Day One, Los Conchas, Guatemala

Work is underway in Los Conchas, Guatemala.  Roads are being repaired, schools are being improved, and homes are being restored.  But God did the real work today, mostly on the hearts of our team.  It was a grueling day of very hard labor.  Our hands were blistered, our backs were aching, and our feet were screaming, “This is just day one!?”

But all this went away when children who don’t speak English took us by the hands and called many of us by name.  When they wrapped their arms around our necks, they managed to grab our hearts at the same time. But that was only the beginning.  When a daughter asked us to pray for her sick mother and they both accepted Jesus as their Savior, when a dad who just lost his nine-year-old daughter took out his Bible and talked with our team about the hope he has in Jesus, that’s when the roads and the paint and the concrete slabs seemed like a distant memory.

It would be easy to lament the extreme poverty many in Los Conchas deal with every day.  It would be easy to say, “Thank God that this is not me,” and feel sorry for them.  But beyond the cinder block huts and the pitted tin roofs we found families full of love for one another, for God, and for us.

Team member Colon Pope has been to this village many times before.  Last night he said, “I’m excited about getting back to Los Conchas tomorrow. I have family there.”  Indeed he did. And now, we all do.