We're coming home!

Dear family, friends and supporter,

We have had an incredible time of reflection from all that God has taught and shown us over the last two weeks.  We are in Antigua settling into our hotel rooms.  Here are a few words that the students have used about going home: Excited, pumped, anxious, elated, scared, hopeful, prayerful!

They have some "fun" stories filled with the power of Jesus name!  They are ready and can't wait to share them.


The first group will arrive on United flight #6099 at 4:35pm at MSP (Terminal #1).

The second group will arrive on American flight #1621 at 10:59pm at MSP (Terminal #1)

If you are not sure what flight your child is on please check your email.

Don't forget my big speech: MAKE SURE TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE FAMILY MEMBER AT THE AIRPORT WHEN YOUR CHILD ARRIVES!!!

See you soon.
Pastor Mark

Our last day of serving.

We left San Marcos this morning and headed to Eagle's Nest Orphanage.  It's an amazing place run by amazing people!  Check it out: www.eaglesnestint.org

We served the orphans here with our children's and mime program. Our sports and drama team jumped in with our service team and knocked off about 4 different projects on the property.

The medical team opened the clinic and helped many of the babies and youngest kids here.  Eagle's Nest cares for 49 children and it's the best orphanage that I have ever been a part of! (That's to plant a seed for your family to do a mission trip down here sometime in the next few years. :)

Tonight, we will start sharing what God has been doing in our lives over the last two weeks.  We will worship and pray together and former senior high alumni and leader Shane Goronkin will share the Word of God for us tonight.  It's going to be a great!  Pray for soft hearts and open hands.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Atitlan.

Blessings on your family.
Mark

This is the view from Eagle's Nest Orphanage! 

Last day in San Marcos

It's our last full day in San Marcos.  The people here are generous and kingdom minded.  The medical clinic is at the church that is hosting us and that you saw from the pictures yesterday.  Our med team is a well oiled machine!

The sports and drama team played three club teams today.   Just the boys played and the girls did the play by play!  Gooooooooool!  The boys won both games.  Sean shared his faith story.  A few of the Guatemalan soccer players checked the "first time accepting Christ" box and it was a great morning.

In the afternoon I saw the children's team minister in a daycare.  These kids loved hugging our students and playing with them.  Charlie gave his testimony and did a great job.

Tonight we are changing our plans.  The United States soccer team is playing Argentina in the Copa America at 7pm and we are going to a hotel to cheer on the boys and have a little ice cream to celebrate four amazing days in San Marcos.

We travel to Solola tomorrow and will do a half day of service at the orphanage there!

Thanks for all of your love and encouragement!

Catching you up!

Sunday started with passing out the personal notes that you had sent us through email.  It was a full day on Sunday.

I went with the service team.  These students are fierce.  The group was split in two on this day.  The first group helped to dig out a walk way between two houses and lay brick with the owners of the property.  The second group moved dirt to level out the foundation of a new church building that is going up.  They hope to lay cement next month.  This is an amazing service team and they have poured out their hearts for the Guatemalans.  

We ended Sunday with a huge youth service.  We worshiped for about an hour.  We sang songs in English and Spanish and jumped a lot.  Our calves are sore this morning.  The mime and sports/drama team performed again and some of the Guatemalan youth sang a song for us too!

The time ended with a reflection from 1 Timothy 4:12 by long-time partner Pastor Nery.  The students responded by kneeling. Then all the leaders laid hands on the Guatemalan and American students and prayed for them.  It was one of the most powerful moments of our trip.

The service went late, so this morning we were a bit tired.  Pray for that.  We are on the home stretch. The medical team prayed with 3 people to received Christ into their life for the first time just this morning and the mime team performed in front of 250 students with over 200 responding to the Gospel message!  God is working!

We will have some team time tonight and get to our home stays by 8pm.  Tomorrow will be our last day in San Marcos.

Have a great Monday!

Mark

Father's Day Notes Part 2

Happy father’s day dad, thanks for the email. I love you and mom and will see you guys soon. Claire Mellema

Hey fam it’s Caleb wanted to thank you for the email dad and for the scripture you shared with me have an amazing father’s day. I’m having a fantastic time with love –Caleb

Que honda mi familia y novia! Happy Father’s Day Dad! Hope all is well in MN, the boys are having a blast in Guate and look forward to seeing y’all soon. –Clayton W

Que honda mi familia y novia! It’s your boy Graham here. Boys are still boolin here in San Marcos. We just got beat 10-3 so now we are 3-11. Can’t wait to come home and tell all about the trip. I’m thinking that I’m gonna stay here because I love it so much. Love y’all! –Graham T

Fam, I have a little more time now so I can actually write to you for real. Not going to lie, I have not missed my family until I got your message today. Clayton also howled today and it made me miss you Tom. Kat- I have a super sweet gift for you, can’t wait to show you. Steve, I love reminiscing with Jason and Mark about your time in Guat. Love and miss you all- Joe M

Hi daddy!!! Happy Fathers Day. I am sorry that your favorite child cant be there today to tell you how much I appreciate and love you. You are the best dad in the world. I miss you tons. Love you. Take it easy today.    –Greta Bragg

Happy fathers day daddy! I’m so sad I can’t be there for your special day but I hope you still had an amazing birthday and fathers day. All is well in guat and I am completely healthy. You are the best dad in the world and I miss you, mom, aly, and keely all so much. Love you guys and see you soon!!!!!- Laura Halbakken

Daddio!! Happy Father’s Day! I hope you are having a ton of fun with the Mamacita and SummitaJ I’ve been counting down the days until I get to give you all hugs! I am having a blast here in Guatemala and have been very healthy (so far… J) I miss you like crazy! See you soon Grande Coco Frio –Jackie Buyse

Hi Dad/Padre! Happy Father’s Day! I am so sad I can’t be there to celebrate with you but know that I love you so much and feel so blessed to have such an amazing father! You are always so encouraging and supportive of me and love me no matter what! I don’t know what I would do without you in my life! I love and miss you so incredibly much and cannot wait to see you soon! –Allison Harvey

Happy Father’s Day! I hope you are both having a fantastic time on your road trip adventure, and I am looking forward to seeing you and Bree at the airport Saturday. I am having a blast here (haven’t gotten sick yet!) and loving the experience. Thanks for your constant support! –Elizabeth Cripe

Happy Father’s Day dad!! I’m so sad I can’t be home with you guys, but I hope you did something fun! I am having a lot of fun here, but that definitely doesn’t stop me from wishing I was home with you. I’m not sure if you will see this, but I love you so much and cannot wait to see you all soon! –Nichole Johnson

Happy Father’s Day Dad!!! (I’m writing one more :) I miss you and the rest of the family a lot. Thank you for sending me on this trip. It has been amazing and I cannot wait to tell you and the rest of the family about it. The kids never fail to put a smile on my face and I have been having a great time with them. I hope you have the greatest father’s Day because you deserve it! Sorry I can’t be there but I can’t wait to see you when I get home!!! Tell everyone I love them! –Charlie Steensland

Happy Happy fathers day Dad!!!! I hope you had a fabulous day, maybe on the boat to celebrate? Wish I could be there with you but I am having an incredible experience here, I can’t wait to tell you all about it! Tell everyone I love and miss them and can’t wait to see you all on Saturday!! I love you very very much, (so much more than I loved my bucket shower this morning;)) Happy fathers day<3 Ellie Eidsvold

Happy Fathers day Dad! I hope you are having an awesome day. I am very thankful for all that you do in my life. I really miss you and cant wait to see you when I get back. Happy Fathers day!!! – Jacob Brue

Happy Father’s Day daddy!! I love you and even though you don’t like father’s day, you deserved the best day ever because you’re an amazing dad. I miss all of you very much but I’m having an amazing time and I have lots of stories to tell when I get home. Happy anniversary also mom and dad. You guys are awesome! Love you all very much! Can’t wait to come home!!! –Quinn Northrup

Happy Fathers Day!!! Thank you so much for always doing all you can to make it to all of my track meets and other events! Thank you for loving me unconditionally and always making time to hang out with the boys… You are the best dad a kid could have and I miss you tons. Can’t wait to come home and tell you all about the trip. Hope you liked the gift and the card. Love, –Jake Kelly

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!! I love you so much and just know how thankful I am for you J I’m having a great time in Guatemala but I miss you all very much! I also loved the letters from mom and dad, a good booster as I start to get tired. Can’t wait to see you, LOVE YOU! –Alyssa Lind

Happy Father’s day dad!! I appreciate and love you so much! I hope you’ve had a good day! I’ve had a lot of fun so far on the trip! I’ll tell you guys all about it when I get back! I love you guys so much J - Lydia Schultz

Happy Fathers day dad!! I hope you had an amazing day and I wish I could be there with you today. Thanks for all you do and always being there for you. Im having an awesome time on this trip and cant wait to tell you about it. Miss and love you guys!! –Kaitlyn Farrell

Happy Father’s Day!!! I love you so much; you are such a blessing in my life. I have already seen during this trip how much we take things for granted! Thank you for providing for us, and loving me in the good and bad times. I can’t wait to get home and tell you all about how God has changed me and opened my eyes! Love you all so much! J - Emily Pederson

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!!! I love and miss you so so much! Guatemala has been beyond life changing, and I cannot wait to share what God has done in my life when I get home. Say hi to the fam for me!!! – Lydia Sprenger

Hey family, I miss you guys so much! Guatemala has been amazing! The culture here is so different and it’s been so much fun making new friends. I will definitely have some good stories to tell when I get back. I hope you had an amazing father’s day Dad.  I love you! Sarah

Hey dad, I just wanted to wish you a happy Father’s day. I wish I could be there to celebrate but I can’t wait to get back home and tell you all about the trip. Hi Mom and Ivan. Love you and see y’all soon – Chris Mathew

Hey everyone back at home and especially Dad! I wish I could be with you guys right now to celebrate Father’s Day, but God is working wonders here in Guatemala and in the lives of all of us. I just wanted to say how much I love you, Dad! You have been an incredible, indescribable influence in my life and I love you so much! I will see you when I get home! –Joey Ekholm

Hey Dad, just wanted to quick pop in and say happy Fathers Day. Love you and see you in a week ~Wyatt Edlund

Father's Day notes from the team

Here are a few shout outs to our amazing senior high Dads!  I'll post more tonight!

Hey, I’m having the time of my life. Happy fathers day. yours truly Dylan…

Hey dad! Mark is giving us a minute to say Happy Father’s Day! I miss you and I hope you have an amazing day. I am having an amazing time here and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I cannot wait to celebrate with you when I get home! I love you! – Jacquie

Happy Father’s Day Dad!! Thanks for all you do for me! I love you and miss you so much! I can’t wait to tell you all about what we’ve been doing!  Love, Anna Hage

Happy Father’s Day, Paj! Have some chipotle and guacamole for me to celebrate you. Love you! – Kel

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!!!!! I miss you so much and hope you have a fabulous day. Everything is going great here and I have been pretty healthy. Can’t wait to tell you everything. Love you lots, Jakle misses you too And says Happy Fathers Day, Katie Smith

Happy Fathers Day Dad!!! I hope you have a fun day! Everything is going really well and I can’t wait to see you all. Love you so much! –Hal

Happy fathers day daddy!!!! Sorry I’m not there to celebrate with you, I miss you sooo much. Sending all my love to you right now. Wish I could be there. Have a great day!!! See You soon. Love you –Jake Jochim

Happy Father’s Day Daddy!!!!! I miss you so much. I am doing okay and having a blast! Janelle, Josie, Hope, and Bud I miss you guys too! I will be home soon and guatemala is amazing! Mama I miss you too. Me and Kate have not gotten lost we sticking together. Tell grandma I say hi and I love you guys!!! Sydney Borgen

Happy Father’s Day!!! I hope the day is fantastic! I’m doing great and I’m loving it here in Guatemala! I miss you all and can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get home! Love, Andrew Hienz

Happy Fathers Day Daddy!! I hope that your day goes well, and you maybe get to use the new fireplace thing. Thank you for always supporting my decisions and allowing me to come on this trip! I am healthy and am having an amazing time here in Guatemala! Love you Dad and other family, Claire Loken

Happy Fathers day Erick, I miss you guys so much I can see god everywhere have so much to tell and I have made new friends. Kate the great

Happy Fathers Day dad, I love you so much and in can’t wait to see you soon! I hope you are having a good time with calleen and jenna! Miss you and love you lots! Love, Tiana

Happy Father’s Day Daddy T! All is well in Guat. The boys are boolin’ with a solid 3-10 record. I hope you have a wonderful day because you deserve it. I can’t wait to see you again and tell you all about the trip. Love you Daddy T!

Dirty Randy, Happy Father’s Day!!! Love you, but I’m gonna say hi to mom because she will be much happier with my hello. Love you so much momma and all is well here in guat, tell reggie I say hi!! –Joe

Happy Fathers Day Dad!!! I love and miss you a lot! This trip has been incredible and I have been seeing God work in such amazing ways! I cannot wait to come home because I miss all you guys, but I am having such a great time here! Tell Mom, Max, and Mega and Loowey and Tex and Granma and Grandpa that I love and miss them and I can’t wait to see them. –Charlie Steensland

Hi mom and sisters!! Guatemala has been such an amazing time and I cannot wait to share all of my experiences with you guys! I am taking tons of pictures to remember my time here and I am so excited for you all to see them. I have been thinking about everything at home and I hope all is well. I cannot wait to see you all in one week! Say hi to Kona and Java for me. Love, Jack Madison

Happy Father’s Day Scottie!!! J I hope you had fun in Colorado with Joan. Have fun at the cabin with Teddy. Guat is amazing and we are all having a lot of fun. Have a good day Dad. Love you –tfred

Hey Dad!!! Happy Father’s Day!       Just read you and Mom’s email, I miss you, Autumn, and Eden so much! I love you lots and I can’t wait to see you in a week! Love, Anna Boxum

Hey dad!!! Just hope you are having fun. I love you and I miss all of you guys. Also just got your letter so thanks for that. Love you and see you in one week. – Trent Allan Meyer

Happy Fathers Day! Hope you, mom and Esther are having a good time. Guatemala is amazing. The people here are wonderful and its great spreading Gods word through mime. Have a great day and see you in a week. Love, Zach George

Happy Father's Day!

We traveled to San Marcos yesterday and arrived safely.  On the way we stopped at a water park in the valley of a mountain that had heated pools.  It was a great time of refreshment.  We were greeted in San Marcos by balloons, music and dance.  We had dinner at the church and met our 3rd home stay families.

We have a full day of service today.  Thanks for your continued prayers.

I want to say Happy Father's Day to all the dads!  The kids will be posting little messages through out the day so check back after 10!

Lawn mowers!

Yesterday was another beautiful day here in beautiful Tejutla.  

Most of the kids have said, “I love it here, I don’t want to leave!”

The medical team continued seeing patients at the church.  They saw 185 patients yesterday!

The mime team didn’t have a performance until the afternoon so they practiced a little in the morning before heading to a school in the afternoon!

Children’s team went to two different schools and continued sharing the love of Christ.  They have gotten really good at making balloon animals for the kids.  They have made hundreds of them, ha! 

The service team built a roof over the concrete sink that they installed for a single mom who has six kids.  They finished the concrete steps on the side of the mountain too! 

I went with the sports and drama team yesterday.  We started at a neighboring school, where we found six sheep on the soccer field.  This is how they keep the grass mowed! (Actually!) The field was huge and the boys played 11 on 11 while the girls played 5 on 5 basketball with the girls at the nearby basketball court.  They performed the drama on the basketball court and students continue to respond to the gospel message.

We celebrated Charlotte’s birthday with cake and fireworks!  She’s 18!

Later in the evening we had some time just with our Wooddale team.  It was a great time of prayer, worship, and a teaching from one of our translators, Victor.  His teaching is always one of the favorites each year!

We are traveling today to San Marcos and will stop for a little break at some hot springs!

Thanks for your continued prayerand support!

Mark

We love Tejutla!

Yesterday was another great day of service.

The medical team opened their clinic here at the church.  This is a large building that has a school and radio station and allowed each medical station to spread out and serve hundreds of people.

The service team is helping to build a staircase on the side of a mountain.  You read that right! Cement has been poured and they will do some touch ups today.

The mime team performed in the town square.  This attracts people from all walks of life.  The first crowd was very receptive to the gospel!

In the last two days our sports and drama team have won their first games!  First the girls…and then the boys. Winning in this context is not that important…but it’s nice to win a couple games! The cooler weather of Tejutela is helping to keep their legs fresh! (Joe M got on the church radio and invited the town to come to a special field to play yesterday!)  They performed the drama in the morning and multiple students shared their faith stories in the afternoon.

I traveled with the children’s team yesterday and am so impressed by how “all in” this children’s team is!  They performed three times yesterday.  First at the church at 10am.  Then at a church in the mountains at 2pm and then another school at 4pm.  Hundreds of children said yes to Jesus yesterday.  It’s overwhelming at times!

