 Our primary ministry is in these mountains above San Pedro at Lake Atitlan |
Larry's Trip to Guatemala
These photos tell the story of Larry's trip to Guatemala in September 2010. He went to meet with his team, to meet with Christian leaders to increase the usage of the commentaries, and to meet with pastors to see how they were using the commentaries.
Larry flew into Guatemala City, the location of Spanish Evangelical Resources Latin American headquarters. Guatemala City, the national capital and home to 3 million Guatemalans, is located in south-central Guatemala, approximately 62 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
Mudslides and Washed-Out Roads
The day after Larry arrived in Guatemala, he and Cesar Rodriguez traveled to Lake Atitlan to visit Christian leaders and pastors in outlying villages. During this time Guatemala was having record rains and mudslides which washed out many of the roads. The day after Larry and Cesar traveled one section of highway a mudslide covered two buses, killing all on board.
Larry also made some visits to outlying villages about the same time as there were some mud-slides washing out some roads, causing some delays.
It took much patience - and many prayers for safety - to make these trips. It also raised their awareness and sympathy for those who deal with this kind of travel every rainy season.
There were many opportunties to get out and help someone else make it through the watery low parts. One never knows just what will be around the corner on these mountain roads. A cavernous sink hole? A mound of dirt across the road? Boulders the size of houses cascading down the mountain side?
With no road department to make repairs you often wait for hours while the villagers repair the bridges or roads.
Sometimes you just have to get out and wait for road or bridge repairs to be made on the spot before you can proceed.
The best part of the trip for Larry was meeting with pastors in the field who use the commentaries for their own Bible study and for teaching the people in their churches the truth of God's word.
Here Larry is meeting with Pastor Ishmail Sac, who is the Coordinator de Eventos for the Associacion de Iglesias Unidas, Bocer Costa de Solola. This is an association of 48 churches. They agreed during this meeting to Spanish Evangelical Resources doing a training seminar for the 48 pastors in the association.
Larry took great delight in meeting Pastor Francisco Guarcha (his daughter is standing in front of him), and his entire family, including his elderly father. Pastor Emilio Batz, who is the Founder and Director of Bethel Colegio, and President of Bethel Christian Church Alliance, is also in the photo.
It was an honor for Larry and Cesar to speak, to the congregation of Assamblea De Dios Central, Guatemala City.
This is Cesar selling Ephesians, Philippians, and James commentaries to pastors at SETECA.
Larry took a turn at staffing the book table too, and was able to talk with the pastors about how they like the commentaries and how they would be using them in their churches. The pastors most asked question was, "When will
you have commentaries on other books of the Bible?"
We sell the commentaries to pastors in Guatemala City for just enough to cover the cost of translating and printing the books and to help us with the cost of selling the books below cost to the pastors in remote areas.
These same commentaries, by the way, are available on this website for a free download. You may print, and bind your own copy. (More commentaries will be added as they are translated and printed).
Pray, and if you are able, consider supporting this ministry so that we may help many other Spanish speaking people grow deeper in their faith through the use of easy-to-read and economical Bible commentaries.
