Tomorrow we will take a boat ride back to Panajachal for our final debrief.  I can´t believe it´s almost over!  We are all looking forward to our last week together and then of course flying home.  We fly out of Guatemala City on April 30th and arrive in the evening at Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Most of us will spend the night together on the 30th as our flights home our scheduled for May 1st. 

Below I have posted more pictures so you can see what we see.

Mark helping wash windows of the local church.



Here is a picture looking down the street we live on.


Faby, Raina and Maria.



Next door neighbor´s house.



Drainage that runs outside all the homes and along all the streets.




This is a picture of Pastor Efrium´s home.  Above the home is where they want to build a clinic.



Future sight for San Pablo Clinic.



Please click on this link- VISIONto find out about our vision for a clinic in San Pablo.

Lately God has been laying on my heart something that I'd like to share with you.

The other day I was in a tiny house surrounded by people that had come to mourn the loss of a son. They stood as one in their grief, in solidarity. As I watched them I began to think of what it means to be a part of a body of believers.

I've been so blessed this year to have my home church, Osterville Baptist (OBC) support me while I've been on the field. My old Bible study gang always writes encouraging words on my blogs. Some of the youth group girls follow along on what I am doing. I have moms from OBC that have been praying for me for years and know that they still are. And I'm also blessed to have Pat Langley praying for me. She's one of those rare people that devotes their time to praying and being in God's presence. She is something special. Everyone needs a Pat Langley in their life.

I also have members from my former church First Baptist Orlando supporting me. I'm not saying all this to brag. My point is without this body of believers supporting me I'd be lost. They are the people in my life that are always there for me. If things are going well they share in my joy. When you lose a loved one and are grieving they bring you lots of food (that's how Baptist say I love you!). When someone comes home from college, they are there to rejoice in seeing you home.

Everyone needs a church that will embrace them. That will become their family. I don't know what I'd do without mine. If you are not apart of a church I encourage you to start going to one. Sunday is not only a day for you to learn more about God, it is also a day to recharge your batteries so to speak. A time for you to be uplifted and encouraged or to uplift and encourage someone else. You're doing a disservice to yourself and your family if you don't go because you'll miss out on so much.

"And let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another." Hebrews 10:25a

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you should labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." Exodus 20:8-10a

Everyday is different for us here in San Pablo.  Yesterday we visited many families homes that attend Pastor Efrium´s church.  Each home we visited had a family member that was sick or needed prayer for something else.  In one there was a 15 year old pregnant girl, in another we prayed for a 13 year old boy that had terminal cancer and was getting ready to leave the hospital to come home and die. 

Here is his sister next to a photo of him surrounded by flowers and religious things.

Also yesterday we were invited to go to a restaurant today in San Marcos where our friend Nicholas works.  We spent the morning walking through the valley with Pastor and Raina, taking pictures along the way to the restaurant.

Here is a picture of Raina and I getting ready for our walk.

The scenery is breathtaking here. Volcanoes hug the glistening lake and gorgeous flowers are everywhere you look.

Team Concrete with Pastor Efrium and Raina.

I shot pictures of the foliage once we reached San Marcos where the restaurant was located.

The Restaurant had a breath-taking view of the lake.

Isn´t God´s creation beautiful?!

This past month has been a bit of a whirlwind and we didn´t really know what our last ministry of the year would look like. On top of that there was a bit of confusion yesterday morning as we were traveling to our next destination.  Turns out Concrete wasn´t going to San Pedro, instead we are in San Pablo. 

