shuttling over to the airport the next morning. We were to have only a few hours of sleep before meeting downstairs in the wee hours of the morning to shuttle over.  On that note, we headed off to our rooms.
Shortly thereafter, we met back downstairs and left for the airport. Leaving was bittersweet, but not nearly as emotional for me this time as it was in November. We were changed by that trip in November, and I guess that this time I felt certain it wouldn’t be our last time to serve in this country. Going back to everyday life wasn’t as tough because I see it as temporary. I am to minister in whatever place I am in life, but with hope and excitement I look forward to that ultimate plan God has for our lives. Processing what I saw and smelled and felt wasn’t as tough, maybe because it wasn’t the first time but maybe because God has matured me a little.
You see, the mission trip may have beginning and end dates, but the missions impact cannot be quantified. You think you go on mission to leave a mark on His world, but instead His world leaves a mark on you.
Now, about my friend Daniela. I would be leaving out a very key part of the story if I left her out. We met Daniela Monday morning. She came with Estuardo and was introduced as our translator. She is excellent by the way, very quick and even picks up on our slang. At first I couldn’t discern whether she was sarcastic or making fun of me. And yes, she was sarcastic and probably also making a bit of fun of us at times, but as the week went on, we learned and LOVED her funny personality. She has applied in the past to the international program at Jacksonville State University. She wants to come to the states and eventually be a doctor. She is very intelligent and all together lovely. Please pray for her as she pursues admission to other programs in the states and as she pursues God’s will for her life. Pray that she will be blessed in this translator role and that she will see the tremendous blessing she was in our lives.
We have been back from Guatemala for a little over two weeks now. I apologize that it’s taken me this long to summarize our trip, and I apologize to those who expected more blog postings or updates while we were on mission. I hope that as you read this, you will see how busy our days were. Let me also say that there may be details that I get wrong or out of sequence, as there was so much going on at once. I have posted the link to my pictures which also document our days. It may help you to look at the pictures while you read through this summary. May I say to all of you who went, I love you! I think you are wonderful. I saw personality shine through. I saw boldness and strong spiritual foundations in your young lives. I can’t recall a time when you said no to something I asked you to do. To those who volunteered to lead in food distribution, home dedication, or sharing your testimony, I am so proud of your confidence in who you are in Christ. And to parents and leaders of these young people, you have done a great job. These are a fine bunch of students!
I suppose my recap should start with the week(s) prior to the trip, when lots of preparation took place. Our group would be working with a team from the University of South Alabama (USA). Brandon and Anthony coordinated with the USA campus minister, who was handling most of the organization of things on the Guatemala end. Our work was to include construction of five houses, food distribution, a worship service, and VBS and sports clinics for the kids in the village of San Martin. We would be in that village Monday through Thursday and join the USA team on Friday for a huge sports clinic at the school in Ixtapa, where there would be 750 students. Our VBS was to be held two mornings for approximately 350 kids and sports clinics in the afternoons with older kids.
I mentioned in my November posts that I am a bit of a planner, so of course I felt it necessary to have a plan for the VBS days. With the wonderful help of Mary Hickman, we had coordinated lessons, crafts, and coloring sheets. We had story books written in Spanish and English, kids’ songs on CD, and a gajillion copies of coloring sheets. We knew we would have limited time and space, so we decided to pre-package the craft and coloring supplies. The Sunday before we left, most of the group met to cut yarn, divvy up crayons and candy, and basically do whatever I told them to. We had Ziploc bags for 350 kids for 2 days of VBS packed up in suitcases ready to go. Plus we had extra crayons, balloons, and treats for random encounters with the kids. Plus supplies for recreation activities at VBS and for younger kids at the sports clinics, plus……
You can see already that it was a little different for me this trip. Going into the November trip, I did very little prep work. For this trip, I felt at least partially responsible for making sure it was a good experience for our youth and college students. Plus, I have a little problem with wanting everything to be “just so.” SO we got everything “just so” and were ready to go!
