07/14/2026
Greetings from El Tejar, Guatemala!
Since our safe arrival last Thursday, our group of 30 has been on the move! By noon today, our teams will have built 16 homes all the while problem solving tight spots, hard ground, and sometimes navigating long narrow paths that I doubt a GPS knows about. One of our co-workers reminded us, “Blessed are those who are flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape!” Our wonderful Guatemalan leaders, Pastor Adan from the on-campus Grace Church and Maggie, “the Boss”, (not because she is bossy, but because she volunteers to help her community) have helped us find the homesites and support our teams. We also held a morning VBS in a small empty sanctuary of a local church. While preparing for 40 children, “word on the street” brought us 83 kids and 15 adults. Thank God for our 17 year old Grace School student interpreter, Sandy. She helped lead song time, interpret our Bible study time, and help us divide and rotate our four craft centers on the floor due to no tables and chairs. Sunday we attended the on-campus Grace Church with local Guatemalans. While familiar songs were sung in Spanish and English, Pastor Adan delivered his sermon in Spanish. I couldn’t understand a word but felt such a presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst so even without understanding words, I know we all worshiped in Spirit.
Yesterday, we traveled to another local church where over 100 beautifully dressed women were waiting with tickets in hand to receive a grocery bag of food staples for their family. That experience was so heartwarming and so heartbreaking at the same time. These women left not embarrassed for being needy but rather smiling, hugging, and graciously thanking us for what to us would have been a quick run to the grocery store but to them was a gift of life to their families. That experience will be hard to forget. Tomorrow we will help feed the over 260 children at Grace School followed by being entertained by a school program. Then, we will go to each homesite for house dedications and celebrations.
While building, leading children, and providing food to families, our group has been ministering to each other as well with laughter, love, and encouragement. Many of us did not know each other. Now we are a family. While we will miss the sweet people of Guatemala, we will now be a stronger church body because of the new American friends we will be taking home with us.
Connie Vigus
