Day 6 in Guatemala ~ Sunday, August 16th, 2009

If you haven’t read days 1-5, scroll down or click the links at the right to read them in order… leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

With the way day 5 started out I was determined to start out day 6 trusting God and enjoying every second of the only Sunday we were going to get to spend in Guatemala. I was trying to not be disappointed from the answer I received from the girls in independent living when I asked them a question as we looked at pictures on my camera. I asked them, with my extremely limited Spanish and their limited English, if we would get to sit with any of the girls in church during the service and my interpretation of their answer was that they said ‘no, some of the girls had baptismal training and others were in a form of children’s/youth church.’

This time instead of getting MAD at God or questioning Him, I just thought OK, I will trust You on this one, Not what I wanted to hear, but OK God. At least this time I would be prepared not to see Lucia, so I wouldn’t be disappointed.

I went to sleep well after everyone else, staying up late again to write in my journal and after putting away my journal and turning out the lights I remember my last thoughts being a prayer to God asking for a day without sadness. I asked God to give me the strength to enjoy the day staying in the present and without worrying about what was next. I asked for help to trust Him to take care of the future and to allow me to be strong for the others on our trip in case they needed me like I needed them on Saturday.

I woke up at 5:30 with that same prayer for the day and already felt the difference inside me. I enjoyed a refreshing shower that felt like a full immersion baptism after my rededication to God the night before.

As I got dressed for the day, I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever wanted to worship God as openly and freely as I did that morning. We were going to a Spanish speaking church the size of Noah’s ark with a 5 story parking deck that seats up to 12,000 people. The architecturally impressive mass of concrete, steel and glass that we had driven by a few days before I thought was sure to be cold inside. 

 

I didn’t expect to be able to truly worship and feel God’s presence like I can at Oaklawn ( www.oaklawnchog.com ) so I prayed for the opportunity to worship Him & right on queue, as I headed for breakfast, Bible in hand, God gave me what I asked for. From the adjoining bunkhouse, I could hear the angelic voice of my beautiful wife Amber singing portions of a few praise songs and I closed my eyes, extended my hands and praised God for His Goodness. It was a short, but fulfilling praise and worship session that I thought would be my only one of the day.

We enjoyed a breakfast of biscuits and gravy and greeted a few of the girls as they headed to the school bus to go to church.

Morning devotional was led by Jeff and the question was “have you ever had part in a small job that built something much bigger?” Jeff shared his small job was listening to God and bringing his family back to worship at Oaklawn Church of God. I said that it was working together as a mission team to raise the money to come to Guatemala and make the trip possible so we could build these relationships with the girls.

 

Then we sat around in the cool morning air, some of us gathered around my favorite porch swing and connected and talked about the week. Others connected in different ways…

 

Before heading off together to the largest church in Central America

 

As we entered into the building and into the huge auditorium style sanctuary, I was pleasantly surprised to feel the Holy Spirit in this place and in the people. We found our way to a row of seats and as the service began I looked to my left and coming down the row from the other end was Lucia! She sat in the empty seat beside Austin about 6 seats away from Amber and myself. She kept looking down the aisle and smiling. Amber, being the awesome wife that she is, told me to trade seats with Austin and go sit beside her. I resisted at first and told Amber that I felt like I should stay with her because it was the only time her and I would get to worship together here as well and she said ‘no, we’ll be back’. About that same time I felt God tugging me that direction and I didn’t even have to explain to Amber, she knew what had happened and I went to sit with Lucia. It was easy to see how much it meant to Lucia that I chose to change seats to be near her. The heartwarming smile and the hug was a gift from God.

The music started and the Worship leader had an incredibly strong voice. Loud, upbeat music filled the auditorium. The excellent sound system belting out incredibly uplifting music with a Spanish flair and lyrics. My focus was on the amazing guitarist and the 15 or so musicians and singers on the very large stage for the first few songs. A happy, joyful time with quality music, great energy, lots of clapping and smiling faces, but not a time of personal worship for me, until the tempo slowed down and a song began that grabbed my heart and filled me with God’s presence.

The lyrics were in Spanish but I was able to understand and sing along as if I knew every word and had sang it my whole life. My eyes closed, the room shrank and my hands extended. Reaching out to God, I left that huge building and entered a world where only God and I existed. Tears began to flow as I forgot where I was.

I felt pressure against my chest like I do every Sunday at Oaklawn while my little daughter Alyssa stands in the pew in front of me and leans her head and back into me. I felt the familiar weight of her hands in mine as our hands were extended together, hers laying in mine. I closed my hands slowly to intertwine my fingers with hers and squeeze her hands to let her know I love her only to realize her hands weren’t there and I was not at Oaklawn.

With increasingly more tears streaming down my face I realized that God had allowed me to experience this time with Lucia, but He was reminding me that I had a little girl to return home to as well.

As the song finished and we settled into our seats for the sermon I felt a little embarrassed and I worried how Lucia would react to my display of emotion. In a showing of unconditional Love and understanding, Lucia smiled, rested her head on my shoulder and her hand on my arm. This was even further confirmation for me that Lucia is the reason that God sent me to Guatemala and I am excited to see what the future holds for her and my family.

The church provided headphones with an English translation of the sermon. The message was from Titus. A message of not having foolish conversations with fools. Something that definitely wastes a lot of time for a lot of people back home.

After Church, Paul & Lana treated us to a very nice dinner in the city to give the cooks at the home a break and we returned to the home at about 2:00.

I went up to the Casas and visited with Marjorie, Estefania, Jaqueline, Yaneth & Estefany for a while…

Then headed in to Casa B to find Lucia. She was wearing the pants Amber and I bought her with a shirt she already owned. They fit her and her personality perfectly.

We asked her if the shirt fit and if she liked it as well and…

We had an awesome time the rest of the afternoon, talking and sitting together, hugging and holding each other, just like we do with our other daughter at home. I wrote in my journal “I would take her home with me and love her like a daughter if I was allowed to. Perhaps God will open that door someday.”

God answered my early morning prayers and allowed me to spend an entire day without sadness and without worrying about the future. I love these girls so much and God allowed me to have a joyful, happy day with all of them. We took a lot of great pictures, created a lot of great memories and exchanged a lot of hugs and heartfelt feelings.

We spent some time with some of the other girls until it was time for the girl’s closing program…

the program opened with an awesome set of praise and worship songs led by Carol, Anna, Katti, Mari Cruz, Gladys, Fabiola and Jasmine.

Then an awesome performance by the younger girls…

Then we were each presented a card from a girl that connected with us for the week…

Mine was presented by Lucia

We topped off a great day by taking some more pictures, eating ice cream and playing games.

We also decided to buy 2 of Carol’s paintings on this day.

We also talked to Paul about using up our left over Guatemalan currency on a few clothing items for the girls and he suggested that we take a few of them with us to the mall to let them help pick things out, so I get to take Lucia shopping tomorrow!!!!

Evening devotional was led by Pastor Steve. He asked us to share  one little thing that happened today that made the day a lot better. I don’t think it qualified as a little thing, but I shared God allowing me to feel Alyssa with me in worship.

 

Another awesome day in the books, another day that will never be forgotten.

Thank you God for Blessing me so undeservedly on this day!

   

 

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