Kekchi Salvation Service

Yesterday we went back to the village of Esquipulas with Domingo, José, and another Kekchi pastor for a Salvation service. You can read about the beginning of the story here. We were so excited to be able to see the fruit of our other outreaches into this village. Kekchi people are thinkers. They like to think about things for a long time before they make a decision. Once that decision is made though, it is a permanent one!

It was about a 3 hours drive, an hour on pavement and two hours on dirt. We got to pass over all the questionable bridges again.

Becca helped me hold the boys in the cab, but poor Rachael and Jay road in a pair of sawed off chairs in the back. It even rained several times. I am sure it was an adventure for about the first 5 minutes and then after that I know it was miserable. Neither one of them complained.

The house where we held the service was about a 5 minute walk off the main road. And it was a BEAUTIFUL walk.

Since we had been there with the teens from Crossroads a couple weeks ago, a family had accepted Christ. That is another characteristic of this people group. They do things as a family unit. Each individual had to decide for themselves what they were going to do with Christ, but they celebrated together as a family.

(Jimmy about to slurp his juice)

The family that had already accepted Christ made dinner for us. They said it was chicken, but we all thought that the bones were too big to be chicken and that it looked more like turkey. Whatever it was, it was good! I really like the flavors that the Kekchi put into dishes like this. Our corn tortillas were served in a hollowed out gourd. I loved it! I am going to be on the lookout for one of these plants!

Since Rachael and Becca were there I was able to take the boys. They just grin at everybody. Children give you an instant connection with the other families.

Here is Jonah talking to Alexander (he and his family are one of the ones that accepted Christ.)

Jay, Rachel, and Becca got to spend a little time with some of the families before the service started.

Jimmy got to talk with some of the men.

Then it was time for the service to begin. This is where we held the service (this was before it started). I walked outside during the service with Silas and saw about 3 more families who came after dark with flashlights to hear the service. They were looking in through the door and window.

That is Domingo next to Jimmy. He preached that night, José led the singing, and Oscar played the keyboard. Oscar is one of the men who comes to our Kekchi training and sometimes translates for Jimmy into Kekchi.

Jimmy and Jay both got to share a little bit about why they were there (Jay is fluent in Spanish).

The man in the yellow shirt is the one who had already accepted Christ. He shared his testimony with everyone.

The photo below is another one from before the service started, but the man to Jay's left and the one in the white shirt both accepted Christ that night along with their wives and children. The man to Jay's right said he was interested, but not ready yet.

The photo below is of the families coming forward and accepting Christ. Jimmy, Jay and Oscar prayed over them too, that they would grow as new Christians, and for strength and encouragement as they are now the only light in this village of darkness.

We found out yesterday that there are exactly 31 families in the village of Esquipulas... 3 of them are now Christians!

Yesterday was Becca's 21st birthday! This was her second year in a row to celebrate her birthday in Guatemala, also her second authentic Guatemalan birthday cake. She said that her day could not have been any better! We are thankful for her passion for the people of Petén.

CUTE ITEM OF THE DAY: Danilo doing a headstand!