On to San Marcos

Hello from San Marcos!  We made the trip up the mountain today, after a couple stops in Malacatan.  The first stop was a piece of property the host church purchased a year ago.  They committed to the purchase even though they only had 10% of the money they needed and through their faith God provided the rest of the funds, allowing them to pay off the note 2 months early.  Now they are nearly done with the planning and are ready to step out in faith again to begin the building.  It will be a beautiful church with a prayer garden when it is through.  We all prayed over the land, and are excited to see how God honors the faith of the people of the church.

Our second stop was at a water park.  It has been so hot everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be in the cool water and actually feel clean.  After a lunch of Coke and cheeseburgers we boarded the buses and headed up the mountain.  We were going to stop at a Quetzal reserve and hike through the rain forest, but it started to rain before we got there.  And boy did it rain.  We learned why they have gutters on both sides of the street that are a foot wide and a foot deep.  They were full to overflowing with rushing water.  As we climbed higher we also noticed a distinct temperature drop which cheered up everyone. 

Arriving in San Marcos, the rain quit (but the clouds hung low) as we disembarked into a large church building the local host church is borrowing from another partner church.  Its a great big hall, made completely of tile, concrete and tin.  The voices echo quite well, and when the rain started up again (shortly after we got a nice welcome from a local military school parade unit and unloaded all of the bags) the sound level rose a few more decibels.  We had a good time of worship and then were served a great dinner of rice, potatoes, chicken and rolls by the church people and the interpreters who are serving with us.  During dinner a local mariachi band serenaded us on a 4-man marimba.  We are in the process of getting people sent off to their home stays so they will have a little time to get to know each other and still get to bed at a good time.  Tomorrow we start 3 full days of service here. We can't wait to get going again!

Our Word as we look to start our last string of service days comes from Psalm 18:1-3: "I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  Please be praying that the kids will treat this new site as if they are doing their programs for the first time.  Also, we have a few who are under the weather from the Malacatan heat- they will be tucked in to a hotel for the next couple nights and watched over by our medical team to ensure they are feeling better as soon as possible and able to rejoin their teams. Thanks for your continued support and for your responses to the blog.  We will find a way to share that encouragement with the team.

Here are some reflections of the trip so far from some of our students:

Colin,Jonny

First off, Seth is fantastic. We have been attending different schools everyday. We are singing songs and are doing puppet shows. Pretty much anything to interact with the kids(Jonny). Working at different schools with a variety of ages is incredible. Thanks to all supporters for making this spiritual journey possible (Colin).

Steve, Colton, Cole

For the first week of our mission we have been playing the beloved sport of soccer (futbol) against children of all ages, and like expected they play unbelievably well. Apart from dominating against 9 year olds the first day, we haven't come close to winning a single game. Colton, Steve and Cole have truly proven to be the "Big 3" for our team, scoring goal after goal! (swag). Luke and Pierce have become hearthrobs in the country due to their luscious blonde hair and deep blue eyes.All Guatemalan chicas are starstruck when Pierce introduces himself and gets their digits, whereas Luke has proven to be successful with the younger girls (roughly ages 5-10). Overall, everyone cheers for the Sports and Drama team because of our dashing looks, incredible charm, and terrible spanish. For real, Steve is the only one outside our translator who (thinks he) can speak it, and he has become the coolest kid on the block overnight (not really). And now on a serious note, the guatemalans have embraced our skits, testimonies,and sermons, all showing our love for them and God. This teams has become very close, even only a week through. We still have many adventures in store, and we hope to maintain the great attitudes, friendships, and love. Your pals from the squad, Colton, Steve, and Cole.

Michael, Lauren, Tania, Brendon
Traveling to all of the different schools and dancing and playing with the kids has been a blast. Our dancing skills have been rapidly improving. Everytime we meet new kids it only becomes more difficult to say goodbye. The young kids accept and embrace us readily each and every time. Jonny has been a stud lately getting all the pictures with the girls. Bryce has some rocking dance moves that the kids love to watch. We have learnt that although we are more than the Guatemalans match in basketball, they are the bomb when it comes to soccer(futbol). (p.s.Lauren's back is better than it is at home so she's moving here cuz God is good)

Pierce
"This trip has been indescribable like....

Lara, Alyssa
Sorry for my brother Pierce... :) The first week was hot hot hot! But it was a blast to play in the pool today and eat some ice cream...yumm. We prayed over the land of the incoming church that we stayed with in Malacatan, pray for them to raise the money to build the church and have complete trust in God through the process. Alyssa: God willed us to finish learning the 30 minute mime program and we have seen it influence the students we presented it to. After each preformance we read response cards and many have come to know christ, Esta Calidad(its awesome)! Lara: The childrens team is amazing. We dont need to even say Hola before we are tackled with little kids. God is totally working in and through us and the kids are adorable! I wish we could adopt them all!

Alannah,Katie, Kennedy
Med team is a challenging but a extremely rewarding experience. Nothing feels better then getting the Guatemalans the health care they need. Dr. Byron(the Guatemalan doctor with us) did 3 surgeries yesterday in Malacatan, that was interesting. It's been such a rewarding experience being able to pray with all these people and see how greatful they are for their vitamins and medicine