Life Church Culver City, CA Team September 2019

We recently hosted our first Americas Connect team.  They were from Life Church in Culver City, CA.  We had a wonderful time with them!  We spent our week around the Antigua area working alongside national pastors. We wanted to keep them close by so that in addition to serving we could give them a good introduction to Guatemala and it's culture.  They were such an easy team to work with and the week went very smooth.  Here is an overview of our time together.

This team took an overnight flight out of Los Angeles to get here.   They arrived around 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning.  David picked them up at the airport, got them to Antigua, checked them into their hotel, and let them spend the morning resting.  We met them at lunchtime and walked into town for lunch.  We had our first meal at San Martin and then spent some time at our house that afternoon doing welcome and orientation.

enjoying the views from the rooftop of San Martin in Antigua

Sunday afternoon we drove over to San Andres Itzapa for a service with Bro. Apolinario.  The pastor from the church in California, Bro. Able, preached that evening and David translated.  It was a Lord's Supper service so the team also got to participate in that.  We love this pastor and his congregation and enjoyed getting to worship with them.

David and the team with Bro. Apolinario 

The team then spent the next several days making home visits to encourage and pray for people.  They worked with Bro. Apolinario and also worked with Bro. Julio at the Baptist church in San Felipe.  On Wednesday evening they participated in the evening service at Bro. Julio's church. Below are some photos of them out in the communities.

praying with some church members in San Felipe 

The boys and I were home during the mornings doing school and then would join the team in the afternoons and evenings.   David handles more of the ministry side and I love leading the culture/ tourist activities.  We have spent a lot of time scouting things for our teams and have come up with a good variety of activities and restaurants for them to enjoy. 

 Enjoying the volcano views during an evening meal at Sunset Terrace.

 

As part of our cultural learning we visit several of the local cathedrals.  Here we are in front of the San Francisco church in Antigua.

The boys absolutely fell in love with Elliot.  He is the son of one of the leaders on the team.   He was so sweet with them and loved on them well.  They really enjoyed him being a part of the team.  Here they are at some local ruins in town.

I love the chocolate museum.  One afternoon I took the team to do the class.  They enjoyed not only making chocolate but also learning about the history of it.  It is a fun class and all of our teams seem to enjoy it.

 This team member always enjoys it most of all. 

We visited the souvenir market and also the local market as part of our cultural training.

 the open meat market is my least favorite part of the tour 

Visiting the cross

 our team

Enjoying a meal at La Fonda de la Calle Real to sample some local Guatemalan food.

 

They flew out early on a Saturday morning and we were sad to see them go.  Throughout the week they were already talking about returning.  Pastor Able left excited to go home and share with his congregation about the trip and begin mobilizing others to go.  We are already in talks about some things their church can do in the future and are excited to know that they will be coming back down to work with us again.

Part of our job in hosting volunteers through Americas Connect is to not only give them a mission experience but to help them catch a vision for doing missions back home and around the world.  I think we succeeded with this team.

Is God leading your church to get more involved in international missions?  Americas Connect Guatemala is an easy, introductory trip that would help get you started.  From young to old, everyone can be involved.  Come on down!  We would love to host you!