Pastor Mark writes:
Sunday: We slept in an hour longer and enjoyed a great breakfast by drill sergeant Brian Koeman and company. Then we watched a power-point of last year’s Guatemala outreach, followed by a great message from Jonathan Mast. At 9:30am, we went to attend church at Rios de Agua Viva. The men sang “Fill Up My Cup” and the entire group sang, “Prince of Peace”. Pastor Mark Mast gave the message with Lazaro Suruy as translator. We then drove to Antigua to eat dinner at Los Antorches steakhouse (Ben got fried squid!) Then everyone went to shop at the various markets throughout the city. Just before catching the ride home, Rebecca, Tara, Michael, Jasmin, Dylan, and Ben had a stressful time of buying ice cream and trying to translate what they wanted. Everything ended up well in the end and we made it back to the mission house to enjoy a wonderful sunset and a supper of tacos. A little later, Benjamin Mast completed the “Mast trio” of preaching today and gave a grand finale message. Following Ben’s message, we had a sharing-time, as the Michiganders and sole Mississippian are leaving at 3:00am tomorrow morning. It was an emotionally charged night as everyone shared what God did in their lives throughout this past week. By the end of the sharing-time (3 hours later), we walked around the room hugging each other and encouraging one another. Just when I thought the floodgates had stopped flowing, there would be someone else to hug and the tears would start flowing once again. WHAT A FAITHFUL GOD WE SERVE! I cannot begin to describe how amazing this trip (and last week’s trip) have been. Pray that we will all continue on in the relationships that we have formed during this past week by encouraging each other. Pray for the Canadians and West Virginians as they stay on an extra few days, that their time will continue to be truly blessed. Also, pray that those leaving will have safe travels and that as we all go back to our homes we will be bold in our desire to tell others about Jesus. What an amazing time this has been! PRAISE GOD!