Upon arriving in San Pablo we were welcomed by local Pastor Efrium and his family.  We´re living in their house and Betty (the Pastor´s wife) has been cooking for us.  This family is so sweet.  Two of their kids are living at home, Raina is 4 and Faby is 11.  Did I mention that they only speak Spanish and a local dialect while we only speak English?  Thankfully we have a Spanish/English dictionary that we´re becoming very familiar with.  Anyways, they are an amazing family that love the lord

As for ministry we were told we´d be washing the enormous church windows and that is all we knew of any ministry opportunities.  Honestly it didn´t sound to exciting and I think we were all feeling a bit down because we wanted to be used more.  And then something happened last night.  After dinner we were in the middle of watching a movie on Mark´s computer when the Pastor came in.  He had gotten a call that one of his church members was in the hospital.  We walked to the house of the family and gathered around the girl´s empty bed to pray for her.  She is 18 years old with a high fever and in a hospital about 3 hours from here with no family to comfort her.  The mother was weeping as we prayed and asked God to heal her daughter.  When the praying subsided we headed back home with a promise to come back tomorrow and pray some more.

Then this morning we were told some terrible news.  It seems that as we returned to the Pastor´s home last night and sat down to finish our movie a young man of 18 was committing suicide two doors down from the girl we´d been praying for.  My heart grieves.  This morning we went to his families' house.  Everyone was gathered in a tiny room, squished together like sardines and weeping over the coffin.  There was a window on the coffin that allowed the grieving family to look down on his face.  Pastor Efrium led in a prayer and all 60 of us joined him.  It was heart wrenching and I was left to wonder if this boy knew how much he was loved. 

If all we do here is wash windows, then that´s ok because we´re serving the church, serving the Lord.  But I think God brought us here for so much more.  I think we´re here to be with Pastor Efrium´s congregation so that we can pray with the sick, grieve with this family and show love to a hurting community.

I thought I´d post some pictures of our quick visit in Panajachal.  The flowers here are beautiful!

Many Guatemalans wear clothing that represents their particular tribe.

There are tons of volocanoes in Guatemala and the ones in Panajachal surround a large lake.

Guatemalans love color and have many shops displaying their handmade products.

Team Concrete will be leaving tomorrow (Monday, April 14th) to go to San Pedro.  We don´t know much of what ministry will look like for us.  Most likely we´ll be living with a local Pastor.  I´m unsure of whether there will be internet access but I will write as soon as I can!

There is a hospital that cares for all the handicapped/mentally ill children and adults in Antigua.  It's considered unacceptable to have someone with a handicapped in one's home so many are left on the street to fend for themselves. 

My friend Jessie spent a summer here a few years ago helping to play with and take care of the children.  Jessie encouraged us to get involved at the hospital this last month which is how we got involved in this particular ministry. 

It's hard to put into words what you see arriving at the children's ward.  There are maybe 75 wheel chairs lining the walls many of them filled with children.  In their two huge bedrooms, cribs line the walls.  Sammy's crib is lined with cushioning and he wears a helmet all the time because most of the time he spends in his crib bashing his head in to the metal bars.

There is a little boy here who was brought in after being severely abused by his mother.  Now he barely talks, barely reacts to anything.  It is an awful thing to witness. 

There are not enough nurses to adequately care for the individual needs of these children.  We try to visit them every day taking them out in their wheelchairs to the park or out to eat. 

It's always hard to say goodbye to them because we know that they will soon be put to bed for the day (usually between noon and 2pm).  I know that Jesus loves these precious kids but it makes me sad to see so many children without family to love them.

Meet Sammy!  He loves to play "pick up the blanket" and he'll play it over and over again.

Sorry that it's been awhile since you've heard from me.  Like my teammates have posted, I spent a short time in the hospital with a bacterial infection in my stomach.  I'm back to good health now so no worries! 

On the other hand my teammate and friend, Lauren Morris went home last week with typhoid.  We miss her dearly.

This is our last week in Antigua.  Soon (this coming Sunday and Monday) our squad will be here and we will be dispersing into our original teams for two more weeks of ministry in a different part of Guatemala.  And lastly we will have our final debrief.  The race ends April 30th.  I can't believe it's almost here!

I wanted to show you this link which if you click on will show you how I've been living the last year (courtesy of Jessie Pace).  It is very true!

Jessie, Katey and I

At our rented house with our Guatemalan friend George.