Missions

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?

Missions

Author Archives: LakesideMissions

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