Lutheran Church of St John Groundwork Guatemala Mission

Monday, January 4, 2016 We are starting this blog as an easy way for family and friends and church members to track our journey as we work with Groundwork Guatemala in Guatemala. This is the third year we will have a mission team from the Lutheran Church of St. John traveling to Guatemala.  Our departure is less than 12 days away and the team is getting excited about the trip and the opportunity to share the gospel with the people in Guatemala. We have been preparing for the past several months for the trip.  We want to thank everyone who supported our efforts by attending the fundraising western night, advent meal and by donating the needed supplies.  We are still in need of some additional items which can be found in the weekly announcements. Donations are needed by January 10, 2016. We thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement. 2016 Guatemala Mission Team

Today was our last day of ministry as we wrap up things here in Guatemala.  In the morning some went to a coffee roasting facility and some on home visits.  On the home visits we got to meet Mario and his family.  Mario is sponsored by the kids of our Sunday School.  We have a video greeting from Mario to bring back for everyone.  In the afternoon children from the area around the city dump came to the ministry house.  We only had about 15 kids for this lesson, which was OK since we just meet in the garage.  Like the other locations it was great to share the Gospel with them and they proudly shined their lights!  After our day of sharing we had to say goodbye to the missionaries.  That was tough.  They are amazing people who daily share God's Word and compassion with the people of Guatemala.  We were all inspired by their service and encouraged by their passion.  We hope to bring that home to share with all of you.  The ni...

If you want to see the fun we are having you can find us on Facebook at the Lutheran Church of St. John page.  Enjoy.

Welcome to another beautiful day in Guatemala! After breakfast and devotions the team headed out to Gonzalez Park. This park was quite different from the parks we see in the US, it consisted of a large slab of cement between two block buildings. After we arrived at the park, some of the team members went to make home visits. During one of these home visits I got to meet my sponsor child, her mother, her brother and her sister. We received many hugs and refreshments of Coca Cola and tasty tostadas. After returning to the park after the home visits we found that the park had been transformed. Several shade tents had been set up along with stools for the adults. We read books to the children, jumped rope and blew bubbles while waiting for all of the children and adults to arrive for the faith lesson. Once again the children enjoyed the singing and doing their crafts. I had a chance to spend more time visiting with Keyli and her family throughout the afternoon. On our way home, we had a su...

Today was adventuresome!  It was an early morning because we drove two hours to get to our village, Buena Vista.  On the way, we got to see the four volcanoes around our area.  Fuego was erupting but from the road, it looked like black smoke.  It was an amazing sight to see! In Buena Vista, we met a lot of interesting people.  We made some home visits to meet several  families.  There were lots of chickens, ducks, pigs and some really cute dogs which we were not allowed to pet.  Our faith lesson went well. It was held on a soccer field under the mango trees where it was shady.  Miss Rochelle and several other team members played soccer with the children.  On the way home, we got to see the men of the village work in the sugar cane fields.  They burn the sugar cane to remove the leaves before they chop it down with machettes.  This is how they make their living.  Crystal

Today was our third day here in beautiful Guatemala. We began our day bright and early with breakfast just the way we like it at 7 o'clock! We had a lovely (very long) morning devotion led by Manuel, one of the Guatemalan missionaries. We left the house and started our hour long journey to El Rincon, or The Corner. We met Carlos, a man who experienced God's mercy throughout his entire life. We were blessed to use their new and improved "bathroom." We went back to the corner and split into several groups and went on some house visits. There was one visit with a family whose daughter is sponsored by someone from our congregation. Her family's story was simply amazing, and her faith in the Lord is so strong. It was so amazing getting to connect with the young girl and getting to talk to her and pray with her. After the home visits we shared our faith lesson with the kids and played with them a little bit. They were very well behaved and very sweet and fun to work wit...

