Sunday afternoon was one of the most powerful days I’ve experienced so far, not just on the race, but also across my previous missions experiences. Let me start from the beginning of the weekend….
Surrendered 7 & Bread Breakers were invited to travel about 4 hours from Chichicastenango to minister in San Pedro Ayampuc at Casa De Gloria. After passing through dry, barren hills and fields with the temperature rising slowly, we arrived on Saturday in the early afternoon. Casa De Gloria sits along the main road in and out of town, nestled into the side of a hill. The church building is tall, beautiful and painted a yellow color that reminds me of daffodils or sunflowers – my two favorite flowers. Our teams were greeted with one of the warmest welcomes I’ve ever had the honor of receiving. The kind words of blessings and greetings, the delicious lunch that was given to us, the thoughtfulness in making space for all 13 of us to sit and eat comfortably, and the incredibly generous people who were willing to do/get anything we needed… it was all too much. Once we finished eating and got settled those of us who were going to be speaking and/or doing worship had the chance to prepare while others rested or found things to do. Youth students began to trickle into the church, and suddenly our worship team went from practicing to doing 30 minutes of worship for a facebook live video & for the youth. As that wrapped up, we were placed into 4 teams of both gringos (aka the white world racers), and the youth students. We walked about a mile into town and our 4 teams spread out in the streets to pray for people, hand out salvation flyers, and pass out food to anyone we felt that the Holy Spirit was telling us to. The youth of Casa De Gloria were so bold in sharing the good news of Jesus with anyone who walked by, and it was honestly amazing. They would share in Spanish with the person and then have one of us gringos pray in english while they prayed in Spanish. Even though the people we prayed for didn’t understand our English prayers due to not having someone to translate, it was still a powerful time and I could feel the Lord moving. We finished up with street ministry as it was getting dark and with the promise of dinner motivating us, we walked back to church. Dinner was authentic Guatemalan tamales (which are soooo good!), and as we finished eating we relaxed and I chatted in broken Spanish with the wonderful ladies who were serving us. I really have no idea what they were saying, but my broken Spanish made way for a lot of deep laughs for each of us alike, and was better than anything I could have asked for. One of my favorite things is that laughter isn’t limited by language and it forms bonds across many different kids of borders.
Dinner wrapped up, and it was time to begin our youth service… 8:21pm to be exact. Worship was fantastic; the presence of the Lord was strong. My friend Courtney from Bread Breakers shared a fantastic word that really stirred me and then I had the joy of being able to share about our identity in Christ. After everyone left the church, our sleeping pads and bags were scattered throughout the sanctuary… for me sleep came slowly, and then all at once.
Sunday morning arrived bright and early with lots of bug bites I didn’t have before, and the beautiful calls of birds I’d never heard before. Church commenced at 8am with our gringos leading worship in Spanish. It was powerful and I am so so proud of Paul, Micah, Courtney, and Teresa. They stepped out in their gifts, and God moved hearts. Pastor Jose spoke a great word and our host Juan graciously translated the message for us. The local worship team sang Agnus Dei during a time of reflection and prayer; it moved me to tears and God’s presence was so thick. Shortly after there was a tangible shift as 2 new singers came up on stage and belted out such an upbeat praise song while bouncing and dancing to the music. There was even a trumpet guys! It was so much fun. I let loose and jumped around to the beat, I’m sure making a fool of myself. But hey, God delights in my worship so its worth it! And if me making a fool of myself creates space for someone else to let loose in worship, then that’s amazing. Following the service, we were the subject of many photos with quite a few of the pastors, youth and even some of the congregants; it was quite comical really. And then – BREAKFAST! We feasted on scrambled eggs, refried beans, fried plantains, rolls, sweet breads, and coffee. I am not a coffee drinker but I’m telling you, dipping those sweet breads in the coffee was something else all together. I ate until I could hardly move. After breakfast was cleaned up, we went to do two home visits to people who aren’t able to attend church services. Only two racers were able to go due to space limitations, so Breanne and I were the two who volunteered to go. The first family we spent time with is a man and his wife and their 3 children. He was in a motor vehicle accident about a year and a half ago and has been bedridden since then. We listened to his story and heard his struggle and emotions. We prayed for healing and a touch of God to come, for all attacks on his life to end, and for blessings and provision for his family. We were also able to give them food for a few days, and some small toys for their children. The presence of the Lord was overwhelming in that place, and so was the ache in my heart for this man and his family. Our next home was that of an elderly couple and their two grandsons. Their son passed away unexpectedly a few months ago and after the funeral, their daughter-in-law disappeared leaving the boys with nowhere to go. The grandparents are struggling as their bodies begin to deteriorate with age, so they aren’t able to work much to provide for their two grandsons. As we brought both boys inside to pray for them alongside their grandparents, the older boy met my eyes and ran to me. He clung to my legs and nestled his face and head into my tummy while we prayed. I wished I could do more because holding him felt like so little help to his hard life. But I know that boy needed a mother’s loving touch and though I am not a mother yet, I am undone that the Lord would give me the honor to be that for him even for just a few moments on a Sunday afternoon. We were able to also give this family some food for a few days and a few other blessings that to me as an American feel so small, but to this family it was everything. They were weeping and thanking and praising God as we left. I felt sort of numb after we left their home… like I had just gone through something so intense that my body and brain didn’t know what to do or think. After another delicious lunch at church we loaded our bus and headed back to Chichicastenango. It was such a bittersweet goodbye, and a weekend that I won’t easily forget.
Casa De Gloria and San Pedro Ayampuc – you have marked me forever and I can’t thank God enough for giving me the honor of spending a little over 24 hours with you.
Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit – I’m undone by your goodness, and your love. I owe you everything and its an honor and joy to walk this world race journey with you. I love you.
Dear friends,
Thank you for reading. Please continue to pray for our teams that we would have more opportunities like this one to share the love of Christ, and pray for our health and safety. Please also pray for some of my squad mates and teammates who are not yet fully funded – that they would have financial blessing pouring in so they can continue to stay on the field with us and minister. Thank you for your love and prayers; they mean the world to me.
All my love,
Laina
