Celebration in Las Cuevas on March 23

At the beginning of March we received a call from Santos Lares from a small ABC community called las Cuevas.  Santos was calling because he was excited about an opportunity that was presented to the church, he just had no idea how to go forward.  The community leaders had approached him asking his church to lead the community in a thanksgiving service for 23 years of incorporation as a community, for the school, for having the first year classes of middle school and for the project of potable water for each individual house. 

In Guatemala, this is a huge opportunity and requires various participants of which they do not have many in this small congregation.  So he called asking for assistance to lead this service for the community.  We had the privilege of helping him organize this service and many churches and individuals came forward to donate their time for this endeavor.  We had to work out not having electricity, getting a sound system, finding speakers and song leaders for leading a thanksgiving worship to the Lord.  That can be difficult when you do not normally worship with a band and most others who get invited for these types of events do.  As you can imagine, it would be a little strange for someone to be up front doing a solo with others who do not know the songs. 

Thanks to Gaspar, Manuel, and Tomas were able to schedule 3 speakers - Jacinto from Mactzul II, Anastacia from Pacaja Xesic and Martin from Choacaman and also the singing groups of Voces Acapella and the men's singing group from Mactzul V to travel out to the small town of Las Cuevas.  Some for a couple of nights and some for just the long day. 

The community and the governing leaders expressed their gratitude for the spirit of volunteerism that exists in the church.  Hopefully, as a church body, we were able to demonstrate how we can honor God in all that we do and share in the thanksgiving of the Las Cuevas community.

Here are some pictures:

Santos giving the welcome 

 Jacinto

 Local Mayor

 Local Community leader

 Voces Acapella and Mactzul V singing group in front - with Josue, previous health promoter and scholarship student came to participate.

Anastascio

Leading worship

Men's group from Mactzul V

 The Cave that Las Cuevas gets its name from!

   Men's group from Mactzul V

We are sorry we missed out on the fun, but thought it  best not to draw attention to the gringos.