Day Three - Wednesday, March 28

It's to be our first full day in Tactic. Our first day of ministry that we have been preparing for months for. The team is excited, so most of us are up early.

Showering is a novel experience for most of the team. The shower head contains an “in-line” heater so that when water passes through, it turns on and heats the water. So, one is faced with a choice: a trickle of water that is quite hot or jets of very lukewarm water. Jets might be overly generous since only 7 of the possible 20 or so holes are clear of scale so that water runs through them. And, the ones that are open don't all point in the same direction. The shower head could use a good dousing in CLR!



Everyone heads out to Beerseba Chamche for 7:30 AM devotion with the students. Beerseba Chamche is the first of 4 schools run by Impact Ministries and all four schools start their day with a half hour devotion & worship time. In an effort to teach the children the value of being on time, the gate to the school is locked at 7:30. If a student is late, they won’t be able to attend to school that day. As the bell rings to call students to devotion, one boy runs through the gate with sweat beaded on his forehead. He has been running for quite a while to be on time. (Hmm, I wonder if this technique would work at Bearspaw?)

200 children pour into the main hall to join us for worship. Worship at Beerseba is loud! The children sing with full out devotion at the top of their lungs with hands held high and their eyes closed tight. Listening to them worship is a moving experience for many of the team. Our eyes brimming with tears, we reflect on how different our worship in Canada is. Many of these little children have home & family situations that are heartbreaking, and most are hearing for the first time in their lives, about the love & hope that Christ offers. This is heart of Impact Ministries and the reason we have travelled so far.



Devotions close with a "hugging" line as the children attemt to hug every team member before returning to their classrooms.

While Dr. Garth (we can't call him Dr. Mortis because it sounds like Dr. Death in Spanish, not a good name to build patient trust with), Mrs. Henders (our nurse), Stefanie & Tom (soon to be pharmacists) go to set up the Medical Clinic, the rest of the team has a quick walk back to our guest-house for breakfast. Fresh pineapple, mangos and "ChocoKrispies" are consumed with great enthusiasm. No toast, unfortunately, as the power has gone out to most of Tactic. Then it's back to Beerseba Chamche for children's ministry.

The team meets with 90 Kindergarten & Grade One students, who have been praying for our arrival for a number of weeks. We do our best to teach them new songs in Spanish (ironic for a group of english-speaking North Americans) & invite them to participate in actions to our English worship songs.
The two "box" dramas go over very well, despite not having their music soundtracks. The power is still out.



The children are split into boys & girls for various activities. The boys go outside to play soccer & get balloon animals, while the girls stay in the main hall to colour & get their faces painted. About half-way through, the groups switch so that all the children get to do all activities. At the end of 2 hours of play, the children seem to have built up a lot of energy, while our team seems to have exhausted their supply. It's a quiet walk to the Peter's residence for lunch; delicious chicken sandwiches.

In the afternoon, our team is driven through Tactic to a patch of land that was given to Impact Ministries to build a school on. The story goes that Impact Ministries had bought some land outside of Tactic to build a medical clinic & school on, but it would take some time to be able to begin to develop the land. The mayor met with Les Peters and asked why the school was being built outside of Tactic. Les's response was that that was where Impact Ministries could get land. It was too expensive to buy land inside of Tactic. As the story goes, the mayor looked at one of the members of council & asked them to tour Les through several parcels of land that were available inside of Tactic. When the tour was finished, Les was asked to choose the best parcel of land, and the mayor gave it to him for free, to build a medical clinic & school on! Wow.



When we arrived at the land, we saw that it sat between two very high ridges on both sides. Our task, was to take one of those steep ridges, bring it down about 4 feet, and level it into a 20 x 60 foot area for the top floor of the clinic/school complex. With little hesitation, and even less of a plan, the team took to the task with hoes, pick-axes & shovels. Imagine the flurry of activity & dirt! Before too long, most of the team was covered in soil, and I mean covered. This was partly due to a lack of ability with the tools we were using, but mostly due to the crowded conditions & poor aim of people throwing dirt/sod over the edge of the ridge.

After two and a half hours, the team returned to the guest-house for showers leaving the ridge a bit lower and the locals who gathered to watch, fairly bemused. Quite the crowd of Guatemalans, young & old, developed over the course of the afternoon to watch the "loco gringos" do battle with the earth. Perhaps they went home to tell their neighbours, for the next day would prove to bring an even bigger crowd of sight-seers.

After a dinner of Guatemalan chicken chow mein, Les led the team in a time of reflecting on the sights & sounds that the day held. Many of the team members reflected on how intensely the children at Beerseba Chamche worshiped, contrasting this with the often lack of enthusiasm they see at home. Others spoke of how happy the Guatemalan people seemed, despite the poverty & lack of material belongings. Still others spoke of how open & accepting the people are to strangers, the fact that they would freely hug us, or, sit and talk with us despite knowing very little of each others language. Some pretty big lessons in God's true plan for mankind.

After lights out at 11:00 pm, it very quickly becomes quiet in the guest house. Very tired bodies don't stay alert for long after becoming horizontal. What a day to remember!