We met at the church Sunday, March 14. It was a pleasant surprise for Breck and several staff members to wish us well and pray with us before we loaded up the bus, headed for the Birmingham airport. Dave Merriman, our favorite van driver from the November trip was our bus driver. Everything went well at the airport and on the plane from Birmingham to Dallas/Ft. Worth. The wait at the DFW airport seemed to last an eternity, but finally we boarded the plane for Guatemala. We made our way through the airport in Guatemala City and finally saw what we were looking for – a Guatemalan holding a sign that said “Antony Gomez.” This Guatemalan, Estuardo, was one of our drivers for the rest of the trip. Estuardo maybe hadn’t expected the amount of luggage our group brought because I’m sure I saw a bit of concern when he eyed it all before instructing some men to secure it to the top of one of the vans. And let me tell you – they can sure load up the top of a van!
With luggage and group loaded, we headed to a fast-food dinner. Anybody want to guess where we stopped? Yep, McDonald’s. I will say that the service we received and the general attitudes of the employees far exceeded what I experience when I take my kids to the golden arches here in town.
With our bellies full and eyes tired, we headed for the mission house. I was in the van that was loaded down with the luggage, and it struggled to climb some of the hills. The driver that night spoke no English. I tried to be friendly but gave the impression that I knew more Spanish than I really did, so when he returned conversation, I was totally lost. He was probably like my husband and thankful when I stopped talking. Haha.
When we got to the mission house, the USA group was already asleep. We had a note outlining a few details for us, and with those final bits of information, we settled into our rooms. I had trouble sleeping that night. I guess it was a mix of excitement and exhaustion, plus I had planned to be up early to make a slew of PB&J sandwiches for the group and make sure we had everything ready to head into the village on time.
“On time.” Silly me. Our drivers were not “on time” getting to the mission house. We were not “on time” getting to the village. Since we were not “on time” to the school, it shifted the VBS plans (and seemingly every other plan too) for the entire rest of the week. So…the Bonita plan went out the window, and God’s plan started playing out. God, for months now, has been trying to teach me some things about His timing and how His plan ALWAYS works out for good and how I sometimes organize and plan so much that it doesn’t leave much room for His spirit’s moving or leadership. I apologized to the group early on and admitted, “All of this is my fault. God’s been trying to teach me flexibility.” My sweet friend Kelly Cash politely said, “Well, could you hurry up and learn it?!”
So I tried to be a quick learner. We had missed the time frame that the school had allotted to us for that first day. While the pastor went to make arrangements at the school for the next day, the VBS team did what we could to help the build team. Anthony had gotten those guys started constructing the first house while all of the above played out with my group. All of the building materials were on the church floor instead of at each build site. So us girls and, thankfully, and few guys started loading up supplies for delivery to each site. Thank God in Heaven for this nice, nice man who let us use his truck. I thought he worked with the church or was related to the pastor, and that was why he was being so helpful. It wasn’t till late in the week that I found out he was the recipient of one of the homes we were building. Still, he didn’t have to go this extra measure to help us, but once we saw the hills we otherwise would have had to walk with these supplies, we were SO thankful!
The pastor made it back with plans for the next day at the school and for that afternoon at the church. A group of church kids would come around 3 o’clock. We could do whatever we wanted. So…we did music led by none other than Kelly Cash, a story read by Sara Gardner, and recreation stations. Then we met back together for more music and a quiz about the story. It was quite impressive to see some little Bible scholars among those kids, and it was a joy for me to see our students so easily engage with the people of Guatemala.
Sadly, there was one bad part of this first day. Taylor was very sick. She had started feeling bad on the airplane from DFW to Guatemala but had chalked it up to motion sickness. Again that morning on the bumpy, curvy roads leading to the village, we had assumed her queasiness was motion sickness. But after she lay on the church pew all day with my wet extra t’shirt on her face and she still was sick, we all knew there was something more going on. Taylor relayed to me later that she was impressed by the compassion and concern the ladies of the church had for her. We typically quarantine someone who is sick at his or her stomach, but a large group of ladies were ready to care for her and were even recommending that I get her to a doctor or hospital. At that point, part of us heading back to the mission house with her. She crawled into bed almost immediately and emerged a few days later. She found out that someone at her work had been sick that same time period with a stomach virus. It is a small miracle that no one else in our group got sick. Thank you, God.
Back at the mission house that first night, we washed away the dusty grime, ate dinner, met to reflect on our first day’s work, then headed to bed. Some of you may have seen my blog posting this day. It said something like, “There’s been more than one bump in the dry, dusty road, but God’s ways are faultless.” Those words had dual meanings for me. It had been a tough day for me. I’m able now to laugh and see how God was moving me out of the way, but I was discouraged that day. Everything I thought I knew, I didn’t. I had been asked questions I no longer had answers for. I could do nothing to help sweet Taylor, and it was hot! and dry!
