On Mission In Chanco

I've been a little MIA with the blog this week. We had a team arrive last Saturday and I've just not gotten around to updating since then. It's been a great week and we have loved getting to work alongside this sweet group of folks.  They represent First Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant, SC and have been working in our area for a few years with another IMB couple.  That couple is transitioning to focus on another area of Guatemala and we are taking over the partnership.  They send teams down 4 times a year to specifically target the village of Chanco.  We have visited with some of their teams in the past but this was our first time to work with them on our own.  We had a great time and look forward to seeing them again in the future.  Here is an overview of our week-

David, Ben, Renee, Jennifer, Dave, Cruz, me, Larry, Stewart, and Josh

We left Guatemala City on Sunday morning heading East.  After a lunch stop in Chiquimula the team headed straight to the village to do some prayer walking.  They spent a few hours there canvassing the village before heading to their hotel in Jocotan for the night.

one of the prayer walking groups in the village of Chanco

Most of Monday was spent doing door to door visitation in the village and sharing the Gospel in the homes.  They had children's activities in the afternoon.

Here are Larry and Stewart visiting with this man in his home.

Tuesday was a special day in the village.  It began with a soccer game.  We then all headed into the school for their graduation program and also a birthday celebration for one of the teachers/ village leaders.  In the afternoon they had a dedication service for a portion of the road they had recently paved.  It was a full day and the team enjoyed getting to experience these cultural events.  

my boys watching some of the soccer game

The school's graduation decorations.  I thought they looked cute.

Here's the team giving greetings and getting ready to sing a song for the crowd.

the birthday boy (he turned 71) and two of the graduates

just a few of the many cakes they served to everyone that day

Wednesday was like Monday- door to door visitation in the mornings and kids activities in the afternoon.  The boys and I stayed home and David forgot the camera so I am limited on photos.

The team spent Thursday morning back in the village before returning to Guatemala City in the afternoon.  While one group went visiting the rest of us shared a Bible story with the kids and played several games with them.  The kids also blew bubbles, painted fingernails, and got to ride a horse. 

jump rope

playing "jump the river"

look at that boy go!!!

my boys with Miss Jennifer

she was so sweet to them this week

Do you think he liked getting to ride a horse???  You bet!

Ben loved riding too!

Here's a little video of the boys riding a horse in the village of Chanco.  How fun!

a few of the boys in their shark hats

me and my sweet little Ben

Wrapping up our time there with some photos.

Relationships were formed this week.  The Gospel was shared in several homes.  Seeds of salvation were planted in the hearts of many.   It was a good week.  Thank you for praying for all of us.  We felt your prayers.  We'll continue to do some follow-up over the next few months and then be back there again with another team from this church in January doing a medical/dental clinic.  Please pray for the village of Chanco and the many there who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Your prayers can make a huge difference in their lives!

All In A Days Work

Monday morning began with a group photo before we loaded the cars and started our day.

David, Regina, Carol, Jim, Bro. Miguel, Jane, & Wendall

Our first visit was to the village of Se' Pub. We didn't know until the very last minute that the village required a pretty difficult hike to reach. We thought it was close so we didn't take bottled water or anything (except the camera, ha). Here is a view from on top of the mountain before we climbed down. You can see the river at the bottom.

We went straight down the mountain! It was very steep. All I could say was, "I am going to have to climb back out of here!!!"

This is a view on the way down. The house we visited is in the bottom left corner.

Another view of the house
I was VERY happy when we arrived! The family that lives there are not believers but invited us to visit with them. We had members from a neighboring church hike an hour & 1/2 to meet us at the road and they then hiked down to the house with us. In K'ekchi' when you get somewhere you say "xoc'ulun" which means "we arrived". Boy was I glad to say it then. ha
When we arrived they served us a Kool-aid type drink in these gourds. I don't think we've had that happen before but Mrs. Jane says it was very common years ago. I thought it was cool and wanted to take mine with me but chickened out asking them for it.

I don't know if this picture really shows just how red my face was! I was also wringing wet!

We had a great visit there and expect God to do a great work among those people!

Well, what goes down must come back up. Here we are on the trail.

Once we reached the top we all had a time of celebration and prayer. We sang the hymn "Amazing Grace". It was a great way to end that visit!

This is the entrance to the 2nd house we visited in the village of Palmar. I love palm trees!

There are very few believers in this area. We prayed with these two girls in their home.

Isn't she precious!

There are many orange trees on this property and before we left one of the girls went out and picked us a sack full to bring home.

Mrs. Jane & Mrs. Carol

Our last prayer stop of the day was in the town of Cahabon. We stopped by the mission church there to pray for the pastor and his family.

The pastor's grandson, Franklin, was very sick so we were able to pray specifically for him as well. This is baby Franklin laying in a hammock.

When we left there we were three hours from Coban. We arrived home in the late afternoon, tired, but rejoicing about all we had seen and done in the last two days! Please continue to pray for the Cahabon region of Guatemala.

A Weekend of Pray & Encouragment

This past weekend we went out visiting/encouraging with K'ekchi' missionary Bro. Miguel Chub in the Lanquin/ Cahabon area. In two days we visited and prayed in 9 villages and prayed for 6 more that we did not have time to travel to. It was a great trip and I took tons of photos. So, I will be posting about it in several smaller posts over the next few days.

We left Lanquin early on Sunday morning and first traveled to the village of El Carmen. There is one family of believers that lives in this village. They have 9 kids! This is a photo of their house where we prayed and had a Bible study. This is some of the family
The mother with five of her children

Jim gave a devotion on Zacchaeus. This photo is of Mrs. Jane teaching the kids the song about him

I love this next photo. Right before I took it, the mother came over and put the little girls arm around David. She was embarrased but it was cute!

When we left there we drove on to the village of Pinares

This is a photo of some of the believers there. They are continuing to meet in a home and have Bible study together

We had a service with them that we all took part in. Mrs. Jane read scripture, Mr. Wendall prayed, Carol led a hymn, David & I led a chorus, and Jim brought the message.

Our third stop was at Chi Poc. We had intended to be there in time for their morning service but it was noon before we got there. They waited on us and we started the service then. I am glad they are patient!! This is a photo of their mission church

After the service we all had a meal together

In this next photo I am holding little Regina. I first met her a few months ago. She is the daughter of a K'ekchi' pastor in this area and she is named after me! I think that is sweet! I was very excited to know she was there. Her mom is in the blue with her hand over her mouth and one of her sisters is sitting in the middle. Regina & Regina

We left there and drove to the village of Se' Mil. This village recently had 5 new believers. We prayed there with our last team. This is a photo of a few of them (& Bro. Miguel)

This is a photo of how we all felt at this point, ha. When David entered their house he just fell out on one of the beds. We laughed at him.

I'll post about our last stop of the day tomorrw.