37th Annual Assembly of the Kekchi Baptist in Coban

 

We recently made a trip to Coban, Guatemala to attend the 37th Annual Assembly of the Kekchi Baptists.  It was a six hour drive from our home in Antigua. Our first five years on the mission field were spent with this people group. This area and these people will always be near and dear to our hearts.  It was a blessing to return and spend some time with them.

 

 

We attended  two evening services. There were 472 in attendance the first night and even more on the second night.

 

With the exception of the sermons, the services were all in Kekchi. We loved getting to hear their language again and especially getting to worship with them.

 

 

Can you spot us in the crowd? 

 

The Kekchi still use a Baptist hymnal for their worship.  We loved hearing the hymns sung. It was comforting to our souls.  Cruz recorded some of the singing.

 

 

 

David with the Coban Kekchi President German Contreras.

 

The boys were a highlight.  After the services everyone lined up to take a photo with them.  It was fun to see the people be so excited about the boys. 

 

During the day David attended the morning and afternoon sessions.

 

David and Sergio

He was our helper and David's Kekchi tutor when we lived in Coban.  He is now the director of the Kekchi Bible Institute in Coban.  We are very proud of him!

 

David and Armando

For many years he ran the Kekchi Baptist office in Coban.  Now he writes and translates many of their study materials.

 

 

While David was in the day sessions, the boys and I did school back at the hotel.  We had a beautiful garden setting as our classroom.

 

 

 

 

  

 

There is a new mall that opened up in the center of town.  It was within walking distance from our hotel.  We ate a few meals there at the food court.  The boys especially loved this wall mural there of different cereal boxes.  I wish we could get all of these options here!  As you can see, their favorite is Reece's Puffs.

 

They also had a virtual reality game that the boys got to play.  

 

 

 

 

 

One afternoon while they did another round of virtual reality, I sat and enjoyed an iced coffee. I also wrote out my greeting for that evening service.  At any Kekchi service or event you attend they are going to call on you to give greetings.  We shared at both evening services.  I tried to incorporate as many Kekchi words and phrases as I could remember into mine.  They love for you to speak their language.

 

Another highlight was getting to have a meal with our friends the Rozycki family.  We first met them back in 2018 when we moved to Antigua.  Now they are living and serving in Coban.  Their friendship is a blessing to our family!

 

We left Coban early in the morning.  We were at McDonald's at 6:00 a.m. waiting on them to open so that we could pick up some coffee and breakfast to have on the road.   It made us think of Ms. Fran Eachus, our Kekchi language teacher.  Almost every day for years she was at McDonald's waiting on them to open.  We miss her and many others who served in the Kekchi area over the years. 

 

Getting to return brought back many fond memories of our time there and a heart of gratitude for those who mentored us and helped us during those years.  They would be very proud to see how the work is advancing and to know that all of their years of labor is still bearing fruit.

 

Pray for the Kekchi Baptist work.  Pray that God would continue to use them to evangelize, disciple, and plant churches.  Pray that God would give them a passion to serve cross-culturally and that He would call out Kekchi believers to help reach the nations.