Summer Mission Trip Report 5

MISSION REPORT 5

At this point, our mission team in Guatemala is nearing the half-way point of the evangelistic series. So far the topics we have presented are:
Daniel 2
Signs of Christ’s Soon Return
The Great Controversy (origin of evil)
The Gospel
2,300 Day Prophecy
Judgment
10 Commandments
Sabbath

Tonight we study about the change of the Sabbath. Tomorrow morning at Church our topic will be a combination one on Health/Tithing. And then tomorrow night will be on baptism.

Our young people who are participating are praying daily and working diligently. Today Christina and Levi have gone out with their pastor to visit some of those who are coming as he prepares them for the baptism. One of the young adults preaching each night from Pennsylvania shared with me that they had never really prayed in public before, and this was a major experience for them to be standing up in front of a church full of people and being the one to offer prayer, much less preach!

Last night on the way back from our church site to the hotel where we are staying (a 45 minute drive each way) as our pastor was driving along, we hit a major pothole in the highway. Frequently he is dodging potholes as we drive back and forth. This time, the pothole was so bad that it immediately deflated the front tire. When he was able to drive the car several hundred feet to pull off the side of the road onto a cross-road, we jumped out of the car and found that both tires on the passenger side had been deflated by the same pothole! Although the tire did not look damaged, both metal tire rims had received a major blow which bent the rims to the point they couldn’t hold an inflated tire. I had carried a flashlight, so I held it while the pastor got the jack out and lifted up the side of the car. However, 2 nights before, another pastor had the same issue somewhere else along the route, and lost 3 tires. So our pastor and another pastor had driven to his rescue and used the spare from each of the 3 cars to help him. This night, my pastor still did not have his spare back, so we had no spare, and even if we did, we had lost 2 tires! So here we were in the pitch black, along a highway in Guatemala, under the stars and along a lot of stretch of heavy growth of trees and vegetation. Our pastor called another pastor to ask for help, and while we were waiting out in the darkness, a 3rd and then a 4th pastor who were driving past, saw us and stopped to offer sympathy and eventually supply 2 spare tires. Since we were only ½ way back, the pastor who came up from our hotel site, took us home and that allowed my host pastor to head back to his house without it getting so late. So we arrived back about 1 hour later than usual (11 p.m.). The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the angels kept us safe, we did not cause an accident, nor were we struck by the big trucks that came around the corner and chugged past us. Also, we were blessed, because the group of pastors here all pitch in and help each other.

Many of our churches are seeing an increase in visitors. Wednesday night, my church had 24 visitors and I was told 27 last night. We did have the pastor from a Sunday-keeping protestant church attend last night. He has had some 3-4 of his members attending earlier.