Update #2 - Mr. Werth

Friday morning the team was up bright & early, despite staying up late the night before participating in an hour of "roof top" worship. The day was proving to be a very warm day for our travel to Guatemala City.

The team was packed & ready to roll by 9:30 AM, we were ahead of schedule! Our first stop was in Mocohan, where Mr. Peterson was able to visit his sponsor children, a boy & a girl (twins). He was pretty pumped about this. Then it was on to Guatemala City. Because it was Good Friday, there wasn't much traffic on the highway & we made good time.

Once in Guatemala City, we stopped for a late lunch at Pollo Campero's & then dropped our luggage at the seminary Seteca where we were to stay the night. The team was then driven close to the central square in an effort to visit the Presidential Palace & the main cathedral in Guatemala City. Thousands of people were pouring into the square to view a large Holy Week procession & participate in a special mass. The team was instructed to maintain close proximity to one another as we wound through the press of people. We were surrounded with many inconsistent images; men dressed in black to participate in the procession, children & adults selling snacks, toys, sunglasses, jewelery and everywhere there were police and armed guards. We could feel the vibrations & hear the drone of dirge music from huge speakers in front of the cathedral. People lined both sides of the street & sat on the steps of the palace and the cathedral in anticipation of a procession. Everything was closed, so we didn't get to see what we were hoping to see, but then the procession began. Wheeled floats with images of Christ being betrayed in the Garden of Gesthemane, Judas' betrayal, Christ's trial & subsequent torture and ultimate death on the cross. The figures were life-size & life-like, but there was a recurrent theme of skeletons and skulls with each float, very eerie! The culmination was a huge float of Christ lying in state carried on the shoulders of close to a hundred men dressed in black. The final float was surrounded by men carrying pots of incense that filled the air with pungent smoke making it hard to breathe at times. Once the entire procession had passed by, the outdoor mass began. Three times our group attempted to move through the crowd to get back to our vehicles, but the crowd was too thick to push our way through. Finally, an opening was spotted & slowly the 40+ Canadians pushed their way clear of the central square.

Upon returning to our vehicles, the team found Israel (one of our drivers) doing what he does best; sharing the gospel. We prayed with the family who were watching over our vehicles & who had accepted Israel's invitation to make Jesus Christ their Lord & Saviour!

Upon our return to the seminary, we were able to freshen up for the evening while dinner was ordered. 15 of the largest Domino's pizzas we had ever seen. There were more slices of pizza than could be consumed by the team, even with 12 teenage males who made it a goal to eat eight or more slices each!

We then pushed the tables aside to form a large circle for our last group devotion of the trip. We went around the group & heard each team member share what they felt God is calling them to change upon returning to Canada. Some very personal challenges were shared that night, but all with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The evening closed with over an hour of lifting each other in prayer. The lights in the dining hall were turned off at 11:30 PM bringing our Mission to Guatemala 2010 trip to a close. All that remained was our trip back to Calgary the next day.

Thank-you for following our pursuits in Guatemala, we hope you enjoyed the stories. If you are in Calgary on Thursday, April 15th, we invite you to join us for dessert, coffee & a time of sharing as we show some of our pictures and tell more stories of our time in Guatemala. This event will be held in the Bearspaw Christian School gymnasium starting at 7:00 PM. There is no charge for the evening. Perhaps we will see you there!