What is a Tuc-Tu?...Malacatán, Guatemala

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Sunday (6/17)

We woke up and packed our things. We didn't carry our packs to church, but we wanted to have them ready so that we could leave right after the service. It took us a while to find the church, but after asking a couple of other people we found Iglesia Evangelica Central America Jesús Salva. (Evangelical Church of Central America Jesus Saves) We were a little late, but we went on in to Sunday School. Hno Mario came up to us almost immediately after we sat down to ask our names. We briefly told him what we were doing. Before we knew what was going on, he was introducing us and asking us to share a little about what we were doing.

Then one of the brothers brought the morning devotion...he talked about our responsibility as Christians to love one another. He also talked about being obedient to God's commands in order to show our love for God. One verse that he shared that really stuck out in my mind is John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." In other words, people should recognize us as Jesus's disciples by our love! Wow! By our love...I will be seeking the Lord for His love...because it's the only love that lasts! With God's love living out through me, others will be drawn to Him...and they'll recognize that I'm His disciple!! Wow!

After the devotion, everyone went to their own classes...Then Pastor Oto came up to teach Sunday School...he also encouraged us to be different than the world by being joyful in all things...in good, in bad, in problems, in victory, in trials, and in triumph! An impossibility without the power of the Holy Spirit...He's the one who reminds us that God works all things together for good (when we can't see the good)...this is what gives us joy...focusing on the solution (Jesus) instead of the problem!

At the end of the class, all of the classes came back together. Each class went to the front to tell what they had learned, say the verse they memorized, and to sing a song. Pretty cool...the kids, the teens, and the adults all get a chance to share!!

Hno Mario and Pastor Oto came up to us after the service to find out where we were staying...we told them that our things were in the hotel. He explained that one of the church members owned that hotel, so we could probably just keep staying there. They went with us to the hotel, but the owners weren't there. We told them that we could just carry our packs with us since they had invited us to share at church that night. Then we went to Pastor Oto's house to eat lunch.

While Hna Lety (the pastor's wife) and Yeimy (the pastor's sister-in-law) were preparing lunch, Dunia (the pastor's daughter) was entertaining me! Chris was watching soccer with Pastor Oto, Emerson (his brother), and Ludwin & Douglas (his sons). We had a delicious lunch!! Afterwards, Pastor Oto and Hna Lety taught us a ton about Guatemala...how the schools are different, geography, and places we should see. They were so helpful!!!

The service Sunday night was so good...The men were leading the singing...it was incredible to see that many men at church. At one point when a duet was about to perform, the power went out...but when they started singing...it was powerful! Wow! Then we were singing a couple of choruses...right when we started the 2nd chorus singing "There is power in the blood of Christ" the lights came back on!! Then the teens came forward to sing about the power of the love of God...whew...we were ready to share when it was time to go forward!

Several people approached us after the service...some to introduce themselves, others to invite us to eat, and still others to invite us to stay with them. It was quite overwhelming to be honest...we've only experienced that kind of welcome at a few churches on the journey. We finally decided (with a little help from the pastor) that we should stay with Hno Victor, Hna Elizabeth and their kids--Mayari, Maria del Carmen, Manuel, Wendy, and Dirk.

They took us to eat Pupusas which is Salvadoran food...oh so tasty...a possible reason for us to head in that direction...ha, ha, ha! Then they took us back to their house where they showed us their Tuc-Tu...the name itself just makes me laugh...There are tons of them all around the city...their name is the sound that they make! Hno Victor has a driver for it because he runs a tire shop during the day and isn't available to drive it.

Monday (6/18)

We went to Hno Mario y Hna Alma's house to eat breakfast with his family. (We also got our first ride in a Tuc-Tu!!) We had talked about church and about the local Christian TV station. It's absolutely incredible the religious freedom that there is in this country. Nearly every town of any size at all has a Christian radio station and towns that are a little larger have at least one Christian TV station. So shocking after Mexico where it's illegal to broadcast on the radio anything religious and the only Christian stations are international ones that are only on cable.

Hno Mario does a program on Channel 16 several times per week, so he invited us to join him before lunch to share our testimony with their viewers. I was so nervous! Mainly I just ended up translating for Chris. We were able to share quite a bit! What an open door...if all of Guatemala is like this it may take us a long time to get through this small country!

After lunch at Pastor Oto's house, we went to a brand new mission that they are opening up in Villanueva. A large group of men gathered to go out and invite people to church and to share Jesus with those who may never have heard about Him. Chris and I were partnered up with a man to go to Marta's house. We shared about Jesus and how to get to heaven, but they wanted to think about it some more. Please just pray for those seeds that were planted in Marta and in her children. After we all got back from visiting homes, we had the first church service! Chris encouraged them to found their church on God's Word...to rely fully on Him and not to put their faith in a building or in a pastor.

Tuesday (6/19)

This morning I got a little lesson in washing clothes...by hand on a cement wash board without running water. It was super tough! I have to give it to these ladies...they are strong and I am weak! While I was washing clothes, Chris and Wendy were having a language exchange...She was teaching him Spanish and he was teaching her English...it was precious!

After learning more or less the process for washing the clothes, Hna Elizabeth sent me and Chris with her girls to the market to get vegetables for lunch. I've been in quite a few markets, but this one was pretty big...filled with tons of people selling the same veggies...I have no idea how they knew which one to go to! One of the ladies was really nice...she had some veggies that I had never seen, so I asked her about them and she even let us sample some of her fruit!!

After lunch, we had a little time to share with Victor and Elizabeth...they've been struggling in their marriage. We just encouraged them to keep their eyes focused on the Lord...to seek Him together. The only One who can make changes in anyone is the Holy Spirit. We told them to ask the Lord about what needed to be changed in their own heart and not focus on what needed to change in each other. We also went with the whole family to visit the Cabuz River...this area of Guatemala was harshly affected by Hurricane Stan that hit here the same year as Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast in the US. The Cabuz River washed away a lot of houses and it changed it's course. So now it runs where people's houses and property used to be. The huge rocks weren't in the river before and it was calm enough to have baptisms in it...not anymore!

Pastor Oto invited us to share about prayer that night, so we spent some time studying before heading to church. We encouraged the congregation to pray without doubting! Prayer prepares us for what lies ahead. There are healing, protection, forgiveness and power in prayer, so we challenged them to seek God authentically daily in prayer, so that they can recognize His voice when He speaks!

We moved houses that evening...Hna Lupita (in blue) had also invited us to stay with her on Sunday night, but it didn't work out, so we decided to stay with her and her sons (David, José, and Luis (pictured)) and her mom (Hna Sara pictured in red) that night. It was good for us because it was closer to the edge of town, and we were planning to leave Wednesday morning. We enjoyed fellowshipping with Hna Sara, Hna Lupita and Luis over supper. Hna Sara just recently lost her husband, so God had been doing a lot of healing in her heart. Both ladies are really burdened for David and José because they have no interested in things of God...but we reminded them that salvation has arrived in their house, so they will all come to know Him in His perfect time!

We'll be in touch again soon! God bless you and keep you! We love you!!

Pictured below: Chris with 2 boys who hope to teach children about the Bible one day...they asked that we pray for them as they grow up...that they would continue serving the Lord!!

Imagine my joy...I'm still finding new flowers!!