I want to take a minute and thank everyone for the opportunity to participate in the spring Guatemala mission trip this year. It was way more than I imagined, and I was expecting big things.
The church that Rivertree is partnering with is in a village that is located in the middle of a part of the country that is dominated by plantations. You have to travel down miles of dirt roads to get there, and the land is unbelievably fertile. These are international plantations growing bananas, pineapples, coconuts and sugarcane just to name a few. These are smart people, and they mostly work in agriculture, construction or business. However, the community is isolated and has very limited resources.
Rivertree is working through a ministry called Missioteca, which helps churches in several ways. First they mentor the Church leadership and spend a lot of time in person and on site. They also provide printed resources to the churches so that the churches can be better prepared to preach and teach the gospel, and they drill water wells so that the people have access to clean water. Finally, Missioteca provides theological training so that the churches can stay focused on the gospel and not get sidetracked with false doctrine. Training was the focus of this trip.
I had the privilege of teaching two topics. The first was “Conversion,” which basically addresses how the world view of religion is an ongoing quest to wisely choose to do good and avoid the temptation to do bad things. A successful effort can earn God’s acceptance, but the problem is that Jesus said you must be born again which is all about Him and not really about you earning anything. The other topic was an overview of Biblical Theology where we talked about how the Bible tells a consistent story that leads from Adam in the garden to the Kingdom of Christ, even though the story is told through 66 different books. We spent three days there teaching and getting to know the people. They were awesome and such great hosts, and they reminded me so much of what I imagine the early church in Acts was like.
And then there was more. Linda and I have been helping with foster kids for the last couple of years, and most recently we have been hosting two girls from Guatemala. When the girls found out about this trip they started setting up a visit where I could meet one of the girl’s parents. I wasn’t sure just how this was going to work out, but the girl sent gifts for her family and made arrangements with Missioteca for where her parents could meet us. It was awesome! The whole family came and we all talked for about an hour. Missioteca provided breakfast and sat in to help us with our obvious language barrier. Thank you Missioteca! It makes such a difference if foster parents and biological parents are on the same page, and of course her mom sent gifts back the other way. It is amazing how God can put things together in ways that you never expected.
The church that Rivertree is partnering with is in a village that is located in the middle of a part of the country that is dominated by plantations. You have to travel down miles of dirt roads to get there, and the land is unbelievably fertile. These are international plantations growing bananas, pineapples, coconuts and sugarcane just to name a few. These are smart people, and they mostly work in agriculture, construction or business. However, the community is isolated and has very limited resources.
Rivertree is working through a ministry called Missioteca, which helps churches in several ways. First they mentor the Church leadership and spend a lot of time in person and on site. They also provide printed resources to the churches so that the churches can be better prepared to preach and teach the gospel, and they drill water wells so that the people have access to clean water. Finally, Missioteca provides theological training so that the churches can stay focused on the gospel and not get sidetracked with false doctrine. Training was the focus of this trip.
I had the privilege of teaching two topics. The first was “Conversion,” which basically addresses how the world view of religion is an ongoing quest to wisely choose to do good and avoid the temptation to do bad things. A successful effort can earn God’s acceptance, but the problem is that Jesus said you must be born again which is all about Him and not really about you earning anything. The other topic was an overview of Biblical Theology where we talked about how the Bible tells a consistent story that leads from Adam in the garden to the Kingdom of Christ, even though the story is told through 66 different books. We spent three days there teaching and getting to know the people. They were awesome and such great hosts, and they reminded me so much of what I imagine the early church in Acts was like.
And then there was more. Linda and I have been helping with foster kids for the last couple of years, and most recently we have been hosting two girls from Guatemala. When the girls found out about this trip they started setting up a visit where I could meet one of the girl’s parents. I wasn’t sure just how this was going to work out, but the girl sent gifts for her family and made arrangements with Missioteca for where her parents could meet us. It was awesome! The whole family came and we all talked for about an hour. Missioteca provided breakfast and sat in to help us with our obvious language barrier. Thank you Missioteca! It makes such a difference if foster parents and biological parents are on the same page, and of course her mom sent gifts back the other way. It is amazing how God can put things together in ways that you never expected.