Greetings from Michigan! That’s right, we are back home, safe and sound. Although our day of travel was a long one (we were up at 3:30 a.m. so we could be to the airport by 5:00 a.m., and then did not arrive back home in Muskegon until 11:30 p.m.), we did not have any trouble with flights, customs, or immigration, so that is a God-send. Oh, and Dan and Wendy Trach picked us up from O’Hare airport with a nice little surprise of cold, bottled water and yummy heart-shaped brownies! Thanks guys!

The purpose of this blog is to bring a little bit of closure to our adventure, although there never is closure to such an eye-opening, life-changing experience. And time is needed to digest it all. So much of what we saw seemed so contrasting and conflicting. As to the area itself, within blocks there may be tin shanties, dirt floors, places with no electricity or clean water, a Best Buy or McDonald’s or Pizza Hut, or the largest city dump you can imagine, all surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and volcanoes, trees and flowers; no wonder we were so confused.

And the same could be said of the people. So much danger and crime (one of the Guatemalan missionaries was robbed on her way from the ministry house one day while we were there!), yet so much love and hope; so much poverty, yet so much resilience and determination; no wonder we can’t figure it out.
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Dear Trinity Friends,

Hola! Greetings and love from Guatemala City. What a week we’ve had. If you have not been following our blog, you may want to check it out. There is just no way to summarize in a short email all the blessings that God has showered upon us this week. We have met so many wonderful people. When we would knock on a door for a house visit, never once were we turned away.

The people were always so gracious and hospitable. Sometimes a house visit would last 20 minutes, sometimes a house visit would last over an hour. Much sharing and caring and prayer and praise took place at these visits. One of the most powerful moments for any team member who experienced it was when Sandra, one of the Guatemalan missionaries, finished praying and broke out in song. Wow. Powerful beyond words.
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Hola! Our last greeting from the wonderful city of Guatemala for another year! We will write at least one more blog to summarize our time and feelings, and to let all know we arrived home safe and sound when we get back stateside on Monday. But because we know you are waiting with baited breath to see what we did each and every day, we wanted to provide a brief report on our adventures today.

Our day began once again piling in the van for another road trip. (What are we going to do when we get back home and have to ride in a vehicle with only one or two people? It’s going to be awkward for a while, to say the least!) Anyway, our adventure today took us to the quaint little town of Antigua. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Los Palmas and then walked around the town.

We walked to the silver shop which is a special place in the hearts of many previous team members. I’m not sure if it was because of the poverty we saw all this week or what it might have been, but funny thing was, our hearts just weren’t into spending a lot of money on jewelry. Hmmmm. Interesting.

After a brief time at the silver shop we happened upon a wedding at one of the cathedrals and just had to take a little peek inside. Interestingly enough, the bride leads the procession, and then the attendants and parents follow. Funny thing was the bride processed in to “Here comes the bride”. Hmmmm. Interesting.

After the wedding, we went to the market to shop. We had just a couple of hours to view a large number of stalls, but we still managed to find plenty of bargains and wonderful souvenirs to help us remember our time in Guatemala.

And speaking of remembering, what a memory God created for us tonight! As we were finishing devotions (and as God would have it, our devotion happened to be on memories, and what a wonderful gift from God they are), we had a most wonderful surprise. Cesar, who has only been with the ministry full-time since February (we were his first “team”) and his mother came to bring us a special treat. Cesar’s father had made us each (15 in total, one for each team member, Ginny, and Kevin, and the other two are a secret so as not to spoil the surprise) a special bread that is made for Holy week. Now so you can truly appreciate this act of kindness, not only did it take Cesar’s father six hours to make these special breads, but Cesar and his mother had to ride a bus for 30 minutes, after dark, with Cesar’s mama carrying this basket of bread on her head. (Of course, after many tears, words of encouragement, thanks, and praise to God, they had to walk back to the bus stop, and then ride another 30 minutes, even later at night, to go back home.) Talk about being awestruck and humbled. And just as we dried these tears and said our heartfelt goodbyes we had another surprise. Sandra and her sister stopped by to tell us goodbye.

Again, these two girls had to travel over an hour and a half one way to get here merely to thank us again for all we did and to tell us goodbye. Funny thing was, it was Sandra who did so much for us this week. Sandra is approximately 4’10” but packs a dynamite love for the Lord and works tirelessly for the ministry and for her Lord and Savior After riding a bus for an hour and a half to get to work at the ministry, she works from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. (well, usually more like 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. before she leaves), riding another hour and a half to go home, she goes to church for Bible Study. Every night she goes to church. And then she gets up the next day, and does it all over again, except for on Saturday when she goes to school all day (and then church at night), and Sunday, when she goes to school for a half a day (and then church at night).

This blog is probably the most difficult one that has been written this week. Not because we didn’t do anything or because we didn’t have anything to say, but because there really truly is no words or any way to say what we are feeling right now. So in closing, we will simply say, “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.”

Hola. Greetings from Guatemala! It was a wonderful day and yet a difficult day as we had to say goodbye to many of our Guatemalan friends. But enough of that, let’s think of the good times, and of those there were many.

Our morning began with devotions led by Oscar. It was also an opportunity for us, the Guatemalan missionaries and the Trinity team, to share with each other just how we felt after having spent an amazing week together. They were, of course, very grateful for our help this week. We, in turn, were amazed at their zeal and eagerness to go out into the world to proclaim the gospel. Some of the words and phrases used to describe our Guatemalan missionaries were “humble”, “courageous”, “on fire”, “fearless”, “passionate”, “solid in the word”, and “loving”.

Our devotion time closed with a very heartfelt thank you from Odilia, who gave us all a pink rose to express her gratitude for our love and support.
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