Saturday, May 17, 2008

Mission team from Cornerstone Community

It has taken me awhile to post this not because it was not important just because I was hoping to get a few extra pictures but I never got around to asking the team for them so these are the pictures I took.

Cornerstone Community Church came down a couple of months ago. Most of the team has been here before. For a few people it was the first time. It was so awesome to see how the Lord put together this team to come minister her for that week. It was very special for us to be here in Guatemala to help out with the team this year. We are so thankful that Cornerstone has been supporting us for several years now. We are thankful for the friendships we have made and look forward to the long lasting ministry together. We were very encouraged by the team. It was so good for us to have fellowship and times of renewal.

We were able to visit several Schools in Santiago and one outside of town. We had three Spanish translators and three Tz'utujil translators so we split the team into three groups. Pastor Abraham had spoken to the Principles the week prior to our arrival. So we just had to ask permission to go into the school. After we were in the schools we would go into each class room and sing a song, give a short testimony, and then pray for the students and their teacher as we were leaving the class we would give the kids a sticker or something small. Most were very receptive and some even prayed with us and for us!! It was so neat to meet Christian teachers and have the opportunity to encourage them, and be encouraged by them. Everyone on the team was shocked at the fact that we could go in and pray with the students share the gospel and then invite them to our local church. They mentioned that if we would have tried this in the states we would have severe consequences!! Praise the Lord it was an awesome time.
These were our Tz'utujil translators, they are from the Alpha Y Omega church.


In the younger classes they only spoke Tz'itujil. We would have to translate from English to Spanish to Tz'utujil it was a little crazy at times but it was so neat to see the kids understanding why we were there and what we were doing. In the older classes they could understand Spanish but sometimes I would have them translate just to make sure they understood.

Aren't these little girls so adorable? They were sweet and very quiet.


Sometimes getting to the schools was hard. As you can see here we are climbing up to the school.
The tall building on the left. We visited 10 schools in all and were able to share the gospel with aprox. 2500 students and teachers. It was a busy week walking to all these schools then praying with each class but it was well worth it. The pastor told us that he had never had a team come and do this kind of ministry but he loved it. He had many parents call him to say "Thank you for sending the team to my child's school to pray".

In the afternoons Danny would teach some Maya Tz'utujil culture & customs. One afternoon the group went to the catholic church and saw first hand the two religions that have merged. They also went to Market to see how the syncretism is evident in their Art. One question Danny posed was, Is the syncretism in the churches in the states?

Another afternoon we had a question & Answer time with our translators. About their lives as Tz'utujil youth, their family life, their religion, and much more. It was a neat time to see how these young people think.
The kids and I had to relax by the pool a couple of times during the week! Look at this awesome background of the lake and volcano.

Let me just say I was very proud of my kids this week. They went to every school and were very patient as we went to each class room and even participated. They liked handing out the stickers, singing the songs and playing with the kids. They really enjoyed getting to know the team.

Thank you Cornerstone team for an awesome trip!

3 comments:

Abbey said...

I love getting your updates! That view behind the kids is gorgeous!
I'm proud of those little Feet too. They are such great kids, girl!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing another week in the life of the foote's
Praying for you,
the wofford's

Anonymous said...

Ok, as if we couldnt wait to get down there enough you go and post incredible pictures and what yall are doing! We are so excited about going and cannot wait another month!! We cant wait to see yall!!!