Finding God in the Banana Trees and Coffee Grove

Catholic church in Xoxclac, one of four churches there

Thoughts of Guatemala came streaming back this morning after a couple of us gave a little mission report at Marine View. Afterward we were approached by many well-wishers from the congregation, some of whom had made the journey before, others who wish to go in the future and even more who just wanted to say job well done.

Since it is Sunday, this would be a good time to reflect more on the spiritual side of our mission. Above all, we were an ensemble of Christian men out to do God's work, even if it meant being away from our regular lives for 10 days to moil through stove installations in homes with dirt floors and open doors, with chicks running around at our feet.

It became apparent to us early that the people in the remote and rugged village of Xoxlac themselves are a spiritual, God-loving lot. For a village its size (maybe 500 people scattered far and wide) to have four churches of different denominations told the story right away. The Sunday night-of-arrival church service Pastor Jon, Rueben and I attended was chock full, amazing by itself considering that many of its parishioners had to walk great distances with young children on steep trails illuminated by flashlight. This church has a nicely polished and ornate hardwood floor, a stage, benches, lights and a large sound system to support a small band and choir. On the wall behind the stage area stretched a large mural with a seascape depiction of Jonah and the Whale, an especially curious scene considering most of these folks had probably never even seen ocean before.

We did not see the other churches in operation but I wouldn't be surprised if they had been filled earlier in the day. One of the buildings was fairly new.

The Spanish Bibles we lugged along for both the kids and adults seemed very well received but were in short supply. In fact we almost couldn't bring all of the adult Bibles due to airline weight restrictions, but somehow managed to stuff them all in our personal luggage at the check-in counter at the urging of Doug's wife, Carol DeVries.

One man from a yonder village heard we were giving out Bibles and made the long trip over to ask if we had an extra. We didn't think we did, but he refused to take no for an answer. Finally Willy asked if he could come back the next day just in case. The man was there early the next afternoon with a big smile of anticipation. Sadly, we had to send him away one more time because all of the Bibles we brought were for the villagers we had come to serve. It was a hard decision and hopefully he understood.

One night a few of us were grilling Pedro, the friendly local school headmaster, about life in the village. Unfortunately I got into the conversation late and if the subject of religion and its importance came up I'd missed it. Perhaps another team member can fill us in if it did because I didn't think to ask. Or maybe it's a question that didn't even need to be asked.

As I wrote in an earlier post, Pastor Jon prepared a mission study guide of "Upside Down Stories" in the Bible that model the importance of serving and giving. As he introduces:

"The Bible is full of what might be called "Upside Down" stories. In fact the Bible might be considered an "Upside Down" story. Jesus put it like this: The first will be last and the last will be first. Again, he said that if we are going to receive we must be willing to give and if we want to live we must be willing to die."

While our team couldn't have devotionals every night due to our packed schedule, we did find time three or four of the evenings and were able to engage in long, meaningful discussions around these stories. In the village we were able to have our discussions in comfy camping chairs in the lit school yard with stars and planets shining down from above. I'm sure Pastor Jon would be more than happy to send a copy of his guide to anyone interested.

John and Maxx were among the six Gringos
piled in the bed of a Toyota en route to church

We attended church - the one Marco with Hands for Peacemaking attends - on the Sunday morning after our arrival in Barillas. We didn't know then, but getting to the church would be a sample of our travels later that day. Six of us "Gringos," all in our Sunday best, piled in the back of a Toyota pickup truck, parading through town then up a long and bumpy dirt road.  The church was once located downtown, but a few years ago the elders of the Centro Bíblico Vida Abundante decided to relocate it in the way out in order to better serve the population of farmers and villagers living out there and due to the availability of land.

Exterior of unfinished church in Barillas

As it turns out their plans may have been a little ambitious. The church is a large, concrete and cinder block structure, more of a cathedral along the lines of what we might call a "mega church" in the U.S. Being built on the pay as money allows plan, the two-story building is pleasant but far from finished. With an array of exposed wiring, re-bar and unrailed upper balconies, no self-respecting building inspector would allow occupancy in its current state of construction if it were, say, located in Federal Way, Washington.

Sanctuary of church in Barillas. Only a few seats were occupied.

We dutifully found our seats in plastic lawn chairs toward the front, joining perhaps 70 or so of the regulars, including kids. In format it was not unlike a service at Marine View or many other American churches. The Spanish language service opened with several songs played by the band and choir and the congregation encouraged to sing along as the words were projected onto a screen.  During his sermon Pastor Freddy warmly welcomed the group from Washington. 

Those of us who don't speak Spanish tried to follow Freddy's sermon  in the handout as best we could until the session came to a musical closure. What we didn't know was that only signaled the intermission. We wandered out of the sanctuary in the fellowship area where deserts and pastries were being served and spent the next 45 minutes roaming around upstairs to see the Sunday school classrooms and to get a better view of the sanctuary from above. During the break John Kirk was able to chat in Spanish with Pastor Freddy and ask about future church plans. The church would be finished in another two years "by God's grace," he cheerfully informed us. I pray their numbers will swell as well as the church could easily seat 500.

Another session lasting perhaps another half-hour followed that. Marco stood and said some closing words and we filed out.

As we returned back down the hill we passed by a very small Assembly of God church and Pastor Jon asked me to take a photo, which I did. He and Jesse Skiffington, associate pastor at Marine View, both hail from small towns where Assembly of God churches are often dominant and he wanted to share this photo with Jesse. On the final day of our mission, when visiting the City of Santiago by Lake Atitlán, we saw huge, hilltop Mormon churches festooned with satellite dishes to beam in services from around the world.

Assembly of God church en route

We prayed a fair amount over the length of our mission. Grace at every meal, of course, taking turns at each. We asked God for safety, for guidance and protection, for the means to accomplish our mission in a spirit of sharing and humbleness. We prayed that somehow we could make a small difference in this big world as we went about the business of serving those who did not have what we have in America. We asked for Him to bless each home. I believe, as a team, we left Guatemala knowing God delivered on all counts.