The first part of tonight’s post is by team member Megan Lehman.

The moment I heard that Grace Community Church was going to be supporting a team going to Guatemala, I felt an immediate pull to this opportunity. After traveling to Guatemala in 2011, I always believed that God would call me back to this amazing country. Since the week I found out that I was going to be traveling to Guatemala, God has truly shown Himself in my life.
The first thing I began to pray about was financing the trip. I had not budgeted for the mission and was worried about getting everything paid for. That very Sunday when my heart was so troubled by this, Pastor Brooks Simpson spoke about treasure – what we value and how our money shows what we value. It was as if Pastor Brooks was speaking this very sermon to me. By the end of that sermon, I felt as if God had sat beside me and told me that worrying was pointless because He would be taking care of me the whole way.
Now that we are here, in our first hotel and preparing for our first wheelchair fitting tomorrow morning, I am more excited than ever to see how God moves in us and moves in this community throughout the week. And as we all gather together for our first devotional as a group, I can already see God moving within my fellow travelers. The adventure begins!

(Thanks Megan !)

Flights were great and ON TIME! Praise the Lord! Some of us got up at 1:30 a.m….we had to be at the airport at 4:00 a.m. for our 6:00 a.m. flight! Everyone was chipper and on time and ready to SERVE THE LORD!!!!
16 team members, 32 checked bags, well over 16 carry-on bags and 2 wheelchairs in tow! What a load of stuff! Many bags full of BLESSINGS (donations for the people this week)!

Chris and Saul from Bethel met us at the airport. It was a monumental task by our hosts to stow all that gear! But this is what they do, hosting 30 teams per year!    

We made it to our first hotel in Chimaltenango. One night here.
We settled in and met for devotions, led by Pastor Tom Widmer in the empty pool of the hotel! It was a pretty cool setting! His insights were very deep…which is amazing, considering he was preaching from the shallow end of the pool! (Sorry,  I couldn’t pass that up.) In all seriousness, Tom, thank you for all your spiritual guidance leading up to and continuing through the trip! What a BLESSING!

Tom  told the team to keep their eyes open this week. We will all see Jesus, but will we RECOGNIZE HIM? Each evening we plan to have a debrief time where we will discuss  “where did we experience Jesus today?” We can all sit in a room and look at the same thing, but SEE something different. It is always interesting and a great way for the team to recap each day.

Tomorrow… Wheelchair Day 1!
We will first jump off at 7:00 a.m. to head to breakfast, then to the wheelchair shop. We will roll 50+ wheelchairs to the church next door to Bethel. We will fit the chairs at this location.
Then, after the distribution, we will tour the wheelchair shop and learn more about the Bethel Ministries headquarters and operations, and meet the staff and workers in the wheelchair shop. Then off to Tecpan, our home for the next few days.
Thank you all for your continued prayer support!

Dios te Bendiga (God bless you),
Rick Fulton