Church Service and Antigua Day

Hola all! Sunday we went to a church service in Guatemala City and then onto Antigua to the markets. The team had a great day worshipping the Lord and having fellowship time together.
The church service was super impactful as the pastor spoke on being "all in" for Jesus and also walking in obedience to the Lord in baptism as an outward expression of one's faith in Christ once they are saved. Afterwards the team enjoyed exploring the town of Antigua, the markets, and enjoying a dinner together.

Sunday worship service

Overlooking Antigua

The team after dinner in Antigua

At the markets

At the markets

On the streets of Antigua

Outside restaurant where we at dinner

Antigua

Village Ministry Day 3

Today we travelled to the village of Los Cholitos. We started hanging out with the kids that came while smaller groups went around the village inviting more children to join us. We played with the kids for a couple hours and performed a play as well as assisted the children with crafts. In each of these activities we were able to share the gospel message. Then after lunch, the team split into two groups; the first stayed and hung out with the kids while the second group went door to door evangelizing. Many good conversations were had with the people in the village about Christ.

Team Guatemala 2019

Parachute games

Stephen doing magic tricks with the kids

Kailey and Jason

Esau sharing with the kids

Morning kids ministry

From Sheylah:
I went with the group that traveled door to door evangelizing, and it really challenged me spiritually. During the summer, I generally spend the majority of it sharing the gospel with little kids, so it’s been really encouraging to be able to share Christ’s love again with the people here. I love how open the villagers are to foreigners coming into their homes and sharing the gospel with them. They aren’t scared or hesitant of sharing their struggles; they’re very open about it. I love being able to spend my time and energy in spreading the love of Christ. God is so good in both the easy times and the hard struggles that every person endures. I am praying that ultimately God will be glorified during this trip.

Sheylah

From Toby:
I was in the group that stayed and played with the kids. One thing that got me thinking was when some of the kids asked me for my water bottle. I gave him a full one and told them to share it but had to help them along with this as they all wanted it to themselves. This opened my eyes to a worldly flaw I was holding on to. We often think that the best thing we can do for people in 3rd world countries is to supply them with material things and this will make them happy. Yes, this can be a good thing to do, but really the best possible thing we could do for them or for anyone is to share the gospel and God’s love.

Toby

Village Ministry Day 2

From Seth and Cassidy - 

Hola! Today we went to the 46 Village. First, we heard the testimony of Ronnie, the pastor in the village. It was encouraging to hear how God worked in his life to bring him out of drugs and violence to Christ and how on fire he is now for the gospel. God is all powerful! It is also encouraging how God is starting to bring fruit to his ministry in the village and how much he cares about the people. After hearing his testimony, we went house to house and shared the gospel for a few hours with all the people that we met. We also shared the Word with many of the kids through skits, music, crafts and games in the afternoon.

We also had a couple funny moments …first when we realized all the lunches were back at the hotel instead of in the bus at the village and second when we fit eleven of us in a five person car for a bathroom run. Luckily we were able to retrieve the food and all survived the car ride ;)

Stephen and Parker sharing the gospel with the Evangecube

Eli, Sheylah and Kami during craft time

Shelbea and Kailey with some of the kiddos

At one of the houses we visited

From Seth - 
Before the trip when we were doing training, I was nervous about the trip because it was going to be different than what I had experienced before, especially sharing the gospel and my testimony through interpreters. What God has shown me through the last couple days of ministering to the people here is that it really makes you realize that others need the gospel and when we are willing to share the gospel, we can walk away with joy because we know we are being obedient to Christ. Knowing that you are saved and that you have Good News for them is a joyful experience!

Seth

From Cassidy - 
When we arrived to the hotel the first evening, I was welcomed by a huge cockroach in my room, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into! I was complaining to my mom about it and about all the other bugs in our room, (I think my exact words were, “Mom, I am not sleeping with a cockroach!), but after visiting the villages I realized that I am so blessed.

I began to look at my life with a different perspective. Anything that I would usually have complained about, I thanked God for. At first when we entered the village, I thought they would hate us because we come from a very materialistic culture, but the people were filled with joy when they saw us! Even though they had little materially, they were so content only having Jesus. Also, the joy that the children showed when we played with them was so amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing God continue to go before us the rest of the week!

Cassidy

Village Ministry Day 1

Here's a quick summary of today:

Today was our first day of ministry. We started our day with oration and breakfast, then we drove in the bus to a village right outside of Cuilapa. We spent the morning at the church and soccer field playing with the kids, doing skits, and sharing Jesus’ love with them. After we ate our lunches we went door to door sharing the gospel and praying with the people there. Then we drove back to the hotel, had fun cooling off in the pool, ate a very yummy dinner, listened to a testimony, worshiped, and played games.

Playing soccer in the village

Sin Chair skit

Spanish 3 students sharing the gospel

Sheylah

From Shelbea:
Today God really opened my eyes to the joy of the villagers. It was so incredible to see the joy the kids had, even if they didn’t have shoes on their feet, they couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. They were content with the presence of others. Their joy and love was a testimony to me in my life that I need to thank God for the many things I take for granted, and that I need to share His joy and love with others. After playing with the kids we split into groups to go door to door evangelizing. This was one of my biggest fears going into this trip, that I wouldn’t represent Christ well and share what He had done for me. When we got to our first house I was so amazed by the love the woman showed to us, she asked us to come into her home and we sat down and shared with her. I realized that is not about how well I could tell other about God, but that God is working whether or not I do it “right.” Today is on our first day of missions and Christ had already grown me so much and I can’t wait to see what He does in me and other this week.

