sad to say we had to say goodbye to our lovely little church on thursday night. we had been spending our evenings there worshipping with them and teaching them from the book of ephesians. for a little church that started in january with two families it has grown a lot – there were over 50 people there on sunday. we have watched as people have come back to the lord and become members of the church. and we have also watched as the church has begun to find its nich and the members have grown in their walk with the lord. it has been a wonderful time.
while we were with the church i spent most of my time sitting in a pew praying… this is what i felt god had called me to do as my team members preached and shared with the church – i loved it! it was so neat to watch as my team members grew in their preaching abilities and as they got better at finding the right places to pause for the two translators and what words katherine knew in spanish. it was also great to sit and ‘entertain’ the little ones during the service… we had a couple of babies / toddlers who used to scream at the sight of us! at the end they were screaming because we wouldn’t shake hands with them (holding them was still out of the question).
i will miss the church members and the pastor and his family more than i thought i would…
but for me the hardest part is leaving the children…. i got to know their different expressions and their likes and disslikes as they sat infront of me each night. they were passed from one woman of the church to another and even the men joined in in caring for the kids during the service.
many of the children came to church unbathed and dirty. they had few clothes and would rotate from one outfit to another. they would sit in church and eat junk food – chips and candy. and there were several who had to many bites from bugs to count.
we had spent our time pouring into the spiritual parts of this community, but we were unable to meet the physical needs of the people. making so little money a day and having such low standards in living and health, the children are the ones who are hurting. even we were unable to stay in san pablo because of the living conditions, for fear of our health.
please pray with me that the future teams to san pablo, guatemala will be able to bring the resources to help teach the people and make their living well … more livable.
