Well, we’ve had a slight change of plans. We
were going to go to Lake Panajachel on Friday morning. We had a hotel room for one night and our bus tickets to Panajachel booked for 7am. The only problem was that, on Thursday night, Amanda had her purse stolen which had everything in it including her passport. So, Amanda and I woke up early on Friday morning to settle things. We were able to change our bus tickets, notify her bank, stop her credit cards, and contact the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala regarding her passport. The embassy informed us that they were not open for business on Friday and that she would need to come to Guatemala City on Monday. We decided that it would be easier to get to Guatemala City from Antigua rather than from the lake. So, we’re in Antigua until Tuesday.
Now, we had to decide what to do for these few days. We knew it would be too expensive to stay at the hotel we were at for a few days so we decided to take our bags to the church where Team LO is staying assuming they would let us stay too, but the pastor did not want 12 of us there. When we thought we were going to the lake, I felt strongly in my heart that God was going to provide a free place for us to stay and that we should pray for that. I continued to encourage my team to pray big! I felt it strong on my heart to pray for a free place to stay. When we realized we weren’t going to the lake and staying in Antigua, I was still hopeful for a free place to stay, but lost some confidence in it.
We had looked into some hotels and hostels all which were above our budget. Amanda knew of another Christian coffee house that is also a church in the area called Caminos Café. We thought we would see if they could help us in any way. We journeyed across town to the café. We were welcomed by a nice young lady who explained a little about the church and coffee shop and that Pastor Mike would be down in a second. We all took seats on the comfortable couches (that is a rare find). Andrew happened to look at the wall with pictures of the employees and realized that he knew one of the workers from a previous missions experience in Mexico. She came downstairs and met us and we explained the World Race to her. Soon, Pastor Mike Watkins came and met with us too. We explained about the World Race and what we are doing and what we needed. At first, he due to our low budget we couldn’t afford it. He made a phone call and then said we could all stay at his house.
(Quick fun side note: Pastor Mike was asking where we were from. I said I was from Michigan. He asked what part and I hesitantly told him ‘Jackson’ expecting him to have no idea where Jackson is. He said “Jackson? I was born in Jackson, in Foote Hospital. My family lived on Homewild St. near the hospital.” I was so surprised. He lived in Jackson until about age 5 before moving to Florida with his parents. He continues to say that he attended Ganson Street Baptist Church and was baptized there. I was like, “No way! I attended Ganson Street Baptist Church and was baptized there too!” What are the odds that a man who grew up in Florida and now lives in Guatemala that I happened to run into was born in the same town and baptized in the same church as I. We continue to find that we truly live in a small world!)
Anyways, we hiked our stuff to his house. On the way, Amanda was talking to Nancy and realized that her son’s fiancé is one of Amanda’s good Guatemalan friends. I had met her two weeks ago with Amanda when we went to Guatemala City and she showed us pictures of her “gringo boyfriend,” Matt. Now, we are staying with his family. Also, when Amanda and Andrew made a police report yesterday morning about her stolen passport, they were right by the house talking to the family’s neighbor and the neighbor told Amanda and Andrew that our group should connect with his neighbor, Mike, because he is a pastor. We are learning that the world is a lot smaller than we think and that God is truly faithful and will provide for all our needs!
Mike and his wife Nancy have lived here since the summer of 2006. They have two children, Amber who is 18-years-old, and Matt who is 21-years-old. They remind me lots of my family and it has been great just to watch them interact and to be taken in as more of their “family.” When we got to their home, Nancy had fresh baked brownies that were oh-so-yummy! She has done our laundry and this morning spoiled us with an amazing breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, sausage, and real coffee with
flavored creamer. They have truly been a blessing! We have already been able to learn from them by listening to their version of ministry and missions. Check out his blog at www.pastormikeinantigua.theblogspot.com
In return for their hospitality, we are helping them paint more of their church. They began painting last week, but still have more work to do. Morgan and I volunteered at a hospital this morning (more to come about this and the precious children in my next blog) while the rest of the group and part of Team LO began painting the needed rooms at the church. We are getting good at this painting thing.
Mike has many connections with ministries and contacts in the greater Antigua area as his vision is to connect ministries, missionaries, and organizations to work together. He is connecting us with a ministry called “Arms For Jesus” on Monday where we will be traveling to another village to help build a house.
