So, after the baptisms we had an eventful night. I and some of the adult leaders met with the elders from the Alfa y Omega Church to talk about past, present and future plans and relationships. They have really come so far. They are so very grateful to Christ Chapel for all the inspiration, support and incarnational love that they've given over the years. CCBC has a history with them and there is such a deep current of mutual love and admiration. On this trip we were able to present them with a check for a very large amount for the continuation of Camp David. They were so thankful! They prayed for me and for Andrew and Sarah. They have some fun news. Ask them what it is.
The kids played around during our meeting, but right afterward the kids gathered at the entrance to the hotel. They were all dressed in their nice clothes (read: not smeared with mud and grubs) to go to a service at Alfa y Omega Church. We walked through the loud streets, with strong smells wafting through our path (sometimes you wanted to run and hide from them) to the church building. Upon arriving at the church, we were escorted to the front left part of the sanctuary. The service began and we soon realized that this was some kind of special service where the small children played a part. Wayne said that the school attached to the church does this once every 4 months or so to get unbelieving parents to the church to hear the gospel.The service was so interesting. The room was full, so I guess there were about 400-500 Guatemalans. These tiny, tiny Guatemalan kids got up in little tuxedos and dresses to emcee all the different parts of the service. This kid, I promise he couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 climbed the stage and prayed extemporaneously and greeted us gringos. I couldn't believe it! The different parts were cool, some contemporary Spanish worship songs, some Kids Kamp type musical numbers with kids dressed as pineapples, bunnies and fish, and it ended with some stirring preaching. Too bad for us it was all in Tzutujil. We appreciated the fervor, but man, he sure preached for a long time. Wayne stood up in the middle of the sermon and beckoned to us to follow him out. It was an awkward exit, but the preacher understood. The kids were glad to have been in the service.
We had dinner later than usual and worship followed. It is exciting to be singing with more and more fervor each night. And the songs have some real depth. It makes me so glad to see the kids worshiping just as passionately with the solid hymns as to the great contemporary songs. In studying life on a mission, it was so great to proclaim in "Come, Thou Fount," "Jesus sought me when a stranger/Wand'ring from the fold of God/He, to rescue me from danger,/Bought me with His precious blood." What a wonderful truth. Singing about grace like that really brings us back when we are still prone to wander. "Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wand'ring heart to Thee." Glory to God!
Then we spent some time in Give God the Glory. Every part of the worship time that the students are a part of just keep getting longer and longer and the kids stay with it the whole time. I feel like they would go on all night if we let them. Here are some things that they wanted to give God the glory for:
- Slava Seely: for the worship at Alfa y Omega church. Though we have a language barrier, he was moved by the worship pastor's passion.
- James Avondet: for the Guatemalan kids who have become dear to his heart as they all played together.
- Rachel Mallison: for the prayer time at Camp David earlier in the day. They have a method of praying called "concert of prayer" where everybody in the group prays at once. It can be difficult to focus if you've never done it before. Rachel made the observation that there were 3 languages all praying at the same time together to the same Lord. This is a picture of heaven! All the redeemed of the earth, from different tribes, nations and tongues glorifying God.
- Ernie Elbert: for the Spanish worship songs at the church. They use the familiar "tu" form when addressing God. This is an intimate and friendly form of "you." God has adopted us His children.
- Joel Peterson: for the changed hearts on this trip. He observed that we have all opened up so much from the beginning until now. There will be life-long friendships formed from this trip.
- Sadie Murray: for the incredible conversation she had with an elder of Alfa y Omega named Miguel. They talked for like 20 minutes, rejoicing in the sovereignty of God. Miguel gloried in God's complete control even in the face of the nearby mudslides of 2005 that killed hundreds of people just a few hours. He rests in God's plan. Sadie will share about that in another blog.
- Anna Hines: for James Avondet and his sweet heart for Jesus. James came on the trip wearing a necklace he received and loved from his brother. By today, James had given it to the kid he had befriended. Somebody else saw the kid holding the charm on the necklace to look at it and then tucking it safely away back into his shirt.
- Alicia: for comfort in God's plan as she is healing from her injury. By the way, her bill for xrays, an emergency room visit, an examination and prescriptions totaled $35. That's right. Not $3500, but $35. Wow.
- James Floyd: for Pedro, a boy at the Colony who was talking to the other Guatemalan boys about Christ. There are a lot of out-of-control boys out there who have lost their fathers and seeing Pedro's love for Jesus and for the other boys was inspiring.
But he gave me a better pose after I told him what a creepy picture that was.
