Guatemala 09 The Ends of the Earth

Before leaving for Guatemala, I had been praying about how God would use our team and where He might send us. Last year was my first trip and I was so broken by the poverty I saw. I also learned that when I am broken, God reveals Himself in new and amazing ways. So this year, I selfishly prayed that God would take our team to the most remote, needy, desperate village possible. God has been teaching me that the poor and the needy are so very close to His heart…and we are close to His heart when we love His children in need. So that was my prayer, “God take us to the most remote village possible!” In the lake region where we minister, the further up the mountain you go, the poorer the people are. On Monday, our first day to do VBS, our team was told to get in line first for breakfast because we had the furthest to go. We were going to the top of the mountain to a village that had never had VBS before. We were warned that it was cold and windy at the top of the mountain, the people were very poor, they didn’t speak Spanish because they were of Mayan descent, and they had minimal electricity and no running water. But there was a tiny church there eager for our support, love, and attention. We drove straight up the mountain for two hours. We drove down a dirt road and when we got to the end of the road, we drove on the grass until we were literally at the top of the mountain…the end of the road…the most remote village possible. Praise God for answering prayers!

The children of this village were very wary of us. We weren’t sure if they had ever seen white faces before. They had no television, no books, and there certainly weren’t any tourists coming by! We started with music and the children warmed up to us. Our Impacto interpreter presented the Bible lesson in Spanish and the church’s pastor translated it into the local language for the 100+ children present. The children were enthralled. I’d never seen so many children sitting so quietly and attentively. We then did our craft with them and spent time playing with them. Impacto provided a nutritious lunch (a liquid protein meal) for the children and after lunch we did Happy Feet. I cannot put into words how challenging and difficult but amazing this was. Many of the children had shoes but they were in horrible shape. Their feet were absolutely black with dirt and most of them had sores all over them. So we washed those little feet with baby wipes, lots and lots of baby wipes, and put new socks and new shoes on them. It was so humbling to serve these precious children this way. And it was hard. At one point I was genuinely afraid I would vomit from the stench as I pulled rotting shoes off one child’s feet. It was hard but I’d do it again and again and again to have the privilege of showing the love of Jesus to His children. Those little ones are created in His image. What an honor it was to care for them.

I was later journaling and listening to music and one song quotes a verse that was so fitting: Isaiah 24:16 says “From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One’.” Yes, God, from the ends of the earth, the top of the mountain, the end of the road…we hear voices singing Your praises!

And that was just day one.