It was good for me to have this tough day. Not all missions experiences are those “missions highs” I described in November. I remember even questioning if I would still want to do missions if things didn’t go as smoothly. Why do I have to ask things like that? I guess God allowed me to come to a conclusion. Yes. Though discouraged and exhausted, I absolutely was still 100% excited about what God had in store for the rest of the week and for how He would show Himself faultless.
Well, I slept great that night. Between mind-boggling plan changes and 100 pound bags of concrete, I was worn out on more than one level. Tuesday morning started off so much better. The vans were on time. We almost left on time. We got to the school on time.
The school leaders allotted an hour and a half for us to rotate through 6 classrooms. So the plan (you’ll see over and over how funny it gets for our group to make “plans.”) was for us to have 3 classes in recreation while the other three had a lesson and two crafts. The crafts were lessons in themselves, as one was witness bracelets and the other was about how God created each of us special and loves us the way we are. With those three stations rotating, we had 15 minutes in each class, causing us to finish right at 45 minutes in time to switch out the 3 classes in recreation and be finished at exactly an hour and a half. Well, at the end of 45 minutes, we were right on schedule, and the school tells us we need to leave in 15 minutes. WHAT?! But we haven’t even gotten to half of the six classes….Arrangements were made for us to come back Wednesday to do the other three classes. Except when we got finished on Wednesday, they told us there were eight classes total, not six, and could we come back Thursday morning to finish those two. I’ll come back to this a little later.
Everything went well at the school. Tuesday, before we divided the kids, we did a brief introduction and song time. Thank God for Estuardo who knew lots of silly kids’ songs and gestures. The children loved him. In the classrooms, the kids were well-behaved and listened intently as we relayed God’s love to them, and in recreation, they enjoyed running and playing – or even just standing near and having a picture made – with us. After we finished at the school, we ate lunch and helped with construction until time for going back to the school to meet with the teenage students. The teams switched up a bit for the afternoon so that some of the boys (people with some athleticism) could be there for the sports activities. And Estuardo took a small group and taught them a drama to be presented to the teenagers that afternoon.
As we walked toward the school we noticed a gathering at the church. Somehow there was confusion about what time the Tuesday night service would be. Perhaps since we had met with the children at three on Monday, the families may have thought the service was at three on Tuesday. Not sure, but that sweet pastor smoothed things out and had the gathering follow us to the school.
At the school, we met with them assembly-style. We did introductions and the drama. Mary Hickman presented the gospel while instructing in how to make witness bracelets, then Estuardo also presented the gospel. He gave opportunity at the end for decisions for Christ and asked for raised hands to signify those decisions. I saw one hand go up, then lots of them. At that point I wasn’t sure how many were true. Estuardo had them jot their names and contact info on the backs of the cards we’d given outlining the bracelet color meanings (use what you have, I guess). The pastor told us later that he contacted those who raised their hands (yes, contacted every single person that day), and there were 16 genuine confessions of faith! PRAISE!!!
After the assembly, Estuardo matched us up against them for some friendly soccer and basketball. Their soccer footwork was amazing, and they demolished us. Basketball, however, was another story. Their eight-foot goals worked to our advantage, especially for Anthony who could easily dunk and towered above their players.
When we left the school, it was time to get ready for the service at the church. Recall, however, that the church folks had followed us to the school. So…there was no one at the church for the service. The pastor then suggested we move the service into the street. There was an intersection where three roads came together at a bridge, so that’s where we had church. Daniel and Laura Beth led us in some music, both the USA team and ours did drama presentations, and Anthony preached. People came out to hear. Some came close, others stayed back. One man that approached was quite emotional and indicated he needed someone to pray with him. Steven Hickman knelt with him, then the pastor joined. They prayed and talked for a while, and the pastor told me later that the man struggles with alcoholism. He told the pastor he would like to come back to him later when he was sober for more counsel and prayer. The pastor pointed out that this man would never have come into the church building and that he was so glad we had met in the street. Can you see how this is one example of how good came from all of our schedule mix-ups?
It may take a few days before I find time to summarize our trip.  It was wonderful to say the least.  Please feel free to look at the pictures I took.  They're posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/pbcgomez/GuatemalaSpringBreak2010#
