K'ekchi' Baptist Women

Last Thursday I attended an all day meeting to celebrate the K'ekchi' Baptist women.  It took place at the study center in Sayaxche'.  The church was packed with several hundred women from churches and missions all over the Peten department of Guatemala.  In addition to the women, there were several men leaders and pastors there as well to show their support and it seemed as though each lady brought at least one child each, haha.  It.was.full and loud.  There was a morning session, and afternoon session, and an evening session. With the exception of an hour lunch break and an hour supper break, I was there for twelve long hot hours. 

They invited the President of the Guatemala WMU from the Guatemala National Convention, Sandra, to come up from Guatemala City and do their Bible Study sessions.  She did a great job. 

I loved spending the day with the ladies, getting to know them more, and the churches they represent.  The work among the K'ekchi' Baptist women is very strong and we are proud of all they do and accomplish!

Here are a few photos from the day-

Every group picks a song and a scripture that they study for the year.  At the meeting they each had a time to share, sing their song, and recite their scripture.  Many of the groups wore matching blouses.  It looked pretty.

This is the group from Rosa Jamaica.  Their pastor, Bro. Martin, played the instrument for them.

 I love the colorful dress of the K'ekchi' ladies.

These next few were taken during one of the break times- 

   

I love this one of two pastors during break time.  This is how we were all feeling.  haha

Offering Some Encouragement

Thursday night we were invited to the village of Nueva Jerusalen La Laguna to attend a special service for the women.  The village is about an hour away.  The pastor and another man met us at the store in La Torre to show us the way.  He wanted us to be there at 3:00.  Why so early? We didn't know other than the fact that they wanted to spend the afternoon visiting with us (the service was scheduled for 7:00).  When we arrived we spent about thirty minutes in the pastor's house with him and his family.  They served us a cup of coffee, a store bought cookie, and a can of Super Cola. 

The church and pastor's house

David, Cruz, and the pastor- Bro. Luis outside of the church.  There are 24 families living in this small village.

This is the church sign, and the way most of them look at K'ekchi' churches.  It says Nazareth Baptist Church in the village of Nueva Jerusalen, La Laguna

Instead of lace fabric (like most churches) they used this platic Christmas table cloth to hang from the ceiling for decoration

Soon afterwards we walked to a neighbor's house to eat.  The treasurer of the women's group served us a meal.  We had fried chicken, black beans, tortillas, and Pepsi. 

me with Dominga (the treasurer)

Some of the others that helped prepare our meal.  They held Cruz in the kitchen while we ate.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the pastor's house visiting with him, his wife, and his kids.  It turned out to be fun just hanging out with them and seeing how they live and interact.  It was also a long language lesson for us, which was good.   We ate again- caldo with chicken, tortillas, and coffee,with the pastor's family before the service.

David and Cruz outside of the pastor's house

Three of the pastor's seven kids.  The oldest is 17 and the youngest is 3 months.

inside of their house 

a typical K'ekchi' bed

the bathroom- it was not built for tall people!

the pastor's kitchen

Most K'ekchi' homes are two seperate buildings.  One building is where they all sleep and the other is where they cook and eat. 

their stove

All cooking is done over an open fire.  Here the pastor's wife, Esperanza, is making our tortillas.  In the black pots are our caldo and coffee.  If you look closely you can see her in the background.  She has her baby strapped over her head and carrying her on her back.  She held the baby this way the whole time she cooked.  You can also see the baby's little foot hanging out. 

Here are a few more photos we took before the service began- 

The 7:00 service started promptly at 7:35, ha.  Being there that long really wore Cruz out.  By the time the service started he was TIRED.  All he wanted was his mama and to nurse.  I was exhausted having to hold him that long, and he would not go to sleep.  It ended around 9:30.

The purpose of the service was to encourage the women.  There were a few men there, but mostly the church was filled with females.  They asked me to lead the hymns and David shared some scripture and his testimony. 

Once the service ended we were invited back to the pastor's home to pray for his family.  He told us that he was leaving the church at the end of the month and taking some time off.  We realized then that our day was not just to encourage the women but to spend time with and encourage this pastor as well.  He will be returning to his home village of Se' Tul.  We had a time of prayer over them and they all but begged us to stay the night.  We felt bad to leave, but didn't go prepared to stay.  We returned home around 11:00, very tired, but happy for the time we had spent with them.  Please keep this pastor and his family in your prayers.

Dancing Kids

Another thing we enjoyed watching over the weekend was some K'ekchi' children & youth performing a typical dance. Here are photos and videos of both groups- And the videos-

A Full Weekend-

We had a great weekend full of activity and cultural learning. We left Saturday morning heading down to the Polochic Valley. We went to the village of San Antonio.

A few views along the way

We arrived mid-afternoon and unloaded our supplies into this house. This is where the local pastor lives & where we slept.


The Polochic Valley is normally a hot area. We took cots, sheets,and blankets, but much to our surprise it was unseasonably cold. Saturday night we dressed in most everything in our bags and still had one of the coldest nights we have felt while staying out in a village. It didn't help that it was very windy and even rained during the night.

After getting settled in, they fed us a late lunch (eggs, beans, & tortillas). We then had a Bible study time. One of the pastor's that was with us shared about salvation & baptism. There were 9 candidates for believer's baptism. We hiked to the local water source and had a baptismal service. It was soo cool to watch it and be a part of it.

I love this photo!

One thing I thought was funny was that the women took a piece of vine and tied up the bottom of their skirts so they would not come up in the water.

You can see the church and house where we slept on top of this hill.

Saturday night we had a service there. We started around 7 and didn't finish until after 11!!! We were very tired by the time it ended.

We had another service on Sunday morning. The special thing about that service was that there were 5 couples to be married in the service. We were soo excited about getting to be a part of their weddings.

Their church building

The couples getting ready to march into the church

Here is a short video of the couples entering the church-

K'ekchi' missionary, Bro. Roberto Yaxcal, doing the wedding service.

After the service everyone ate lunch together. Here are a few photos of the couples. I hate that they don't smile for pictures. It is hard to even get women to look at the camera. This is K'ekchi' pastor Bro. Pedro, K'ekchi' missionary- Bro. Roberto, and Bro. Alfredo from the Pocola church. They all went went us on this trip.

Bro. Pedro is a lot of fun. This is him clowning around with his lunch.

This is David with the local pastor Bro. Carlos, his wife, and some of his children, and also Bro. Alfredo & Bro. Pedro.

It was a great weekend! We were able to see 9 new believers get baptized, 5 couples get married, and professions of faith in both services we had!! That is soo exciting!!!

Here are a few more misc. photos from the trip-

This is an avocado tree. We were able to bring some home. We never ate avocados until we moved to Guatemala. Now we love them!

We returned home late Sunday afternoon tired and dirty but with hearts full of joy! Thanks again for praying for our travels. We appreciate it more than you know!