Lutheran Church of St John Groundwork Guatemala Mission

We leave for Guatemala in the morning. We are meeting at the church at 10:00 AM and carpooling to St. Louis with our flight to Houston leaving at 2:15 PM and then on to Guatemala City with arrival at 9:30 PM. We have been planning the trip for over 6 months and it is finally here. Pray for safe and problem free travel as we journey to Guatemala.

Three days to go until we depart. Everyone is so excited! Sunday, March 23 at the 10:30 AM service we had our Service of Commissioning.  Each team member received two strips of  cloth from the "sending" cloth the church received from Groundwork Guatemala.  One strip the mission team member is to keep and the other they are to give to a prayer partner. Following the Commissioning we sang a Spanish Praise song "Alabare" for the congregation and then the congregation sang the song in English as the Sending Song.  Following the service the mission team members divided up the supplies we will be taking for Groundwork Guatemala. We are all very blessed and encouraged by the many church friends who will be praying for us during our week long trip.

Ten days to go!  Thanks to all who supported our Lenten meal last week.  We raised a little over $200.00 for Groundwork Guatemala.  Sunday, March 16, 2014 was a fun family night (see adjacent pictures). Thanks to all who attended.  The Guatemala Mission Team shared the faith lesson they will be teaching in Guatemala, "The Good Samaritan", taught everyone the Spanish songs they will be using and shared memory work. Lastly, everyone helped us assemble 500 craft kits we will be using during our sharing time with the children. We had quite the assembly line.  Young and old alike were able to help us. Please  pray for us who are traveling to Guatemala City March 29 for a week to work alongside the Guatemalan missionaries in reaching out to the people of Guatemala.

All but one member of our team made it to last weeks meeting.  We were able to take a group photo. We had a wonderful visit with Ruth, our Guatemalan friend, and her husband and daughter.  She shared with us about the history of her country, climate, dress, customs and food.  She brought hard tortillas with typical Guatemalan toppings for us to eat.  We practiced the Spanish music we will be singing in Guatemala. The team is sponsoring the March 12, 2014 Lenten Meal.  It will be a free will offering.  Money raised will go towards our special offering we want to present to Groundwork Guatemala to support their ongoing mission work. Dios te bendiga  "God Bless You"

Guatemala Mission Team leaves in 35 Days We have about 5 weeks until our departure.  At our meeting this week we will be visiting with a now Quincy Resident who is originally from Guatemala.  She will be at our team meeting to share information about her homeland. We are busy preparing the faith lessons we will be sharing, accepting cash donations for school and medical supplies and collecting items to make hygiene kits.  All items and donations are due by March 9, 2014. Let’s show our “ grace overflowing ” to our brothers and sisters in Guatemala. We are still on target to sponsor a Family Night on March 16, 2014 in the Family Life Center at 6:00 PM. We are requesting prayers from our church friends and relatives. Please pray we will be able to share the gospel and Christ's love to the people in Guatemala and that we will grow in our faith through this experience Dios te bendiga  “God Bless You”

I am starting this blog as an easy way for family, friends and church members to track our journey to Guatemala. The Guatemala team has been busy meeting since September to prepare for the trip.  We now have 9 weeks before departure (March 29-April 6, 2014). Members of the team are preparing the materials we will be using to share Jesus with the people in Guatemala.  In addition, we will be making hygiene kits to give to the Guatemalans, collecting medical supplies and collecting cash donations. The congregation will be able to help us by supplying needed materials for the hygiene kits, donating medical supplies and cash. We will be having a Family Night March 16, 2014 to share the Faith Lesson we will be teaching and to prepare the craft materials and hygiene kits we will be using. We thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement.