I went on a short-term missions trip.
The goal of that trip was NOT to complete projects or to give things to the poor or to support ministries already happening there, it was to glorify God - to share the Gospel, and we did!
When you go somewhere as impoverished as Santa Maria in Guatemala, you want to hand money out to everyone you meet, you long to solve their problems - Americans to the rescue!
Yet the way to really help them is to teach them there is a God, there is hope that lasts for eternity!
So as I looked at the faces especially of the children, I prayed and begged the Lord to reveal Himself to them and to show us what He really needed from us.
I became very overwhelmed several times with the condition these children had to live in each day - I don't think most babies even ever got to crawl due to the horrible conditions of their homes...
The mothers carry their children in a cloth sling on their backs inside and outside the home.
The children have diets consisting largely of starch and are very deprived of protein, so by a very young age have already lost up to 15 IQ points.
No word even exists in their language for 'tomorrow' - they only know survival 'today'.
The idea that God has provided a strong relationship and opportunity between Crossroads and this forgotten people is nothing short of miraculous! We leave the comfort and amazing provision of our homes and for a week minister to these precious people - this should awaken a 'call' to action among all who can go, to be used to spread the only hope, the only chance they'll ever have for a new community through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
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