American missionary team arrives!

Open Air Ministry Outreach:

     At almost exactly this time every year a missionary team of people from America come to Guatemala for a week of aid and support.  This is a long-standing tradition involving primarily, however not limited to, Glory Chapel Intl. Cathedral, and First Cathedral.  After the team gets settled they choose a location to set up a tent, sound system, and music to reach out to that community.  Outside Guatemala city, in a very desolate mountain town, all but forgotten by the world at large,  a stage is set.

    First, some loud and lively music.  This provides entertainment for the people, it gets their attention, and most importantly it changes the atmosphere from what people are accustomed to seeing and feeling at a particular time.

     After the music Arch-bishop LeRoy Bailey Jr of First Cathedral in Bloomfield was invited to address this packed little tent in this small barrio in the mountain.  With the help of Pastor Jose Alvarez as an interpreter Arch-bishop brought a visionary message to this wonderful and captivated audience of eager listeners.  They were blown away to hear about how much God loves them and wants to help them through their trials and circumstances.  They were excited to hear about what God had done in the lives of so many of the American missionaries who shared their stories with them, and were overjoyed to learn that God's grace is for everyone including their own family and friends.

     After Archbishop finished speaking people were invited to the front of the tent.  They came to talk to God.  Many needed help and weren't sure what to say.  Many cried out.  Other's couldn't say anything, as they were overwhelmed with tears or had literally fallen to the ground after being prayed with by a missionary and reunited for the first time with their very Creator.  The same one who had knitted them together in their mother's womb so many years before.

     At moments such as these barriers are non-existent.  Cultural, social, and even language barriers no longer exist.  Here you see Rev. Bill Howdy, a plumber from Massachusetts, leading a local man into a new relationship with a loving God.  Bill Howdy, came through the ministry of Youth Challenge many years ago.  Since then he has developed a successful business, a beautiful family, and a desire to show his love and gratitude in as many ways as he is able.       After everything calmed down, and i thought the unseasonable cold evening had come to a close.  These guys came and heated everything up again!

     Meet the "Perlas de Cristo" mariachi group!  http://www.perlasdecristo.com/  As their stage presence suggests these guys were professional and all business up there.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect night.  People shook off the cold by singing and dancing.  Genuine shouts of Jubilee were spilling from the tent and were heard even by those who chose not to attend our open air ministry.

     Coincidentally, these gentlemen were a pleasure on and off the stage as i was able to speak with them and buy their full length CD for the equivalent of $1.10 U.S.

     For so many people this was the first time they had ever heard God revealed in such tangible terms.  Others had heard "the story" so many times it had lost any meaning.  But it takes on a whole new face when people you've never met come half-way across the world to your small town just to look you in the eyes and tell you God loves you.  Then to pray with you, embrace you as you shed tears, and help walk you through any doubts or questions, all at their own expense, and all because God is just that real to them.  Now that changes things.