Monday Night Message

Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Flaman are still struggling with getting Internet connections but were able to send me a quick email. I have uploaded the following post regarding the activities of yesterday.

I will keep you updated as I am able - Julie McLaren

Yesterday we started our day worshipping the Lord with the Guatemalan people at New Life Church.  They welcomed us and encouraged us to join them as we sang, clapped, lifted our hands and danced for the Lord.  Most of us experienced worship in a new way. 

After church we visited a sinkhole.  All team members made the hike up the mountain and down the difficult path inside.  Once at the bottom we gathered together in this unique space created by God.  Over the years witches have made the sinkhole their gathering place for rituals.  Candles, flowers, and ashes spoke of their presence.  Seeing the darkness of this world made our hearts heavy.  However, as we lifted our voices, singing and praying to our Saviour, the air became lighter and our hearts were filled with peace and a true sense of God’s presence.  

In the evening, we were welcomed into a Guatemalan home where we made our own supper.  We enjoyed fellowship with one another and listened to the Guatemalan couple’s testimony on God’s response to fervent prayer.  We were reminded and encouraged to lift our hearts’ desires to the Lord.

Today, we enjoyed the day with our sister school.  We experienced a welcome like no other complete with firecrackers, a path lined with flowers and greenery, and a welcome line of smiling faces chanting Canada, Canada! We joined them for devotions and the students gave us personalized cards and prayed for us.  We then did home visits.

Villa Nueva is a very poor community.  All of our sponsor children live in wood, plastic or tin huts.  They all have dirt floors and many have animals living in the house.  Most of the village men are unemployed finding work in odd jobs as they can.  Our eyes were opened to how the majority of the world lives and our hearts hurt as we processed our many blessings amongst an impoverished people. 

This afternoon we began our children’s ministry.  We were blessed to work with both the morning and afternoon programs and had 110 students attend.  During our time together, we taught them about our creator through drama, song and crafts.  The smiles, laughter and hugs helped us break through the language barrier and all had a wonderful time.  We are looking forward to returning tomorrow to teach them about God’s power.

Once again we thank you for your prayers.  We continue to seek your prayer for health as more are struggling with sore throats and stomach issues.  Adjusting to the altitude as well as the sun has proven a challenge.  Please pray that we will be able to overcome our health issues and enjoy the remaining time we have here with energy and comfort.   We also ask that you will continue to pray for our sister school community.  Our team has picked up an additional 7 sponsor children today.  The need in this community is great and evident.  We look forward to sharing more about Villa Nueva at our sharing evening. 

We continue to struggle with uploading photos due to bandwidth and Internet access.  Though this may be disappointing to some, I know our students are happy they will be able to share their memories first hand with you upon their return.