APRIL TEAM – ACS BAND – UPDATE # 5

Blessings to all. To God be the Glory!! A Dios de la Gloria!!!! There are many happy stories behind those words!! It is probably going to be our universal band song for a while. To God be the glory is how I would describe this trip. There are no words to express just how blessed and fortunate we were to have this time together with Projecto Fe mission. Projecto Fe is an amazing mission ministry and God directed our path to them.

Well as we make preparation to end our time in San Pedro with a heavy heart. The week flew by once we got involved in all that The Lord tasked us with. There were many things that we all learned about ourselves and about each other. I can honestly say that most of our mission students found a new appreciation for their walk with The Lord. He worked on all of us this trip and we all experienced life changing lessons.

Our day began with a very early breakfast. This would be the final day for us to work on and finish our projects. Pamela had warned us that time would go by quickly and to not get discouraged if we did not finish them. That was not the case with our students. There was some deviations but I believe we got done all that was asked of us and then some. Our mission students were very enthusiastic to get them all done before we left. Jonathan lead a very confident team to get the new bike rakes completed. The original plan to make them with PVC pipe was slightly side tracked. It was not heavy enough, so a change of venue to use rebar was an better option. Several more chipped in and used their sanding and cutting skills to make it a group effort.

The shoe rack also had a few set backs with the idea of glueing it together , but then later it was decided to screw the 10″ PVC pipe together for better stability. Cutting the circular cylinders to an exact 10″ ring proved to be more challenging than we thought only to find that the school had a table saw. All I can say is that it was a labor of love that went into cutting each of those 20 pieces by hand. It tested our ability to think outside the box, use our muscles and some very hard manual labor. Mr. Keith continued to work on the electrical and plumbing projects and others worked and found projects to do as needed. Gabe even got to give tuba lessons. What a blessing to watch someone teach what he loves to do.

After lunch we made preparation for the last concert in the mountain village of Panyebar. It is at least a hour and half from San Pedro. This would also be our last ride on the chicken bus(smile). We stopped a few meters down from the edge of town and was greeted by the school children and villagers of Panyebar. The mission students then marched from that point into the village center, but not before we were greeted with a thunderous rain shower. The students played until their instruments filled up with water and then it was a mad dash to get inside the nearest building. Senior “B” proceeded with the concert while outside sheets of rain fell. We still had not arrived at our final destination of the school. I think that was a answered prayer from God, because if you had seen the hill that Pastor Emilio wanted to have our mission students climb, it would have been a miracle(smile). His version of a short distance is very amusing. The rain continue to fall intermittently, but not enough for us to play outside on the stage that the villagers had built for us. Again, I’m truly amazed of how much these people love God and how much they love music. It brings tears to my eyes and tugs on my heart each time I think about the amount of effort these people put into the preparation of our receptions. There was probably several 100 children and adults at the school listening to our concert. They were intrigued with the instruments as well as how they worked.

Upon the completion of our concert we headed back to town for our very special dinner with Pastor Emilio, Sister Esther, Pamela and Colegio Bethel school staff. The final meal of the mission trip is given in honor of our works for The Lord and the blessings of which we received. Each mission guest was honored. It was a blessing to hear how all of us made an impact in the short time we had with them in San Pedro. An amazing Guatemala meal was prepared and each received a gift of love from the staff. Pastor Emilio played several tribute songs to us and then in turn Senior “B” crafted a song to play tribute to the staff and Pastor. We then shared what and how this mission trip made a difference in our life. There was not a dry eye in the house.

We said our goodbyes to all and retired to our rooms. Tomorrow we would be departing San Pedro by boat to take us to Panachal to head home

Want to see more photos from this team? Click here!