Bags arrive and work begins.

This Post written by Scott Cook

Luggage and Cement Blocks

To God be the glory, greeting from Guatemala! 

Finally today everyone received their luggage.  We are thanking God for answering our prayers.  Jared, Corby, and Will can now take a shower!  Hallelujah! Today was our first real day of work at the Iglesias Galilea church site.  Cement blocks and rebar and mixing cement was on the menu for today.  It was a hard first day and everyone pulled together as a team.  Where one person lacked experience, another person made up for it. 

Our team really needs your prayers since tomorrow afternoon we are doing a Mormonism conference.  This is one of the most important works we will be doing here.  There are 90 pastors expected to come in to hear our presentation.  Pray for the testimonies of some of our group members and our presentation of how they could approach the Mormon influence in Guatemala. 

Also pray for us as we do Vacation Bible School at the school in Membrial.  They are expecting over 100 kids to show up.  We have 14 people in our group, so pray that the love of God will shine through to the children.

As usual we are eating good and everyone is healthy.  As our time here in Guatemala draws near to an end, it’s hard to leave, but it will be good to be back home and see our family.  Please continue to pray for our safety and that God uses in a way to give HIM the honor and glory.  And through our effort there will be someone who comes to know the Lord as their savior.  We are come to serve and be a blessing, but as usual we are the ones who are being blessed. 

To God be the glory!

This post written by Matt Gage

Our day began at 7:00am with a wonderful breakfast prepared by our gracious hosts.  Things begin early in Guatemala.  Many of us could here the hustling of the community outside the walls of the compound in the wee hours of the morning.  After breakfast, Scott led our team in a devotion challenging us to meditate on several passages throughout the day.  Following our devotion, the team finished preparing for the day ahead. 

Today would be our first day working on the new Iglesia Galilea church.  The construction site is located across the street from the compound we are staying at.  Tono stated that he had hopes of finishing the new church within the next year.  The church had a foundation that had been dug, footing poured, and a single row of cinder blocks.  Our team quickly jumped into an assembly line of construction with Lester, Rudy, Alonzo, and Tono later on in the morning.  We moved cinder block, mixed mortar, bent brackets for rebar, cut cinder blocks, and began building the foundation walls of the church.  It was an honor to work beside my brothers and sisters in Christ.  This was tiring and dirty work, and each one of them reflected Christ in their attitudes, work ethic, and servant’s heart. 

In other good news, the rest of the team’s checked baggage arrived which was an answer to prayer.  It was awesome to see our team share with those who hadn’t received their checked baggage until today. 

As the work day came to a close, the team finished up their given tasks and headed back across the street to the compound.  The team took turns cleaning off the build up of dirt before dinner.  We had dinner followed by a devotion.  Our team finished preparing for the Mormonism conference tomorrow.  We have been told that over ninety people are expected at the conference.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Our team has been beyond blessed by each one of you.  Please continue to lift our team up in prayer that we would be effective at the Mormonism conference, be bold in our faith, safety in our building construction, and that we would be centered on furthering the Kingdom