In the book of Acts the apostle Luke tells us to “remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Our week in San Pedro was the lived out experience of that verse.

Sixteen members of Clear Water Church in Anchorage Alaska, had the privilege to spend a week in January working alongside our Christian brothers and sisters in Guatemala. My family was able to travel with our children Wyatt and Amelia (2 y.o and 1 y.o). There’s no greater joy as a parent than to see others love your children well, and literally everyone we encountered in Guatemala showed so much care and kindness to our children. As a team we gave our time and talents to help with many projects at Colegio Bethel including categorizing new books in the library, doing auto maintenance on school vehicles, installing a new electrical system at the high school, helping conduct annual growth, eye, and teeth exams for students, refurbishing desks, painting, helping maintain the water purification system, and many more jobs. We also had the great joy of seeing so many staff from the school serving their students with the love of Jesus. They gave freely of themselves and joyfully offered out team friendship during our short time with them.

As the Mission’s Committee Chair at our Church I was so excited to get to see first hand a ministry that our Church financially supports and prays for. This trip brought to life an organization I had only heard about and it showed me a glimpse of Heaven. My favorite moment of the trip was worshiping with the students and staff of Colegio Bethel on our final day at the send off ceremony. We sang a song in Spanish as a group “Recibe toda la gloria, recibe toda la honra, precioso hijo de Dios.” Receive all the glory, receive all the honor, precious Son of God. To worship with one voice, hearing praise to our savior sung in another language just filled my mind with images of worshiping together in heaven some day.

Our team of believers came with generous hearts to give, the staff at the school also, gave to us so generously. We were blessed by the clinic staff and by the family that faithfully prepared and served us delicious food every meal. The community of San Pedro greeted us warmly. I was so encouraged to be able to see the Body of Christ in Guatemala and feel like my family was a part of the Global Church.

In Christ,

Aubrey Burgess, RN