    Our morning started with a delicious breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit at 7:00.  We then had our morning devotions led by Julian, one of the Guatemalan missionaries, reflecting on Ps.119:7-20. He spoke of the need to search for God and to keep our eyes open to the needs of others.          We then proceeded to visit the ministry "Only a Child". This ministry was established by George Leger, who left his employment as a pastry chef in Boston upon being moved to minister to "street boys" in Guatemala City.  He felt he received a calling from God in 1994 to do this.  "Only a Child" provides shelter, a woodworking shop for employment and opportunities for education and advancement. For more information go to www.onlyachild.org.   Then our group went to the city cemetery which borders on the city dump, the "land fill" for Guatemala City.  Private and city trucks come there daily to dump their trash and oth...

We have had another blessed day in sunny Guatemala!  This morning, we attended a spirit filled worship service.  We started with praise and prayer complete with singing and clapping with a full band, dancing and several singers. God was definitely in that worship!  A lay leader then presented the sermon. I understood only a few words of his speedy Spanish but he was very animated and had a such a good sense of humor, I felt so uplifted as if I understood the whole sermon!  The service lasted about two hours...about half of it was standing. This afternoon was spent unpacking, counting and putting away all of the donation items we brought from our generous congregation. (Thank you!)  We spent the remainder of the afternoon reorganizing, playing cards, plus several napped since we arrived so late last night. In the evening, we practiced our songs...in Spanish...and our lesson that we will share with the kids this week.  The theme of our lesson is John 3:16....

Well it was a long day, but uneventful.  That's always best when we travel.  We rolled into our home from the week about 12:30 am.  Everyone is tired from the long day, but excited at the same time.  We are getting settled into our rooms and getting ready for an amazing week.  Thanks for the prayers.  We will also be praying for you while we are gone.  Come back for more tomorrow.

In just a few minutes we will be gathering in prayer and loading up the vans.  It will be a long day.  After the drive to Chicago our first flight takes us to Houston.  There we have a long layover before leaving for Guatemala City.  If all goes according to plan we will be getting to our home for the next week around midnight.  Pray for safe travel and that we stay well rested for our week. Months of preparation, weeks of waiting and hours of prayer are about to come to an end.  God has an amazing adventure planned for each of us.  We will see some things we never expected and have great opportunities to serve and share.  And through it all we will come home changed, new and improved from the work of God in our lives. Come back often to hear how God is working. 

 Our group of twelve is anxious and excited to leave for Guatemala.  We will be flying out of Chicago on Saturday and arriving in Guatemala late Saturday night to begin our adventure.  While there we will be teaching John 3:16 to hundreds of kids and sharing in the work of the missionaries at Groundwork Guatemala.  Come back often and check out what God is doing not only in Guatemala, but in the lives of our servants.  Thanks for your prayers.

Yesterday was somewhat of a sad day for us.  After morning devotions we said our goodbyes to the missionaries.  They are all Guatemalans who live here in Guatemala City with their families except for Kevin and Ginny.  Many of them travel more than an hour by bus each day to do the work here in Groundwork Guatemala.  They are such great people working for the Lord, each with their own unique talents and abilities. We will keep them in our daily prayers from here on out. We each shared a bible verse wiith them to encourage and build them up.  We held a prayer time for them to pray for each of them and the work they do here. We took many group photos of our LCOSJ team with the missionaires. Another nice experience we had yesterday morning was going to the Godfrey Coffee Company.We learned how coffee is obtained from the cherries processed, roasted and packaged for shipment.  We learned about some of the lives of the owners, the coffee plantations and the lif...

Thursday,  April 3          After breakfast and morning devotions, our group traveled to Amatitlan which is approximately 75 minutes from Groundwork Guatemala's house in Guatemala City.  In the morning we split into two groups for home visits. One group went to the home of Dulce Marie, Pastor Steve's sponsor girl who is in fourth grade. The group was able to meet with her, her mother and two brothers.  They learned about Dulce Marie and her family and shared more about Pastor Steve's family.  The other group went to the home of the Keller's sponsor boy who is in second grade.  They met with his mother, grandmother and sister since he was with his class on a field trip.  Fortunately, he returned before our group left Amatitlan so the Kellers were able to meet Francisco.  At both homes our groups shared Bible passages and their meanings as well as praying for the families for health and other issues for which they req...

