It is Sunday so most of us went to children’s service this morning at Pastor Diego’s church in Santiago. Many of the children in attendance were from this week’s VBS so it gave us one more opportunity to hang out with them. We worshiped with the kids, listened to the message about Adam and Eve and worked with children as they completed activity pages that went along with the story. It was neat to see the different age groups all being taught in the same classroom. They each got to complete an activity page that matched their ability level ranging from coloring a picture of Adam in the garden to looking up scriptures in the bible in order to answer questions. We concluded children’s church by sharing Fruit by the Foot snacks with the kids. They had never had them before so they were excited to try different ways of eating them.
After church, several team members went to a professional soccer game between Guatemala city and a local Santiago team. It was very different than professional sports in the U.S. We sat on concrete steps surrounding the field and were close enough to the field to get hit with the soccer ball if it flew out of bounds. Several times during the game children even ran out on to the field and at one point a dog ran right through the middle of the field. The Guatemalan team sat directly in front of us and we were even able to chat with them throughout the game and get several pictures. Baudillio even became their “water boy.” It was an exciting game and Guatemala City won 4-0.
During the soccer game, other team members decided to go shopping. We all met up together after the soccer game to finish shopping. We will have more time to shop in Antigua tomorrow, but we wanted to support the community that we’ve been working with also.
Finally, several team members attended night service at Pastor Diego’s church. What an amazing experience that was! The team was invited on stage to present five computers purchased with mission auction funds. The computers and donated USB drives will be used by students at the school and the congregation was very thankful. Pastor Diego's message was on Luke 5:1-11, which fit perfectly for us on our mission. Although the message was in Tzujil (a native Mayan language), Pastor Diego was very engaging and it was easy to follow along. At the end of the message, Pastor Diego shared with the congregation what was given during the offering. We got a glimpse into the hearts of the people of the church when they announced that not only had people shared money, but some women also offered chickens! It was fun to see them run up the aisle after service holding the chickens by the wings and tie them up outside.
It was a long day filled with many blessings as we got to interact with the community in different ways.
