16 February 2025
After many years, we got to see our old friend Pastor Eliceo tonight. When we came to Guatemala full-time in 2009, we attended the church where he pastored. For about two years, we helped to lead the music. Prior to this, they were using recorded music for worship. Our last year, we stepped down from leading to allow others in the church to take over. Pastor Eliceo has continued to be a leader in the Torre Fuerte churches. As part of this, he now pastors a church in San Andrés, which is about a half an hour from Canillá. Many of the nurses and hospital staff come from San Andrés and some of them are a part of this church.
We rolled on the now-paved road to San Andrés in our borrowed Suburban remembering the old days when we used to make the trip on all dirt or mud. The interesting thing is that the church is located very close to where Adonai had a clinic for many years until COVID. However, in order to get there, you have to squeeze through a mostly hidden alley, down into a ravine, and back up a steep dirt road to a plateau on the other side. I put the truck in 4 low and it handled it well. We wanted to get some interesting pictures of the short but difficult drive, but we arrived late and we had other issues when it was time to leave.
During the service, Pastor Eliceo asked Areli and me to share something with the brothers and sisters. Among other things, I shared about how Pastor Eliceo was such a help to us when we came to Guatemala and especially when we went through the difficult time with our first daughter going to be with the Lord. He led the burial service for her at the cemetery in Chichicastenango. He along with another brother, also made the 5-hour drive to the border of Mexico to pick up Areli’s mother and aunt and brought them to us.
When we left Guatemala in 2011, we didn’t know if we would ever be back. Pastor Eliceo was excited to see us along with our kids and encouraged that we have continued to come to help the people of Guatemala. We were also encouraged to see that Pastor Eliceo has continued to work hard in the service of the Lord for all these years. Unfortunately, it seems even more common in Guatemala that pastors fall away and stop serving the Lord. Please pray that God would continue to protect and sustain him and his family and raise up many pastors like him to shepherd the people of Guatemala.
When it was time to leave the service, the next adventure began. One of the tires of the truck was very low and the transmission was stuck in 4 low. Some of the church members led us to a tire repair place and filled up the tire. I phoned a friend to help me get the truck back into 2-wheel drive (apparently it likes to be in neutral, not drive, not park…to shift back to 2-wheel drive). Thankfully, we made it back home with no more problems.
