Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the greeting we brought to the churches and the people of Guatemala, the same greeting that the Apostle Paul gave to the churches in New Testament times. On November 3-13, we took a group of 11 young people to Guatemala. They were: Brad Aho, Karina Mattila, Aaron Ruotsala, Amanda Aho, Joy Kandoll, Dawn Aho, Kendra Holmgren, Tim Estola, Erik Park- konen, Jonathan Johnson and Katie Grillo. Along with the youth were Richard and Betty Barney, Matti and Elaine Valitalo, Bob Maki, my wife LeAnn and myself. Pablo Salguero came along as our translator and helped in many ways. The purpose of our trip was to perform repairs on the church in Zacapa. We did rewiring, installed ceiling fans and lights, replaced damaged ceiling panels, and cleaned and painted the inside of the church.

Each day the children of Zacapa came to help and to visit our young people. What a blessing to see them together! They became so attached, there were many tears when we had to leave. Even more important than the work on the church was the work ofGod in our hearts. We thank God that we were able to share the love ofGod and His Word with those in Guatemala. Every evening we had services in homes or churches, or Bible study at our hotel. One night we were invited by a waitress at the hotel to have services at her church. Before the service, the waitress asked Joy if she would go with her to find her wayward son and invite him to church. Joy went with her and the young man promised to come, but did not show up until the service was over and we had left. The next day our youth and some of the adults went to a waterfall near that church and the young man showed up to talk. He began to tell Joy his troubles and that he was burdened by his sins and had not been able to sleep the night before. Joy translated his words for Bob Maki, who was able to preach the Gospel of the forgiveness of all his sins to him. He received peace and joy in believing that Good. We visited many of the very poor homes in Pietras Azulas and had services in our church there.

Solomon holds services there each Saturday and the children are bussed to Zacapa each Sunday. I asked for and received a report from each of our young people on their thoughts about our trip. Their experiences are printed following this article. Each one told of the great impact it had on them as one wrote: "My dream is that this mission trip will not be the last provided for the youth of our church. I cannot begin to tell you how much God strengthened my faith through this trip." Another wrote, "God's almighty presence was evident from preparing for the trip to the last day. It was a life- changing experience working on the church, being with the young people and seeing how they live." May God bless these youth and keep and guide them by His Holy Spirit. Let us remember them in our prayers as there is a great need for laborers in the Lord's vineyard.