Shelbea

From Jessica:
We are only one day into our trip, and I already feel like God has shown me so much that I never even thought about before. This is my first time out of the United States, and while I knew that there were people in the world outside of Bozeman, I never actually realized that there are real human beings here too; living, breathing, crying, hoping, hurting, loving people. And God has so graciously given me this opportunity to bring His love to them. The other main thing that God has shown me today is that if we choose to obey Him, He will give us the power to do His will. I was completely terrified in at least two different points, worrying about something coming up, and each time God gave me the courage and love to continue in what He wanted me to do: I was anxious about meeting people in the village; once I actually met them He gave me His love for them. I was stressed about sharing the Gospel door to door; He provided wonderful people to lead the way and support me and He took away all the fear. I am so excited to see how God continues to provide for me and the rest of the team throughout the rest of the trip!

Jessica

Travel Day Take 2 - We made it!

After our flight delay and cancellation yesterday we were able to reschedule a flight for early Wednesday morning. We all got to the airport at 5:15 in the morning for our flight to Chicago. From Chicago our group split up; seventeen of us flew to Houston, and the other group of eight flew to Dallas. The team met up late in the evening in Guatemala City and then took a bus to Cuilapa. We got to the hotel around 1am!

Sunset on the Dallas to Guatemala flight!

Guatemala City

The first part of the team arriving in Guatemala!

Yesterday’s disappointment of not flying out also gave us the opportunity for extra time to bond, and to learn that our trip is in God’s hands and that He knows what’s best. We are keeping our attitudes hopeful and focused on the mission ahead of us. We are looking forward to playing with the kids, performing our skits, and sharing God‘s great love (and the sunshine as a nice bonus). Please pray for God’s strength for our team, grateful hearts, for continued health, enthusiasm and courage, and that our team will all safely be together in Guatemala as soon as possible. And please pray for Mr. and Mrs. Goede and Mr. Stomprud who got delayed again and will be finally arriving on Thursday afternoon, Lord willing!

En el nombre de Jesús,
Parker and Lily

P.S. In honor of the Goede's and Mr. Stomprud, a couple more stanzas were added to the poem from yesterday :) ... we pray they can join us tomorrow!

Oh it's foggy down in Houston
And the clouds keep rolling in
All the skies are grey
And the planes are all grounded

How I hope the skies clear up
So we can hit the air
Guatemala's calling
And there's people who need Jesus there! 

Delayed Departure!

The team arrived at the Bozeman airport at 6:10am Tuesday morning ready to get on the way to Guatemala! However, after having to de-plane in Bozeman on the first flight of the day due to the de-icing fluid freezing and limited visibility (oh how we love winter travel from Montana! :), the team was unable to head out.

In honor of today, here is this poem:
It's winter in Montana
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below

Oh how I love Montana when
the planes will not take off
The de-icing fluid is frozen
And the visibility is naught

Yes the weather here is wonderful
So we guess we'll hang around
We could never leave Montana
Cuz we're frozen to the ground!! :)

God is good to give us a sense of humor and the ability to trust His timing! Praise the Lord, a sweet United rep helped us for a couple hours at the ticket counter to get everyone re-booked for Wednesday, so we will try again tomorrow! The team is splitting into a few different groups for travel tomorrow and will Lord willing all meet in Guatemala by tomorrow evening! We are trusting the Lord's timing and looking forward to how He goes before through the rest of the next week! Please pray along with us as we go!

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." 

-Psalm 96:3

2019 Guatemala Team

The team hanging in the airport during the delay.

Avery and Nathan wishing that the weather outside could have looked like the picture
on the side of the jet bridge instead of a white out ;) 

Nicara.....no, Guatemala, here we come!

Hello Heritage Families and Friends!

Yes, it's that time of year again for the Junior class mission trip. But, as you can see from the heading, we won't be traveling to Nicaragua this year. Instead, we will embark on a different mission to a different country.

The political unrest and street violence in Nicaragua, which broke out shortly after we returned from there last March, precludes us from returning this year. Though it seems to have settled down some, there is enough concern about what still remains to give pause for now.

So, our destination this year is a bit north and west of Nicaragua in Guatemala. We will partner with Trek-X, the mission organization that our former Athletic Director, Amber Lundskog, works with now. Trek-X has had career missionaries in Guatemala since 2012.

We sill leave February 26 for an area called Cuilapa, about an hour and a half outside of Guatemala City with 40+ rural villages that have no gospel presence. Churches have been planted in a few of these villages now and the career missionaries are working to train the indigenous pastors and believers to be able to go and share the gospel and plant churches in other surrounding villages. The team will be coming alongside them in this work.

Part of that work will be visiting door-to-door with villagers in an effort to help Trek-X map the village.  Our hope is that God will give us opportunity to share the Gospel in these face-to-face visits. We will also do a Gospel-sharing VBS ministry with the children in the village.

Please pray for the team - 18 students and 10 adults - as we continue our preparations in the next two weeks. Pray that our hearts will be surrendered to God's will, that we will have servant hearts toward each other, and that Jesus will be glorified in it all.

We will attempt to post as often as possible while in Guatemala but have no guarantee of internet availability. In the meantime watch for another post just before we leave.

If you have any questions regarding the trip or helping with the trip, please call the school office at 587-9311.