An ongoing discipleship and partnership program with a Guatemalan congregation led a team of 12 from Cedar Valley Mennonite Church in Mission, B.C., to travel to the Central American country for two weeks in July, putting their faith into practice while learning about missions and making new friends.
Chad Neustaeter, Cedar Valley’s associate pastor of student ministries, led the trip with his wife Sandy and their four children. The other participants included young adults, youths and two other parents.
Cedar Valley members have made short-term mission trips to Guatemala 10 times since 2001. The relationship with Bethel Church in Santa María de Jesús, where the group volunteered again this year, began in 2006. While past trips have included various activities such as home-building projects and supporting a dental team, this year’s trip focused on a Vacation Bible School program.
With the help of a local Spanish translator, VBS proved to be an overwhelming success. Originally planned for 125 children between ages 4 and 10, it drew in more than 150, including community children.
“We presented a VBS called ‘Creation station: You are God’s masterpiece’ that our church developed last spring using Mr. Potato Head body parts,” says Neustaeter. “At the end of our four-day program, we asked if any students would like to make Jesus their special friend and most of the kids stood up to pray to know Jesus more.”
At Cedar Valley’s own VBS held earlier this summer, participants had made and decorated bags to send with the Guatemala group, instead of doing take-home craft projects for themselves. The local Guatemalan VBS participants were thrilled with their new bags.
Additionally, the Cedar Valley group visited Kairos House, a ministry by a family that has opened its home to care for families of children with cancer. Here, they sang songs and presented gifts of blankets, New Testaments and the decorated bags.
Visiting the city dump in Guatemala City was an eye-opening experience for the Canadians, as they observed people sifting through the garbage, trying to salvage discarded items to make a living. Next door is Potters House, which ministers to these poorest of the poor by helping adults with microloans, and marketing their handmade jewelry to help them support themselves and give their children a chance at an education.
Sydney Hinchcliffe, who graduated from high school last spring, found her visit to Potters House to be such a highlight that she hopes to continue supporting it from afar. “I’m going to be an ambassador for Potters House [here],” she says, “speaking to schools and churches.” The trip also cemented Hinchcliffe’s desire to be a teacher, and she enrolled in Columbia Bible College’s Quest program as soon as she returned.
Undoubtedly, the ongoing partnership between the Mission and Santa María de Jesús churches will continue in future summers.
“Our goal is to provide an opportunity for youth to have a significant encounter with God, practise being a witness, learn about missions and another culture in order to expand their worldview,” Neustaeter says. “God doesn’t disappoint.”
The Cedar Valley Mennonite Church mission team members (dressed in orange T-shirts) from Mission, B.C., play in the streets of Santa María de Jesús, Guatemala, to attract neighbourhood children to the VBS program at nearby Bethel Church, a local congregation.
This young boy, who is bald due to cancer treatments, is happy to receive a handmade card with his gift bag from the mission team from Cedar Valley Mennonite Church, Mission B.C., during a two-week visit to Guatemala that included a stop at Kairos House, a ministry by a family that has opened its home to care for families of children with cancer.
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