Leaving in a week

Eight months of planning; $45,000 of fund raising; countless hours of prayer; and detail after detail to remember, and now we are only one week away. Over the last week, Guatemala has been in chaos at the hand of Pacaya (the volcano), Agatha (the tropical storm), and "the sinkhole". It started with Pacaya, blowing a sandy ash over central Guatemala, and canceling our plans to climb to the top of that very volcano at the end of our trip. As if that were not enough, Agatha came along and dumped so much rain that mudslides and floods plagued the region, and even caused a 100 ft sink hole to open up right in the middle of Guatemala city.

These natural disasters have caught my attention as we have been forced to really think about what our team's goals and purposes for going to Guatemala really are. All along I have been praying that God would reveal the people and the needs that He would have us to meet. With all of their suffering, I don't think we will have any problem finding people who really need the hope of Jesus in this time of chaos.

Likewise, please know that we are doing everything possible to keep our team safe while we are in Guatemala. We will be watching the weather, we are no longer going to climb the volcano, and we are not afraid to change our plans in order to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Regardless of our precautions, Please be praying for our team and our safety. But also please be in prayer for the people in Guatemala who don't have the same advantages that we have. Please be praying that the Guatemalan people who we encounter will see the joy and hope that we as Christians have in Jesus. And that God will reveal Himself to each and everyone of them. And pray also that each one of our team members will encounter Jesus through this trip and through their interactions with the people of Guatemala.