Safely Home

We arrived home safely yesterday evening as planned. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. It was an incredible trip, God answered all our prayers and blessed us beyond our expectations! We are grateful to have been able to serve in this way and are humbled and privileged to have been sent by New Hope Church. We give all praise and glory to God for what we accomplished, for what we learned and for drawing us closer to Him, closer to each other and closer to the wonderful people of Guatemala and the staff of Kids Alive. If you would like any more information about this trip please contact Tim Bodkin.

Heading Home...Final Thoughts

Well, the trip is coming to a close and we are preparing ourselves to head to the airport to return to Mpls. this evening. It will be a long day of travel, but, God willing, we will return to the Mpls. airport around 10:00pm.

How do we recap this week in a few short words?

God has been so very faithful in so many ways. We have surely felt the countless prayers by our faithful friends back home and have encountered God here at the Oasis. God has melted our hearts towards his children here and we have been blessed by their smiles, hugs and friendly Guatemalan giggles.

The times we have spent as a group of men praying and sharing has been tremendous. We have found ourselves crying out to God, and weeping as we have lifted up the needs of Guatemala, the children here at the Oasis and for the needs of our families back at home. God has brought us all close together as a team and as brothers in Christ. Friendships have been made and others strengthened. God has definitely answered the prayers of His people for a bonded team.

Our work here at the Oasis is finished for the time, and we see some of the fruits of our labor in the various projects we accomplished, but the greater fruits will be in the lives of the girls here at the Oasis and what God has in store for them as they continue to grow in Him. We came here to serve with our hands and hearts, but we all agree that we have blessed so much as well.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts for us while we have been here. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you when we return...

Serving in the name of Jesus Christ,

The 2009 NHC Guatemala Work Team

Worship, volcano and playing with the girls

We had a great last full day here in Guatemala. We started our day worshiping with the local residents of San Lucas at the Galilea Church. The worship included many worship songs that are heard at NHC, only with very unfamiliar words. That being said, the worship was beautiful and reminded me that God has no boundaries - He is the God of the entire universe. We also had the opportunity to share the Lord’s table with the Galilean church, and hear a wonderful (and not just because it was interpreted) message on Jesus’ discussion with his disciples on the road to Emmaus.

After church, the group split up into two groups, one group took the opportunity to climb an active volcano, while another group remained at The Oasis for a bit of time with the girls playing games, rough-housing, and having an ice cream party. It amazes me how much patience these small girls have had with us “gringos” when it comes to our inability to speak Spanish. They have been much better teachers for us, than we have been students for them. The toughest part of the day was when it was time to say goodnight, and ultimately not knowing if we’ll see them before we leave for home tomorrow, possibly good bye. There were many hugs, tears, “I love you’s” and “Jesus loves you” – both in Spanish and in English.