Worship in Guatemala '09

Some of our mission team members attended a non-denominational worship and a Catholic mass in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala (July 14-21.) I attended the non-denominational church and there were probably 150 to 200 people in attendance.

The pastor's sermon was on seven points about our salvation in Jesus Christ. Several of their hymns were familiar to us, although the singing was in Spanish. Val, our mission trip coordinator, translated the spoken parts of the service for us.

We were greeted warmly by the congregation, the worship leaders, and by the pastor. I was invited by the pastor to bring greetings to the congregation on behalf of our mission team with Val translating for me. Here's basically what I shared:

• That we were a United Methodist mission team from the US here to help put in a water pipe line for the community of Pachatulul.
• I thanked the community of San Lucas Toliman and their congregation for welcoming us to their country and community.
• I shared that the mission of our church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and we were trying to live out our mission by helping with this project.
• I thanked the pastor for his message and for how they are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in their community.

Before we left on the last day, the pastor and his wife came to our hotel and offered a prayer of blessing upon our team. That was pretty special. A picture of the pastor preaching during worship is included with this post.