In the evening we had a youth service and the church filled up!  Over 350 Americans’ and Guatemalans’ lifting up the name of Jesus.  Jumping, clapping, and worshiping in two languages is  breathtaking.  Both the mime and drama teams performed and I encouraged the youth to understand what it means to be an ambassador for Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

Another full day of service today.  We are feeling energized by what God is doing spiritually!

Thanks for praying.

Beautiful Tejutla!

We made it safely to Tejutla!  It was about a 7 hour drive.

We walked through the doors of the church to a 35 piece marching band!  They were playing the Chris Tomlin song, “God’s Great Dance Floor!  It was incredible.  

All of the home stays had made personalized signs with our names on them to formally greet us.  

We felt so blessed to be there!

Today is a full day of service.

Tonight is a huge youth service.  

They are planning for 400!

Pray for the Spirit to comfort and convict!

Blessings!

Mark

Confession

Today was our second full day of service and last full day in Guatemala City.  It feels like we have been here a long time (in a good way).  We are packing a lot in!

I traveled with the mime team today.  They are perfecting the 30 minute program.  They performed twice this morning, first to the elementary kids and then the high school students. Many kids responded to the message of forgiveness!  See the photo below!

The sports and drama team was at the same school the mime team performed so I snapped a few photos too!

This mime team is a tight nit group.  They genuinely care for each other and want to keep getting better, not only as mimes, but as Christ followers!

In the afternoon we went to a school downtown.  Over 300 high school students saw the same presentation you saw at our send off service.  William our evangelist from El Salvador did an amazing job holding their attention at the end of the school day!  Hundreds responded!

We came back to the church for a team pasta dinner!  It was really good.

Tonight we were a part of their regular Tuesday night5 prayer service.  We sang more songs in English and Spanish.  It was a beautiful time of worship.  The drama and mime teams performed!  They did an amazing job.  I had the opportunity to preach again tonight on confession.  (James 5:13-16) Confession is a lost discipline of the Christian faith.  I challenged the Americans and Guatemalans to make confession a regular part of their walk.  5-6 students and adults came up to the microphone and started that challenge tonight in front of the whole church.

It was powerful.
Many tears.
So much applause.
And a moving of the Spirit!

Tomorrow is a travel day to Tejutela!  Thanks for your prayers.  We feel them.

Mark

1st day serving

This morning all of us returned from our first home stay experience and overall the students already love their families and are excited to spend more time with them.

We had our first day of service and the students jumped in with arms wide open.  I traveled with the medical team today and they saw over 200 patients.  (This is a quite a number for their first clinic!)

We prayed with all of the patients throughout the day and saw two women make first time decisions to trust Christ. (One was in her 50s and the other was 19 with a new born baby.)

We also saw a woman with a badly injured arm improve the ability to straighten it by about 35%.  We prayed for her twice.  The second time she said that the pain "vanished" from her arm and she moved it straighter than we had ever see before.  God is a healer.

A lot of kids came through the clinic and each received a beanie baby that had been donated.  It brought a huge smile to their faces.

We returned to the church and had a great dinner which included chicken salad sandwiches and hotdogs.

After dinner we worshiped together with my guitar and I shared from God's Word (Revelation 2:1-5).

Jesus challenged us to get back to our first love and to "keep the main thing the main thing."  Our home stay families were all on time and picked us up at 9pm to take us home.

It was one of the best "first days" we've had in the seven years that I've led this trip.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

Mark

Our Intake Station!

This woman named Rosa prayed with us to receive Jesus into her life for the first time!

We made it!

We made all of our flights and arrived in Guatemala City safely at about 1pm.

Praise the Lord.  We asked for this! He answered!

The church cooked a wonderful meal for lunch.  (cheeseburgers and chicken) We were hungry.  Then the Renuevo (Reknew) Church Worship Band played three worship songs in Spanish to welcome us. 

Introductions of Pastor Freddy and Jaime Lopez were done by Elizabeth Shirley translating who was on this trip as a student 5 years ago and now is a Wooddale supported global partner living down here in Guatemala doing fantastic ministry. (proud youth pastor moment for me, ha!)

We were introduced to our home-stays.  It was a great reunion.

Dinner and hang out time with them and off to bed.

We have a full day of service tomorrow!  Pray that everything we have been training for will be a blessing to the Guatemalans!