There isn’t too much to say today regarding our first day here as it was a full day of travel… that started early (like 4 am early) and ended late (like arriving to our facility at 8 pm or 10 pm on our body clock time).  So needless to say we are tired.  We had two flights and then about 5 hours of driving from Guatemala City to Gualan, where we will stay and serve this mission.

All in all, it was a relatively uneventful day, but one full of new experiences as this is the first time in Guatemala for everyone on the team.  But if you are a bit unsure how we got here – especially if you are reading this on our Mission Nicaragua page, allow me to explain.

For the last 14 years, we have been sending mission teams to Nicaragua to partner with the Buzbees and Open Hearts Ministries.  However, after some policy changes were made in April by the government, and the people of Nicaragua erupted into PEACEFUL protests of those changes.  Unfortunately, the government responded with oppression, kidnapping, violence and even murder.  And there is seemingly no end in sight.  The numbers continue to rise, yet the people continue to seek to stand their ground peacefully.  Please stay up on the situation and please continue to pray for our friends there.

Seeing the situation worsening, we decided to pray and ask God to open other doors for our team to serve this summer.  We started immediately exploring Haiti (where I’ve led a college team) and also Guatemala, where our church has sent two teams.  Haiti seemed to continue to have closed doors with each opportunity we looked at, and then just recently, their country erupted into violence after some government decisions.  Please pray for our friends and ministry partners there.

Interestingly, one of our Haiti team members is Guatemalan and serves the ministry here that God led us to connect with.  Sarai has become a dear friend and it is so cool to see how the connections in serving together have led us to serve with her and serve her community this summer.  So here we are, partnered with His Hands International and we will be serving here for the next 10 days.

That’s the story how we got here, now the story of how God will use us, change us and shape us remains to be written.  Thanks for following along and most importantly, thanks for praying with us and for us.

Don’t forget you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter and on our Facebook page for more pictures and updates.  We’ll also do our best to blog here each evening.