Mission Trip With Okies & Kentuckians... and a girl from Tennesse

I think I had some people worried and maybe even confused, because I was in Guatemala a little over a week ago.  But don’t worry, I’m back in ‘Merica now.  I went for a 10 day mission trip with Devin’s church in Oklahoma and a group from a church in Kentucky.  For lack of my vocabulary, it was an amazing trip. I think it is really cool that Devin’s church has been going to serve the same area for 4 years now.  Relationships have been formed and continued.  It was so great to see familiar faces in Guatemala, especially because I got to tell the “nos vemos pronto/We’ll see ya soon” and mean it… not just like a year… but a month!  I also loved the gringos I went with.  It’s amazing how mission trips make people bond in lightning speed.  I especially loved (this is serious not sarcastic) sharing a room with 3 girls for the majority of the trip, as it made me feel like that is what having sisters would have been like. 

The Roomies: Whittles, Jamica, Me, & Steph



Our team of 29  worked alongside a church in Totonicapan. (This city is about 40 minutes from where I’ll be teaching in August.)  We went to different communities in the area and held Vacation Bible Schools.  There was a group of people who held a sports ministry, where their  goal was to form relationships with the youth and point them to Christ or encourage them in their walk.  We also had a stellar group of men who constructed a roof for a pastor’s home.  We also delivered bags of food and household items to people in need.  We would visit and talk with them as well, in hopes of sharing Christ, praying for them, and encouraging them.  The food and items we deliver will run out, but Christ will not.  We wanted to encourage these people to seek the Bread of Life and the Living Water.

The whole team singing "Victory In Jesus"

This is probably the coolest thing I saw that happened on the trip:

Last summer Devin introduced me to a family that he had met and always spent time with on his travels to Toto.  I had heard so much about them before even meeting them. Lucia, Luis, Brian, Vilma, Sonrida (Please know I probably butchered the spelling of their names).  Lucia, is a single mom as her husband was killed a few years ago. She is very poor and in a nutshell, life has just been very difficult for her and her family.  She also was unsaved. 

 I loved spending time with her and her family last summer.  She was always so generous to me & Devin when we visited.  The best coffee I had in Guatemala came from her house, because it had real cow milk.. I mean straight up from the cow warm milk… we think?  But anyway she was always very thankful for us coming to visit and play with her kids and anything given to her. The only catch is that she didn’t really get why we and the church were loving on her.  It was much, much, much more than just doing a good deed or feeling good about ourselves---it was to point her to Christ.  And she at the time did not know Him. 

Hangin' out with Lucia's family last summer

Short-term mission trips are hard because the people are blessed by your presence, but as missionaries we want them to blessed by the presence of God—not our presence.  The food, the gifts, the VBS, the visits from gringos… those that can’t go on forever, but the love of Christ can.  We can not be everything they need, but Christ can.   All those other things are just done to point to the One—the Only One—who will never fail us and who can be our Everything.

(Step off soap box).
Back to my story, one day our team of 29 was divided into different groups to deliver bags of food and household items to homes in need. During our visits we would be sharing Christ and praying with them.  I was in a group with Pastor Efrain and we went to Lucia’s house first. 





Brian & Lucia

I was SOOOOOO excited.  I didn’t know until we literally were at her front door that we were going there.  It was so great to see her and the kids.  All of us gringos were quickly welcomed into her small, one-room home and treated like royal guests.  Everyone had to have a seat and she had to make sure everyone was comfortable.  It didn’t take me long to get comfortable because Vilma was on my lap and Sonrida cuddled up to my side. 

Pastor Efrain started speaking to Lucia, telling her why we were there (though she already knew because she has heard this so many times).  He mentioned that he knew her life was difficult but that she needed to seek Christ and teach her children to do the same thing. 

While Efrain was saying all this I quickly noticed the change in Lucia’s face because it’s one I had seen before on her face and many others (both Guatemala and America).  She zoned out.  Looked to the ground.  She was hearing the words with her ears but not her heart.  It was a look and mood I remembered seeing from her last summer.  She wasn’t being rude, she actually kept saying “si, hermano” and “es cierto”… but I think that’s just something people do there to be polite.

I started praying for her.  For her heart to finally open up to Christ. 

Lucia started talking and sharing about her life and the latest difficulties she had faced.  And they were grand.   After explaining all these things for a while, I remember her saying something along the lines of “I have no one, but God is with me.”

Yes, my jaw dropped.  And I re-played her words in Spanish in my head to make sure I had translated correctly. 

She started crying, so I figured I had heard her right.  And by the look on Efrain’s face I was sure of it.  I kept looking at him trying to read his Spanish mind for even more confidence that I heard correctly.

I had. And was ECSTATIC!  Poor Vilma.  I took out my joy on her by squeeeeezzzzzziiiinnnggg her as the Spanish conversations continued. 

Next thing I know Lucia and her older daughter, Rosa, got down on their knees and accepted Christ as their Savior.  Lucia, even in the midst of all her trials & pain, had realized that God was there and will be there for her.  She realized all that Christ had done for her, and how she needed to give her life to Him.

Praise God for not only sending Jesus to be Our Savior, but for seeking us when we were lost.  For wanting us, even when we wanted to run away.  For loving us, when we wanted nothing to do with Him.  For accepting us as sinners, and loving us as His Children.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

I’m really excited to return to Toto (in less than a month) to visit Lucia and see how she is doing.  Pray for her as she is new in her faith.  Pray that she would be a spiritual leader in her home and community.  Pray that she would continue to lean on Christ, through her difficulties. Pray for her kids to follow in her footsteps and accept Christ as their Savior. Praise God for his great works!

Praising God in Guatemala!  Had so much fun worshipping with new friends!  Special shout out to "my band!"  (Girl in the red beside is playing a ukulele!  How cool is that?!! That's Jessica... the girl from Tennessee ;)