Where is home?

It has been a strange two weeks. I got sick for much of my last week in Guatemala so I was not able to work with the team after Monday. I spent two days in bed and then two more days driving but not working. I did not eat for about 4 days and was miserable. In spite of my sickness, the team kept working and they accomplished a lot. They finished the sidewalk and drive at the school, finished the playground did food distribution and poured Rudy's roof and three floors in his house. I was grateful to Merari for taking my place one driving when I could not.

On the 15th, I left to come back to Illinois for a few weeks. The CYCM Annual Promotional Banquet is on Friday and there is always a lot of work to do in the days leading up to that event. I figured that it made sense to come back and work here rather than stay in Guatemala when there were no teams. I jokingly told my Guatemalan friends that I needed to come back for a vacation because they had worked me to hard.

The reality is that I have come to think of San Lucas as home also. While I have family and friends in Illinois and I miss then when I am gone, God has also given me a second family in Guatemala. t is as hard to leave them as it is to leave Morris. Wherever I go, I am away from people that I have become very close to. It seems like I am always wanting to be with someone and they  are inevitably 2,500 miles away.

All of this has made me ponder life. We know that we are only here temporarily and that we have an eternal reward waiting. Unless we isolate ourselves and never build relationships, there will always be someone missing from our lives. If we have eternity, why don't we pour ourselves into building the Kingdom of God that lasts forever instead of building a temporary kingdom that will be destroyed. Why don't we choose a moments discomfort to build a treasure that an inheritance that can never be taken away.

Already this year, 2 more classrooms were constructed in Membrial, the driveway was put in, a playground was poured and then had play equipment build and the foundation for the new Church was dug. In Zapote, there was a clinic at the school that served 600 patients, The Food Machine received a good cleaning had the pump replaced and had work was done to balance the nutrients for optimal plant growth. There was a house and 6 stoves build and the Gospel was shared numerous times in many ways.

I will be returning to Guatemala in a few weeks and resume the work that we have been doing. There will be several more teams coming and by the end of the summer we should see the near completion of the Church and school in Membrial along with some good harvests from the food machine and other plant projects that Dennis Knutson helped us with in February.  I will be there approximately 12 more weeks. 

 If you would consider supporting me financially, as well as in prayer, it would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be sent to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 
Checks can be made out to MFHOP.