CCSM Mission Trips: Second Day

Picking up where I left off...our day in Antigua was great! We spent a little time shopping and prayer walking in small groups. Some students got to share the gospel. All this took place in this beautiful town.

Wayne asked us to be back shortly because he wanted to take us to one of the convents. Antigua was the capital of South America for a stretch and, because of the connection between the Spanish state and the Roman Catholic Church, there were dozens of Catholic institutions built. Though this convent was destroyed in an enormous earthquake that obliterated Antigua in the 1700s, it is currently being restored. It was beautiful in its simplicity and Wayne told us some of the history of it. One of the highlights of the tour was going with all the students into the underground sounding chamber and singing praises to God. The architecture of the room allowed our voices to mix together and amplify. I wish you could have heard it. We didn’t want to leave.

Another earthquake happened, so it was a good thing that James and Gaines were there to hold up the building and keep it from collapsing.

Thankfully Marianna was there to help or we'd all be squished! I love James's face.

This is Andrew after he tried to use some of his new Spanish phrases. I guess they don't mean what he thought they meant.

Then we had lunch and took the bus west to lake Atitlan, stopping once to stretch our cramped legs and to buy some snacks and trinkets. William Chilton found something he really liked.

The weatherman has predicted for there to be LOTS of rain on our trip, which will change the dynamic a bit. But, it also brings great opportunities to see some amazing weather. Our bus trip brought us to the town of Tecpan which is at around 10,000ft elevation. The clouds were so heavy with rain that, at that elevation, we were actually driving in them at several points. Such an incredible experience. It seems like you could grow anything in the soil here. Just like the wonderful moist and fertile soil in my front yard in Ft. Worth. Except my yard is the complete opposite.

After leaving our bus in Panajachel, we boarded a ferry to cross Lake Atitlan. The rain hit us pretty consistently on the boat, so we couldn’t really spend any time outside the cabin enjoying the scenery. Many of the kids took the opportunity to get to know each other and to try solving some of our fantastic riddles. See if you can get one: Why can’t you take a photo of an Indian woman using hair curlers? I’ll write in the answer next time to give you a chance to answer. I was overjoyed to see all my high school friends so eager to be together and to bond so quickly.

Brandon will be famous for the two-tone slit drum some day. He already has a fan base in Julia. I mean, look at that rock-and-roll face! And that's just a gig he got on the boat!

As soon as we got to our hotel we ate (creamy chicken and rice. Yum!) and had our nightly meeting. Our nightly meetings generally consist of: worship, “give God the Glory” time, and a brief meditation from the Scriptures. I have to tell you, I LOVE our musical worship time on our Guatemala mission trips. There are two guitars and 70 voices. We get to sing amazing truths about God. Truths like: One day the grave could conceal Him no longer/One day the stone rolled away from the door/Then He arose o’er death He had conquered/Now is ascended my Lord evermore…OH GLORIOUS DAY!

A hero of mine once wrote something to the effect that we sing, not to tell God of things He already knows, but rather to work wonderful truths that we love into our hearts to move our affections for God. Though we are singing to God, we also sing to our forgetful souls to work the joy of the Lord deep into our souls. Without the truth, the songs are hollow. Without the songs, our souls would soon dry. God created something powerful when He created music. I can’t wait for more nights of worship here.

Since most were very tired, “give God the glory” time was kind of brief. But we were still able to give God credit and honor for our safety, our blooming friendships, the singing in the convent, and the incredible examples we have in our upperclassmen. Praise the Lord!

I had the honor of speaking. Our theme is a life on mission as we see in some encounters with Jesus. Basically, we’re looking at Jesus as He lived out His life on mission. I spoke on Zaccheus in

Luke 19. Remember him? Zaccheus was a wee little man/a wee little man was he… In actuality, the people living around Zaccheus probably didn’t think Zaccheus was very cute like the song implies. He was a tax collector. Jewish tax collectors were traitors who took money from Jews and gave it to Rome. He was the CHIEF tax collector, so he was the biggest traitor of all. He was a WEALTHY tax collector, so he was rich because the people around him were poor and hungry.

I pulled out a couple lessons from Jesus’s encounter with Zaccheus. 1) Jesus wasn't afraid of reaching out to him even though others disapproved of it; 2) Jesus initiated, showing us that we can’t just wait for outsiders to come to church; 3) Jesus broke expectations by accepting Zaccheus rather than judging him. People outside the church expect Christians to only care about being the morality police, but we need to accept them in order to reach them for Christ; 4) Jesus understood divine appointments when He told Zaccheus “I MUST stay at your house today.” We must understand that we have a sovereign God who purposefully determines our steps so that we might show others His grace; and 5) Jesus accepted Zaccheus and came into his world, so we must not be afraid to enter into the lives of our friends and neighbors who are outside of God’s grace.

The most important part that the kids need to hear is that Jesus isn’t JUST our example. If He were only that, it wouldn’t be good news at all, but only another law that condemns us. If you don't see Jesus doing this FOR you, then you will have your own set of unreachable, off-limits, unsavable people. But if you see Jesus going to the limit for you, it isn't too much to do the same for those you used to fear or hate. Jesus didn’t wait for us to get our moral act together before He died for us, accepted us and rescued us from God’s just wrath. He is our redeemer before He is our example, but His redemption frees us up to live out His example of life on a mission. Glory to God!

Finally, this morning we split up into our work groups and headed out to work. We worked in a couple different spots: the Colony, the town and Campameto David Phillips. We’ll talk more about our work later this week. Unfortunately, it began raining shortly after lunch, so we had to split and go back to chill at the hotel. Here are some pics of the day.

We put 27 people in the back of this pickup truck! We had about 10 guys with a bunch of tools in the bed and then suddenly these 17 tiny Guatemalan ladies crawled in. That's how they do it.