No Vacation...

Good evening, friends & family... actually, it's morning... my bad

We've been out of the country... but it's been no vacation.  It was difficult & wonderful.  There were deep, belly laughs and heartbroken tears.  The poverty in this country goes on, but so will the bonds of our friendship... of both our team, as well as with the Guatemalans we met.  Tomorrow we're heading home, but today:

Today has once again been a very emotional day.  From the beginning till end...

We started out the day with two options: a trip to some Mayan ruins or a trip to "Café-landia" (Coffee land). I took the option of Café-landia, and it was an interesting & educational experience.  We got to see the whole process preparing coffee beans & roasting the beans.  All natural, Guatemalan coffee is amazing &... I bought 7 lbs... don't judge me.

We spent a great deal of time the rest of the day gluing Popsicle sticks together to make bases to boxes for a future kids' craft. The Guatemalan missionaries and our group glued together over 7200 Popsicle sticks and it was great to have the opportunity to spend this time with our new friends, the Guatemalan missionaries.  We worked hard; but we also had a lot of fun sharing riddles back and forth, and laughing a great deal.
This was particularly great because it was the last time we'd get to spend with them.  When they left the mission house to head home, there were many, many hugs & tears.  They were very, very important to us and I know that I can speak for the whole group in saying that we're going to miss them A LOT!!

Tonight, after pretty much everything for the day... & a pizza dinner (it was good... not as good as Ginny's meals), we had time together for sharing about the whole week.  I understand they always have the last night as the "Reflections" night, and wow... they had about 5 or 6 questions for us, and they brought just about all of us to tears at least one point or another.  "Reflections" is really a great name for it, because we really thought about the whole week and how it's going to affect our lives going forward.  I was very moved by many of our groups' testimonies and confessions.  It's been a long time since the last time I went on a mission trip, but I feel as close to this group as any other of any other mission trip I've been on.  I was sharing tonight that this  was sort of an eclectic group, but we really came together & loved on each other throughout this week.

I feel truly blessed to have come on this trip, I can't even imagine the situation if I hadn't come.  The Lord led every single one of us to come to Guatemala this week.  We've seen God move in ways we never could have imagined. 

I'm physically spent... I'm emotionally exhausted... I'm actually kinda dirty... And I will never forget this experience, and I can't wait to share it with others in America when we return.

So... what's next, God?!

God Bless, you all!!
-Luke, & Terri... cause Luke is too ADD to get a blog started on the last night of a mission trip