Today was a long day for our group. Breakfast at 6:00 AM and in the van and on our way to Buena Vista village by 7:00 A.M.  Buena Vista is on the costal plain, approaching the Pacific Ocean, about a two hour drive from Guatemala City.  The main "street" in the village is an old railroad bed minus the tracks.  The people live in makeshift housing, on a gentle decline along the tracks.  Many of the men work in the nearby sugar cane fields. Groundwork Guatemala visits this village once a week.  The adults have prayer and scripture lessons.  Pastor Steve shared his message in Spanish.  We divided into smaller groups, accompanied by our Guatemalan missionaries and visited people in their homes.  The memories from those visits with young mothers, children, the disabled and even the dying will be a lifelong blessing to us.  We had PB&J sandwiches and chips for lunch, then we did our Good Samaritan story, singing, memory work and crafts with 88...

Today was lots of fun! We started our day with a sunrise breakfast at 7 o'clock where we learned Pastor Steve eats his bananas like a monkey (opens it from what we would call the bottom and uses the top as a handle.) We then had a bilingual morning devotion lead by one of the Guatemalan missionaries, Caesar. He spoke both English and Spanish throughout the entire devotion. He was able to translate for himself. We then split up into two groups and rode in two separate vans to the village of El Rincon, which was about an hour away. We rode through the city and then into the small villages in the mountains. We saw many different lifestyles on our ride there. When we got to El Rincon, we split up into three groups and made some different visits. One group included Maggie, Harry, Janet, Sydney, and Sharon. They visited a women named Sonya. Sonya had been shot in the back 5 years ago and was told she would never be able to walk again. She came out of her house using only a walker to get ...

Today has been an eye-opening experience for our team.  We began our day with devotions after breakfast.  Devotions were led by one of the Guatemalan missionaries, Carlos.  Carlos burst into a song of praise during his devotions and touched many of our hearts.  We then visited a ministry focused on "street boys", called Only a Child.  The boys live 24/7 in this ministry and work by crafting beautiful wooden boxes.  They attend alternative school on the weekends so they can receive an education.  Many of the these "boys" are in their 20s and are still working on their junior high education.  This ministry is started by a man who was a pastry chef in Boston, George Leger, but now he works full time with this ministry.  The boys have to follow strict rules in order to receive their lodging, food, and education.  The team was then introduced to the Guatemala City dump.  This is a very large dump where people scavenge for anything that t...

We had a great day yesterday.  We had a wonderful breakfast fixed by our hostess Ginny then we went to a Guatamala Church, Sendero de la Cruz. We know the last word is cross. It was a great experience to see how the Guatemalans worship.  They had about 30 minutes of just praising and singing before the church service.  The service was about two hours in length. We spent the afternoon preparing a craft that will be used next week and unpacking and storing all the supplies we brought.  We also rehearsed our faith lesson we will be teaching the children in the villages this week.  The temperature was in the low 80's.  We are a mile high here so it seems warmer.  Connie And Greg visited their Quincy friend and family for dinner. The rest of the team remained at the mission house.  Bedtime devotions were on Beautiful Feet, Romans 10:12-13.

We arrived in Guatemala City at about 9:30 PM. We passed through immigration and customs with no hassel.  No line at this time of day.  Guatemala does not do Daylight Savings time so we are an hour behind Quincy. It was beautiful flying in over the city at night.  We saw fireworks from the air. I'm sure they were not there for our arrival. Our hosts Kevin and Ginny met us at the airport in a truck and a van. It was a short 15 minute trip to the mission house.  We got oriented to the house and sleeping quarters tonight. It has been a long day and everyone is tired but still excited to be here. We will attend church at a Guatemalan Church in the morning. Good night to all.

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.