Happy 4th of July!

We hope all of our followers are having a wonderful Independence Day back home in the US!  This is just a quick post to share a few photos of how we have been able to celebrate the 4th of July down here in Guatemala.  We lit giant sparklers during breakfast and sang God Bless America and the National Anthem.  Then when we got to the church, the workers had put a US flag up for us on the entry to the first station.  Enjoy!

Sunday!

Written by Sarah:

 Another good day for both teams.  The temperature was in the mid-90s.  About 90 people came through the eyeglass clinic.  Almost everyone needed glasses.  This all happened after church.   Three babies were baptized today.  Most adults on the team took communion in the 1 hour 45 min service.  At the end of the service, some Guatemala children performed Daniel and the lions' den.  Soon after, we started clinic. Near the end of the clinic, a third testing station had to be opened in order to alleviate the clogged hallway.  This rush passed through the dispensing station and filled the hallway next to the fitting station.  The clinic finished shortly before 5.  Since the Trafficking team did not end till 6, the team had an hour of free time which they spent at the pools or in their rooms.  Kyle went coconut hunting by throwing coconuts at the coconuts still in the trees.  We finished off the day with spaghetti, devotions, debreifing, and another night of sleep.

First Day on the Field

What an incredible first day!  After an early morning flight yesterday and a drive from Guatemala City to Zacapa, we had our first team meeting and settled in for the night.  5:45am came early, but a good breakfast and some amazing Guatemalaen coffee we were off to the church for our first day of eye clinic after dropping the trafficking team at the school where they are holding their seminars.  We got the eye clinic set up and running by 9am, taking a lunch break at 12:30pm.  What a whirlwind, but we saw 134 people and distributed 196 pairs of glasses!  We heard some amazing stories and lots of great people, who you will hear more about later - now off to our team meeting.

--Josh

We made it!

Our team made it to Guatemala with no delays or loss of luggage.  Clearing customs and immigration went smooth and we are on our way to Zacapa!  Pray for a safe ride and a food nights rest as the team prepares for our first day of clinics tomorrow.

--Josh

Theme Verse

This seems like such a great verse for our trip....
Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said…“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 NIV

(From Charlotte) We're just over a week away from this trip, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the whole concept of trafficking in persons. The world has always had enslavement, just like it's always had corruption and greed and racism. Why do we think we can make a difference, much less eradicate such evil? Why do we go? Because God says Go, help the oppressed and the enslaved and those in poverty. And I will be with you to the end of the age.