Anyway, Andrew taught out of Luke 24:13-53 about the disciples on their walk to Emmaus and Jesus's resurrection appearances. At this point, the disciples only knew that their Lord had been crucified and buried and that some of the women and other disciples had found His tomb to be empty. So, was that it? 3 years of ministry and miracles flies by and now it all just ends with this depressing scenario? Do we just go back to the old stuff that we've always done and always known? Andrew connected that to what we've been through this week: what was this trip? It flew by and is over, is that it? Do we just return to life as we knew it beforehand? All the same old priorities, the same old Sunday morning Christianity that is so easy to fall into? The same old life without much of a mission?So, the disciples leave Jerusalem and head back to Emmaus, but God has something different in mind. A man appears on the way and joins them as they mournfully walked away from Jerusalem. We find out that it is Jesus, but the two men don't know this. They unknowingly invite Jesus to stay with them. They discover that it is Jesus after He explains the Scriptures to them and when He breaks bread for them. They were with Jesus again! He is alive and the mission isn't over!
They ran back and told the other disciples, but they couldn't believe it because it just seemed too good to be true. In fact Jesus had to show up and prove Himself, showing them His nail-pierced hands, feet and side. In the same way, We'll go back and tell others about this amazing trip. They will think it is nice for us, but they won't totally get it. And others will doubt that anything truly great happened and they'll cause us to doubt. So, what do we do now to stay on mission as we leave? Here, it is important to see that Jesus proved Himself, assuring them of the truth. We can look to this same moment for assurance. Jesus is still alive and we are also on this mission for this same risen Lord.Not only that, but we can use this mission trip to look back at and remember, not nostalgically, as if God only lives in our memories of this trip, but as a faith building moment for the future. I can live on mission because of what has gone before. Andrew said, "What came before has set you up for what is about to come in the future." So, what now? Your trip and mission don't have to end now. Along with the disciples, who were completely revived after seeing the risen Lord, we can continue to put our lives on the line for others as we pursue Christ as our greatest treasure and delight. The resurrection and these precious moments of remembrance have been graciously provided for us to build our faith in our life on mission. What a great message to build our faith! Is there anything greater than thinking about Christ, our God, who conquered death for us?
After worship we eagerly fell into our beds to wake again for 6:30 prayer and 7:00 breakfast. At prayer we had a good conversation about praying for safety. Now, it is good and honoring to God to ask Him to keep us safe. But do we pray for safety more than we pray for Him to refine us whatever the cost? Most of us would admit that our hardest times are our most important times. You would never voluntarily enter them, but now you wouldn't trade them for the world because of what they have done for your faith. God is uniquely honored when Christians trust Him in suffering. So, yes, pray for safety, but tell Him that you want to see Him honored in your life above all things, including your safety. It's a scary place, but God's grace is all-sufficient.
Well, after breakfast we headed back on the long trek. Here are some pictures of that process that I think you will thoroughly enjoy.
Brittany and I have been accidental shirt twins many times on this trip.
Ernie was checking out the great view in the garbage can. 
Ian is almost excited with two half-thumbs up. Hey, that's one whole one! Booya!
Julia, in a rare moment, speaks her mind. Wait, did I say "rare?" I meant "every" :-)
Lauren actually thought that the front of the boat was rickety enough to break off if more than one person went out there. She was having a freak out.
But she got better.
I have world's best youth staff to serve alongside.
The police and military here in Guatemala aren't kidding around. They carry loaded fully-automatic rifles. But then they get talked out of them by slick-talking Texans. No worries, parents, the soldiers took the clips out before the pics.
Rachel is a bit overwhelmed by this moment!
On the way back to Antigua, Wayne took us to Tecpan, which was the first Spanish capital of South America. Cortez, in his search for Guatemalan gold, was welcomed here by the Mayans, but there was no gold to be found. Eventually, Cortez and his men totally destroyed this city and the people in it. He set up his own city here, but it all came down in a terrible earthquake that killed tens of thousands in the area. We got to explore the ruins and snap some pics.
Here are Ian McGlothlin and Clark Nowlin doing something I maybe should have been discouraging. But trust me, it was awesome.
I love Elizabeth Webster's face here. She was truly scared.
I have a theory that the Mayans might not have been conquered so easily if they had just put in a handrail or two. I mean, look at these stairs. How can you rush down these to get your weapons without breaking your neck? They could have definitely used a safety committee. 
Lauren is as sure-footed as a mountain goat.
Southwest Christian Eagles rock!
gooooooOOOOOOO SAINTS!
Aledo Bearcats representing.
And Covenant Classical makes a huge showing. 
If you click the picture below, I have uploaded a very large picture file of our group photo if you want to crop and edit it for your personal use.
We get on the plane and will see you tomorrow. I'll blog one more time tomorrow about our last night here and in the upcoming days we can have some students give testimonies...so stay tuned to this blog.I have to wake up in less than three hours to catch a bus to a plane, to another plane, to a van, to a car to home, to my wife and baby. Glory to God!
