Back to Past TeamsBlue Mountain Community Church of Walla Walla, Washington Youth Team: July 2008
The only way to fully understand the personal and spiritual impact of a mission trip is to experience it! This summer seven members of BMCC joined us to help the impoverished and needy people of Guatemala. We could share how the team put together insulated wood burning stoves, installed doors or constructed homes for widows and their children, greatly improving the physical conditions of a number of families. But the most important accomplishment was building something far more important - RELATIONSHIPS. 
We had the privilege of building these relationships with the Kiche -Mayan people of AldeaVasquez, the girls at the Kids Alive orphanage, families at the El Refugio abused women's shelter and with each other. Women and children throughout Guatemala are considered of little value, often less than livestock. But it is our hope that we were able to demonstrate, through our actions and our words, that their heavenly Father values each and every one of them immensely.
One of the team's highlights was a Sunday worship service we led on the shore of Lake Atitlan. For many of the 140 villagers attending, it was their first time traveling outside of their local community. The sermon, devotions, prayers and verse were translated from English to Spanish to Kiche, and worship was sung in each of these languages. How wonderful it was to hear our faith in Christ expressed through worship in three different languages!
The members of BMCC's team and the people of Aldea Vasquez are forever linked in a relationship held together by Jesus Christ. "UTZ" (Good in Kiche).