The guys in our group went to the same building that the school meets in from 5:30-7:30PM on Monday night. The building looks completely different in the dark! The walls appear to be brown and black instead of the bright green and yellow that they actually are in the daylight. In fact, every sense picks up something that seems completely foreign to what would normally happen in the same building during the day. The smells, sounds, and mood are different...instead of having beautiful, smiling children running around playing and screaming there are filthy men that smell like the glue that they have been huffing all day. Many of them have a hard time walking through the black metal doors, which have a tiny door that swings open built in so that whoever is guarding the door can see who is knocking or ringing the doorbell. Many of them come stumbling to the center of the long but narrow room on the bottom floor of the three story building, and hold their hands out in what I can only describe as a begging position. They are holding their hands out to wash the nastiness away, many of them probably for the first time since last week, that is caked on from digging through garbage. Our young men are waiting in the center of the room with bowls of water, bars of soap, and well-worn hand towels for the guys as they approach the small drain that is built into the cracked cement floor. As our guys pour the water over the homeless men's hands and heads, the black water that started out clear falls down into the drain. Some of the guys are unable to wash their own hands so our guys help them scrub away the top layers of dirt and grime. After meeting our guys, your sons and grandsons, in the middle of this room they make their way to a wall to sit until the next part of the service begins.
Some Background Info: Saul and his church family host this service for the homeless men that stay in the area around the school and landfill each Monday night. Before the service begins, Iglesia el Camino prepares a meal that usually consists of soup, bread, and coffee that will be handed out to as many as 60 men, women, and children. Yes, children are also in this service that is full of men that sometimes cannot even stand up because they are so high.
The service begins with a couple of songs and some time of prayer. Many of the guys clap, almost always out of rhythm with the song, and sing loudly as the small CD player that is plugged into an amplifier blares out Spanish praise music. Robert Puckett, Missions Pastor at Lakewood, shared with the men about the Bartimaeus being healed by Jesus from Luke 18:34-42. He then asked if any of the men would like to cry out to Jesus to be healed, and several of the men walked to the center of the room in response. Our team of guys surrounded the men, laid hands on them, and prayed that God would heal them from their addictions. Immediately following this time of prayer the men are served the food that has already been prepared as mentioned above.
Share Time
Our share time on Monday evening following the Bread and Coffee service may have been one of the greatest experiences that has ever happened with our students, not only on a mission trip but EVER!
While Our Guys Were At The Service: The ladies from our group stayed back at SETECA to pray for our guys during the Bread and Coffee service, and each girl was assigned one guy to specifically pray for. Our girls then wrote one word that God revealed to them on a sheet of paper about the guy they were assigned.
Our guys started sharing about what they experienced at the service and most of our group began to weep. The guys began to build on each other's stories until our girls stared to understand what we had just encountered. So many amazing things happened that can only be credited to the Holy Spirit. The room that we met in was definitely filled with the presence of God!! As David Funk stared playing songs our group cried out songs and prayers of praise to Him...the whole meeting time was so incredibly awesome. Please ask your children/grandchildren/sibling/friend about this night when they get back to Gainesville...it will definitely be worth hearing more about this night!
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Location:30 Calle,Guatemala City,Guatemala
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