|
K’ekchi’ church births a daughter
SACRABINHA, Guatemala
Galen and Phyllis Groff, workers with Eastern Mennonite Missions among the K’ekchi’ Indians in Guatemala, recently joined a K’ekchi’ mission team from the Compat Mennonite Church for a visit to a new church plant high in the mountains. Their first person account follows.
We squeezed into a crowded van with ten members from the Compat church, four musicians, and their musical instruments. Then after a two-hour van ride we began the tedious four-hour mountain trek to the new community, but not before four women from the group supplied food to fuel us for the rocky climb ahead.
As we hiked along searching for footholds on the narrow, muddy trail we mused that God must have been thinking of paths like this when he promised, “I will keep your foot from slipping.”
Midway up the mountain a group of young men greeted us from under a huge shade tree. They invited us to sit down and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. We welcomed the break and marveled at the gift of this refreshment and the love that had propelled them to lug a five-gallon container of drink along the treacherous trail.
After arriving in Sacrabinha, we greeted the community, refueled with more drinks, and bathed in the clear, cool water of the mountain river. Then we enjoyed the evening meal graciously served to our group in the warm circle of light cast by a kerosene lantern.
Pastor Sebastian, part of our team, told the story of how the outreach to this community started a year ago when he responded to a call from someone who had heard his radio program. Since the initial contact when many believed, Sebastian's church in Compat has sent church leaders to visit twice a month. They spend eighty quetzales (the equivalent of two day's wages) per person to visit the outpost which now consists of eleven families, a group of fifty people including children.
The special meetings over the weekend of our visit included a mass church wedding for five couples, the baptism of six new members, and the choosing of a local leader to teach the Word of God. Pastor Sebastian knew each member by name and took time to listen to their thoughts and ideas.
Sunday night at the end of the service, Pastor Sebastian sent out the members of our team to seek those in the audience of around 250 people who had not yet accepted Christ. We were moved to watch people obediently taking up the challenge to call others to accept Christ.
Listening and teaching continued until we left Monday morning. The group chose, by consensus, a young man, Luis, to be their spiritual leader and to teach the Word. They observed that he was a man not afraid to speak, someone who attended regularly, and helped other new believers understand what it means to walk with Jesus.
Luis responded positively to the invitation to serve. He said, “It frightens me to say ‘Yes’, but your affirmation encourages me.”
The new church also formed a women’s group. The 22-year-old leader, Elisa Ca’al Toc, who reads the Bible for the women, told us she never went to school, but learned to read in an adult literacy program.
Galen and Phyllis Groff have worked in leadership development and medical assistance among the K’ekchi’ of Guatemala from 1985-1988, and from 1995 until the present.
-Galen and Phyllis Groff
Back to news and stories
|
