Sunday Morning Worship

Sunday mornings we wake up about 8am ish and head to Iglesia Verbo for a 9:30am worship service. We had come here a couple times on previous visits with Faith Church and our close friend Alma attends this church and leads worship some mornings. She encouraged us to be a part if this fellowship, although it didn't take much! We have grown to love this church over the past 8 months.

We enjoy the time singing and praising God with the many people we have come to know and recognize. The following videos were shot on May 3. Enjoy!

The first song is called "Eres Fiel" and will move autimatically into the second and third videos; songs called "Abre Mis Ojos" y "Agnus Dei".

Guatemala - Part 2

We left you off just after our time in la Ciudad de (the city of) Antigua. For the most part Guatemala Part 1 covered a large portion of our time spent in Guatemala, however, the next three days that would follow would hold some of the most meaningful and thought provoking time in this country.

It was time for Sunday morning church. (Our original plans were to go and celebrate a special family day at one of the cities maximum security prisons, but due to some unforeseen circumstances we were sadly unable to do this). So it was time to do the flexible thing and change plans on the fly. Joel, being the master of improv and flexibility, directed us to a service at Casa de Dios (House of God) a mega-church in Guatemala City. Its four Sunday church services bring in a staggering 10,000 people each week. Without saying too much it was an interesting and discussion provoking service for the team. The praise team was all color coordinated, there was a smoke machine and even the drummer was all decked out in a suit. The message was more reminiscent of a prosperity gospel type and we weren’t sure why we went to this church on Sunday morning, but we were soon to find out.

In the afternoon Joel led the Kuyper group in another teaching module comparing “Theology of Glory vs. Theology of the Cross”. For this module we met in a church (Nueva Jerusalem) located in a barrio of Guatemala City. Joel shared inspiring stories of how this church has been living and working with the surrounding community. We heard how its foundations built on Theology and thinking centered around the Cross. Here we came to further understand the need to integrate and embrace the reality of the world around us rather than retreat and build barriers to ward off the world. The church in which we discussed this was a inspirational example of such a community of believers. Nueva Jerusalem church exemplifies what it means to live with and love the community around you in the area a church serves. We spent time with a specific family getting to know them and worshipped with this church in the evening. That mariachi band was good!

On Monday finally we had a day to sleep in. We spent the morning socializing and complaining about the lack of running water...oh ya, I forgot to tell you that from Saturday (May 16th) to Tuesday night (May 19th) there was no running water at the seminary where we were staying. I pity the rental company that gets the van back after transporting 14 unshowered sweaty people around for 4 days.

Joel took us to visit one of the families which live on the edge of the dump.

After trying to search out other sources of water Joel came by to pick us up for our afternoon reflection. That afternoon he brought us over to the cities cemetery. It is a staggering place enclosed by 12 foot high concrete walls. Inside are rows and rows of crypts and above ground tombs. We made our way to the back of the cemetery to a place that looked out over into the city dump. It was here that our next missional lesson would come. Joel, with the use of the scene around us, talked about how we can and need to rethink the way in which we are reaching those like the 11,000 people working in the city landfill. He based his talk on Judges 19, yes that’s right, Judges 19. Go and read it and email me if you wish to hear more. Needless to say it was a sobering experience, one we will never forget.

Our last day in Guatemala was spent in the squatter community of La Limonada. There we visited two schools to sit in on the classes, help the teachers and play with the kids. In addition to this we were able to visit with a couple families in their homes to pray with them for their families. This was also the day that we finally had water back at the Seminary, its crazy what a shower will do for the moral of a group.

As part of the school curriculum there is scheduled play time one day week.

View of La Limonada from the gravel soccer field.

Although the group of students from Kuyper College were not finished their time in Guatemala, our time came to an end. Wednesday morning at 6:50 am our plane took off and we were back in Managua just over an hour later. Now we sit here in a coffee shop checking the emails that were building up in our inbox, and enjoying a cup of Nica coffee (a little taste of home for us!). I wish I could write more of a reflection but my mind still has not properly and thoroughly processed all that we experienced in Guatemala. What I can say is that we thank God for this opportunity as it felt in part like a debriefing and a new beginning all in one. It brought together some loose ends and helped clarify the context of Central America as a whole. It gave background to a where Nicaragua stems from. We also feel like it has equipped us to return to Canada and properly serve in the ways God has called us to. There are some really exciting things we feel that is being stirred up in us and are really looking forward to sharing them with you!

Guatemala - Part 1

Yes, we are in Guatemala for about 10 days taking a ride with Joel Van Dyke, CRWM of Guatemala, as he carries out a Vision Trip with students from Kuyper College. We were asked to observe and learn how he runs this trip and we jumped at the opportunity to see more of tag along on one of Joel's well-known trips and to hear more of his day to day work.

Guatemala is pretty amazing...we joined the group at Lake Atitlan, said to be the most beautiful lake in Central America and is located in the middle of three volcanoes. While there in the village of Panajachel we visited a catholic church and heard the story of an American Priest who humbly served and witnessed to the Mayan people there during the midst of the war. He was murdered one night inside his own office by two masked men, the empty bullet shells and blood stained wall still found in his quarters are a testament to this. The man who took his spot asked his friend (and renowned author/speaker) Henri Nouwen to join him...this was at the time that Nouwen was living in Toronto. We encourage you to research this and read his book Love in a Fearful Land: A Guatemalan Story. (google it...it is an inspiring story of a man serving as we are all called to do.)

We then we went to visit a place where some of the Mayan people still worship and burn incense to the carved god maximon. This idol changes homes once per year and it is voted upon which home it will go to next. Everyday of the year the home which has maximon will have people praying and burning incense to it. This experience shook many of us up to the realities of idols and we reflected on what kind of "maximons" are prevalent in our culture and lives.

Yesterday, in the morning, the group visited a forensics lab where anthropologists work to identify the bones of thousands of people who died in the massacre of the 35 year civil war. It was sad and yet it was really cool how these people give of themselves to bring dignity and justice back to the families who had lost loved ones. Once these bodies are legally identified the lab assists in giving the families a proper burial of their loved ones. This work has been going on for almost 20 years and the lab has identified over 5000 bodies. This is a amazing feat but dwarfed by the number of people who were killed or kidnapped during the war, almost 200,000.

Later in the afternoon, they went to the International Justice Mission which is a human rights agency which advocates for the rights of those who are exploited, and victims of violence and/or sexual abuse. (It is also located in Nicaragua.) http://www.ijm.org/.

Therehas been a lot of rain here so some activities haven't turned out as hoped, but we are enjoying the welcome climate change that Guatemala offers. We have been wearing jeans and long sleeves pretty much all the time! Today we spent the day in Antigua seeing more of the ruins and hearing more of the history of the culture. (Antigua was the first capital for all of central america when it was considered one country by the Spaniards and is also a World Heritage site - named by the United Nations.)

So many events in the history of Guatemala overlaps with events in the history of Nicaragua, so it has been an extremely informative and heart/mind moving experience so far. We are so thankful for this time here as we are really starting to understand the history of Central America and this in turn helps us understand some of the reasons and events that have mapped out Nicaragua's history not only as a country but as a civilization and culture. As Joel often says - "unless you map out and see the pain of a city (where it is bleeding), the hope for a city, and God's heart for a city" ...we will never be able to serve the way God has called us to serve - "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you..."