A Hope and a Future

I’ve just returned from a mission trip to Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala. 

Yes, we worked hard and we shoveled a lot of concrete with temps in the upper 90's as we built a small home for an elderly person. I was frequently tired and absolutely convicted of a deep, deep need to actually start exercising instead of just talking about it. The showers were cold water only and we had to remember not to drink the tap water. 

I loved it. 

This was classic mission trip stuff. This is the reason I am a missionary.

In the midst of things that make most people in the United States uncomfortable and triggers avoidance strategy red flags for spoiled gringos everywhere, the love of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were having a field day.

We were a team of thirteen ranging in age from 16 to somewhere north of age 60. (Okay, far north of 60.) While it’s common on a team of this size to have at least one “problem child,” that was not the case for this team. We all meshed very well and each of us seemed to have ended up on the team for a specific reason and purpose. The leadership of John and Jamie Simon was excellent and Ruben Hernandez, our in-country leader, blessed us every day.

Some of us were good with children. Some had a special gift for shoveling concrete into buckets. Some of us spoke Spanish. Others communicated very effectively without words of any language. 

The love of Jesus Christ was never more evident than at breakfast one morning when I watched a heavy equipment operator from the United Stated let a five year-old Guatemalan girl paint his fingernails brilliant white. 

We enjoyed wonderful food prepared by the staff of the school– including a dish involving mashed potatoes and guacamole that was so good I attempted to duplicate it when I got home. 

One night, we went out for supper and I was sitting with Carlos, the guy who works himself to a frazzle maintaining the school and any project that comes his way. The menu showed a variety of delicious-looking burritos and tacos, but I decided to just have whatever Carlos was having. 

It was a good decision. Birria tacos (made from smoked goat neck and served with broth) are excellent and I would not hesitate to order them again. 

What was better than the food, though, was getting to know this guy whose life’s work was serving Jesus Christ by blessing the school and the children there.  

And the more I think about it, the more I see that it was the table ministry throughout the trip where the love of Jesus truly shone. (That happens a lot with Jesus.)

One day at lunch, a nine year-old student at the school named Marie was enthusiastically explaining aspects of cellular biology to us from her text book. She was happy and smart and truly in her element teaching us things we certainly may not have known before she told us. (I certainly did not know the Spanish name for the Golgi apparatus inside living cells before Marie told me.)

And there’s the deal. 

Guatemala does indeed offer free public education, but most children never get past the sixth grade. In a country where most people live on a little over $400 per month, most parents want their children earning money to support the family as soon as possible. Almost 17% of the adult population is unable to read and write– and that’s higher in rural areas. Human trafficking is also a real problem in Guatemala

So, for Marie and many like her, a school where she is loved and valued can bring a hope and future that other children in Guatemala don’t have. Marie could end up curing cancer because GoServ Global planted a seed– but even if she doesn’t, she now knows the joy of learning and she will undoubtedly pass that on to her children. Who knows what they will do? Who knows the ripples that will rebound through the generations because of what happened when a tiny mustard seed of education and faith were planted in a young Guatemalan girl in this time and place?

And that’s why I go on mission trips. 

Because what God is doing in Guatemala –and all over the world– is far bigger and more infinitely glorious and wonderful than any of us can think or imagine.

ALL to HIS GLORY! HALLELUJAH!

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