You can tell where we are on this mission based on how slowly we all walk down the stairs from our room to the truck in the morning.  Based on today’s walk, you can tell we are nearing the end of this mission here in Guatemala.  Our spirits and hearts are full, but our body is most certainly pretty weak and exhausted at times.  The days are full and the evenings are focused and at times intense.  But we press on toward the goal – we want to finish well.

At the construction site, we are working on the tallest building we have ever built.  We were readying the well house, which will be a 3-story structure, with the water tank being on the top floor.  We worked alongside the crew getting forms filled for the support columns.  We also made rebar which ties the entire structure together.  And of course, we moved some more dirt.  Our bucket lines are world famous.

We had a surprise visitor at our worksite today and that was the mayor of Gualan.  Los Limones is one of 200 communities within Gualan.  He came by to not only see the work, but respond to a request to have a power line run to the ministry center.  This would be pretty phenomenal as no one in Limones has power.  The ministry center was to be completely solar powered, but having electricity opens the doors to such greater ministry abilities.  And no sooner had the mayor left (after we had a chance to circle up and pray for him) did two representatives from the electric company arrive to start planning.  I guess it pays to know the mayor here.

It was then back to the main ministry center to prepare for the kids arrival and our last full day of camp. We have done two sets of kids for two different days of camp, with today being day four for camp.  We jumped right back into relationships with these kids which are forming and growing quickly and we are grateful.  It has been neat to see them move from pretty reserved and shy, to more open to know us, play with us and trust us in relationship with them.

The stations continue to run well and each passing day seems to get better and better as we learn to adjust to the different ages and attention spans of the kids.  From an art poster that was “all about me” to kickball, from Bible stories about Daniel to teaching about English then mixed in with some singing and crazy dance moves and you’ve got our camp.  And it was a good day… until we realized it was the last day.  We had planned and prepared to run a 5^th and final day of camp for all 100+ kids (both groups together) of fun activities, team challenges and of course a Gospel presentation.  But the plans changed and so we were a bit saddened to learn we were saying our “See you later” (because we don’t believe in saying goodbye).  And in true Nicaragua fashion, we had to chase the bus out.

Now, as we work in Limones again tomorrow, it’s likely that we will see a good number of the kids from camp, so we are excited to spend time in their community and then get our official “see you later” in there.

But the end of the mission is in sight… at least when it comes to our time in Guatemala.  Please pray that we will finish well.  Pray that hearts and lives will be changed by the Gospel.  Pray that each of us will return different than how we came.