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We started the day with devotions covering Romans 12 and John 13 discussing how Jesus washed the feet of is disciples and discussed how we are in Guatemala to be a living sacrifice.

We set out on that day to repair the playground wall at the San Geronimo orphanage. The wall was stucco finished, 15ft tall and 100ft long in need of repair due to water damage and mold.  We quickly learned that this was a day to humble ourselves and serve the orphans and nuns by doing a job they wouldn’t expect American Missionaries to do. The job was extremely tedious, we had to slowly chip off the stucco paint with a hammer and chisel creating only a small mark in the stucco with each blow of the hammer. It was a great experience to work next to our son’s and to see them work so hard serving the Orphans of San Geronimo.

We rushed back from San Geronimo, showered, ate and headed out to the Ghetto to go to church at Monte Hebron (Mountain of Unity).  We agreed that we needed to take ourselves out of our comfort zone, and this was an evening to do just that. We where the first American’s to go to Church in the Ghetto.

The pride and excitement was clear as Willy (Music Director, Deacon, Elder and Interim Pastor) greeted us and showed us around his Church and their building project (more on that later….). This service was like none other we had experienced. A 2.5 hours service with dancing and praise. The message from the Pastor was how God has blessed them all, but the inflictions in their life (debt, sickness, anger) are from the devil trying to make them look away from God (It was powerful to see how this message applied to the congregation and our group equally). The authentic passion and love for God that came out of the Church gave us all a feeling of both relief and guilt. Relief that despite extreme poverty these people are happy and God is very present, but guilt that we have so much and don’t serve with the frequency and emotion like the people of Guatemala. God is very close to them and they have no doubt. The stories and miracles that have been occurring in the Ghetto are amazing.

A typical Guatemalan in the Ghetto will make 12 dollars a day, yet they are building a new Church and have already started 10 other churches in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua (one with over 2000 members). We expected to feel sad for these people that don’t have homes or possessions like we have, however, just the opposite feeling came over us. This wasn’t a night for us to serve the people in the Ghetto, but we where there for them to teach us a deeper meaning of praise and service.

Tomorrow we are off to finish the wall, do work on the guest house and play with the Children of Hannah’s Hope.

Curtis & Dave

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