Friday Evening Perspective from Matt Babcock

Greetings from Seteca! Today was our first full day in Guatemala, as we continue to pray and prepare for the remainder of our team to arrive on Sunday. We were all blessed with a great nights sleep last night, which was tremendously needed as we woke up this morning full of energy and ready to go. We began the day with a short time of debriefing from Thursday and a discussion of how God was speaking to each of us as we prepare to dive into ministry. Most of us agreed that the most challenging part so far is simply the language barrier. Thankfully, we have Ingrid to translate for us and boy is she amazing! Without her, a few of us would not have gotten to Seteca or eaten a meal yesterday or today...literally! This afternoon we made another trip to Wal-Mart to gather supplies for the coming week of VBS. Later in the afternoon, we gathered in the landfill for a feeding of food donated by the local church. From the perspective of the two first timers, the experience was heartbreaking and encouraging all at once. Heartbreaking in the sense that no matter how many stories you hear or pictures you see of life in the landfill, you cannot truly grasp this level of poverty until you step into the middle of it. These people literally have NOTHING material. Despite this, strangely we all left greatly encouraged by the simple fact that many of these people have nothing, yet resonate with joy as if they had everything. You can't help but be broken by this redefinition of wealth. This type of joy in these circumstances cannot possibly come from anywhere but Jesus. As for the "Guatemala veterans", it was so cool to watch them reconnect with children they bonded with on past trips, some from years ago. For these kids, knowing that someone remembers their name is priceless. Our experience has been amazing so far and we cannot wait until Sunday when the remainder of our team joins us on the journey! We so appreciate and need your continued prayer and support as we continue our efforts here. It is nothing short of incredible to seethe efforts of so many Lakewood prayer warriors, missionaries, and givers bear fruit in so many lives.