Feliz Dia Papa!! - written by Amanda Lepper

What an amazing day!  We all agree that today has been the longest day known to man, but there is no word that can describe what a beautiful day it was.  Last night at dinner... which consisted of beef stew.... delicioso... Pastor Luis asked if we would share a song and if one or two people would be willing to share a testimony this morning at church.  Whew!!  The spirit started moving and prompting people and stories were shared sitting around the table after dinner.  It was a powerful evening for us.  This morning we got up, headed over to a fabulous breakfast prepared by Pastor Luis's sister Delmi.  We had what was basically an egg McMuffin along with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast dish of rice, milk, and sugar with cinnamon.  Pastor Luis asked a few of us to share one or two of our favorite scriptures and we enjoyed a brief devotional this morning.  Shortly thereafter it was time to load up the bus with ALL of our supplies including all the shoes we brought and more to take with us to Lake Atitlan.  The church service this morning was in honor of Father's Day and we were SO blessed to be able to share a couple of songs with them.  Sabrina followed the prompt to lug her guitar all the way to Guatemala and was able to play while ALL of us... except Jenn Brown who was kind enough to video this moment... sang two worship songs.  Sabrina and Jenny both followed the prompting of God to share their testimonies and what a powerful moment that was.  It was incredible to watch them be open and willing to share their hearts with these people we had just met.  Definitely a God moment.  We were invited to go play outside with the children while Pastor Luis was teaching.  We had bubbles, footballs, kites, and many more goodies to share with them.  We had a great time playing and loving on them.  Though most of us don't speak more than one or two words in Spanish, it's true that hearts connect no matter the language barrier.  Right after church we loaded up the bus where Delmi passed out our sack lunches for the 3 hour journey to the Lake Region.  About half of the trip was on nice paved, semi straight roads and we were thinking to ourselves "this isn't so bad".  About that time we turned off the main road and began the rest of the journey.  We wound up, up, up... back and forth around hairpin turns on pothole filled roads. Thank goodness none of us suffer from motion sickness.  By this time it had begun to rain, and as we topped the mountain to head down the other side to the Lake, we couldn't see anything but fog.  As we decended further down the hill the lake and the small towns surrounding it came into view and we were all glued to the windows.  It was a beautiful sight.  We came into one village where we stopped to eat dinner.  Delmi prepared spaghetti and we fellowshipped around the table.  One more time on the bus... still in a nice steady rain... and we drove to the next village to where our hotel is located.  We unloaded all the luggage from the top of the bus... thank goodness it had been secured under a tarp to prevent soaking!!... and the rain is still falling steadily as we sit here in the internet cafe a block from the hotel.  Tomorrow morning we head up to the village of Panybar where we will spend the day working on construction of a block house.  Of course we are also looking forward to spending some time with the people and the children of the community. 

If the past 24 hours are any indication... this week is going to be utterly amazing.  Full of God-sized moments.  I continue to be so grateful for the team of people He has put together.  Thank you for all your prayers back home.  Pray we will continue to stay healthy, that we will continue to be sensitive to and step out in faith to follow His promptings.  Pray for the people of the village of Panybar.  We will be working in that community all week. Again, we'd love to be able to hear from you any words of encouragement... comment if you can.

AND... Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives!!!  Feliz Dia Papa!!! 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow....