Well this day had some significance for me that we will get to at the end. This Sunday in San Pedro was probably one of my favorite.
We woke up a little bit later than the day before, so we had a little bit more time before breakfast.
Our first event of the day was the privilege of being treated to a weaving class! During this class we were able to see first hand how the women of San Pedro, from start to finish, use the resources they have to sew clothes, purses, bibs, and hammocks among other things. It was a treat to see that first hand.
Before Lunch we were treated to a day on the market! This again is one of my favorite experiences to see what seems like the whole town at the market purchasing vegetables, fruit, meat and a host of other items available.
We were able to see men and women in their native clothing, and enjoying the community that is found at the market place.
After the market and after out lunch together as a team we had the privilege of doing home visits. These home visits are by far my favorite part of the trip and far the most humbling.
These visits remind me again and again that when faced with hard situations, and desperate needs what people of all races, tongues, religions, people groups need is God’s word not mine. They need the hope Jesus offers, not hope I offer. They need an encounter with God’s true and Holy word. They need an encounter with the living word.
I was blessed to go on these visits with my daughter. I was able to hear her prayers rise to her Father in heaven in a way that we know without any doubt she has been heard.
It was a joy to model prayers for healing and hope, prayers that were saturated with God’s truth in the midst of desperate situations.
These home visits reminded me of God’s tender mercies, and steadfast love, and how he has designed His body to work. Everyone with strengths and weaknesses and everyone dependent upon Christ and each other.
I was reminded of the wonders that God would call this Father and Daughter team all the way from Alaska to come to a tiny town in Guatemala, to pray over three families, because God has ordained that prayer really does cause things to happen that would not happen if we did not pray. Our God is mighty and glorious and he loves us with a love that if we get to big of a glimpse of would make us fall to our faces in awe. This love I will be searching out for an eternity of eternities with my Guatemalan Brothers and Sisters in Christ and will never even reach the foothills of the height and depth of it all.
After church we were treated to a meal that was put on at David’s house as a personal invitation from Bernardo, David and Elena (Mountain Ministry), and cooked by my beloved sister in Christ, Elena, and her sister. This meal reminded us of God’s goodness and Joy in seeing his children celebrate His love. But what blew me away was that after the meal, Mary disappeared for about 2 min, then came back singing happy Birthday to….me!
While I desperately tried to hide it, my Birthday news leaked (found out my daughter was the culprit!). I can not tell you the incredible Joy of hearing Happy Birthday being sung to me in Spanish, different songs that seemed to last far longer than they would have back home. It was a time of celebration that I will never forget. I was surrounded by a family of believers who truly loved me, I was humbled to be sung to and celebrated in such a way, at such a time, and such a place. What a Joy to know and be known by my God!

Jonathan Carroll