Saturday Experiences

Greetings Everyone!! We definitely appreciate all of your prayers as we continue our work in Guatemala. Fyi - The internet connection at the Mission House has been very unreliable, so we've not been able to send out info as much as we would like. Thus the post from Saturday on Sunday. There are a ton of exciting things going on!!! Too many to list…

This morning we woke up to another gorgeous day. Our devotions focused on John 4:48... "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe". It was in the context of Jesus healing the official's son and the official needing to trust that it was going to happen before it actually did. We talked about how receiving a house may be seen as a 'miracle' by the villagers who have next to nothing. We also talked about how there was quite a bit of trust involved....They were approached a month or so ago and perhaps told to tear down an existing structure they have on their property, level a 17 foot square patch of their tiny plot (no small feat in this hilly country), and then they would receive a house at no cost to them. I daresay that many of them have been told things before and they have not come true. The fact that they trusted was probably fairly difficult, but now they are seeing this as reality. We would like to make sure that this is not seen as ‘luck’ to them, but is seen as it really is….God providing this ‘miracle’ to them through us.

Working in the village was an incredible experience again today! There were plenty of smiles and laugher amongst the children, and a great number of relationships were formed both within our group and with the villagers. About half the group worked on houses, a few worked the concrete team (hard work!) and the rest had a blast with the kids. As I was walking between job sites I heard ‘Hosanna!!” from a bunch of children’s voices. It was a little parade of some of the VBS leaders and children beaming and singing. From what I understand, VBS went great and Millie did an awesome job along with everyone else keeping the children engaged and interested.

We handed out food in a different part of Alotenango tonight to 150 families. There were a lot of ‘Dios Te Bendiga’s (God Bless You), smiles and hugs of gratitude being exchanged. So much need…I wish I could describe the people accurately. Pictures will capture it better. Young, old, healthy, physically disabled, smiles, care-worn faces, worry, apprehension, joy...

Until next time. God Bless all of you!
Ryan Bennink