Cloud, fire, and smoke, and beauty

This past weekend, LIFT 42 had an epic adventure, climbing the volcano Acatenango to its summit at 13,044 feet. We began by leaving our host families at 9:30 on Friday night, driving to Antigua, being briefed by our guides with OX, and heading for the mountain. 12:45 am on Saturday morning, we began our grueling ascent.

Dark and wet, hiking up through clouds, we pushed faster than most groups that OX is used to guiding. They said if we made it in 1:00 or 1:15 to the first checkpoint, we'd be OK, and we made it in 45 minutes! Headlamps and endlessly stepping up and up and up while being sprinkled with cold rain was the first four hours of our hike.

Around 4:45 am we were closer to the summit and the winds picked up significantly with gusts around 50 mph. Everyone put on as many layers as we had, and we pushed on through the cold, intense, dark winds to the summit.

Our guide had said, "it probably won't clear." Praise God for his bountiful gracious gifts. Just after sunrise, around 6 am, the clouds began to clear.

LIFT 42 felt the peace and joy of the Lord as the fresh rays carried new warmth and beauty. Shortly, the views truly opened up from the summit of Acatenango so that we could see Fuego's eruptions about a mile away, just over a short ridge.

We descended to the place where OX often sets up base camp for those hikers who prefer to do these 9 miles and this ascent and descent of 5,000 feet in more than one day.

Their base camp location has amazing views of Fuego, just 1,200 feet down from the summit of Acatenango. By this time it had warmed a bit more, and OX had banana bread, spreads, tea, and coffee for us! It was an hour filled with joy, beauty, and camaraderie as we took in the beautiful views and began to understand the words "refreshment" and "rejuvenation" in new, rich ways.

After this wonderful breakfast, we descended the rest of the way down the mountain through beautiful fields of flowers and trees that we hadn't seen as we passed them by in the night.

It was a soul-refreshing hike, though many of us were very tired, having gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep before this, one of the most intense hikes of most of our lives.

We went back for a good meal at the community center and some much-needed rest in the afternoon.

We'll post a bit more about our church visit and our day in Antigua on Sunday sometime later.

Today, we are back in the sites with Students International, learning, growing, and glorifying God!

In Christ,

Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director

Avocado orchards

Overall, so far, Guatemala has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. The people have reflected God’s generosity constantly. Yesterday after a delicious breakfast with my host family, Kate, Abigail, and myself (John Gallagher) went to work at the agricultural site with Meme (Meh-may), our leader. Meme had just led devotionals about the faith of Noah. This was fitting for the parallels I see between the two men. Both save the lives of animals for the glory of God. Meme has a veterinary clinic here and charges 10 Quetzales (about $1.50) for a visit no matter the procedure. To put this in perspective, I spent 50Q on a Big Mac, fries, and a drink.

When not in the clinic working with dogs and other pets, we are building water filters for farmers in the community. Yesterday we drove into the mountains to do exactly that. While stopping to collect cinderblocks, cement, and other supplies, we were surprised to see one of the bags begin to move, and even more surprised when it barked at us. Inside we found two puppies, each smaller than a loaf of bread. Meme is a small man with a big smile, and he was grinning ear to ear as he handed the “chuchos” to us.

They accompanied us to a massive avocado orchard, each branch bending to the weight of the abundant fruit. The trees take 5 years to mature and produce fruit, but Meme told us because of the many prayers over the plants, they have produced huge harvests on their third year.

We were treated to Pepsi and chocolate wafers by the farmer, which established a pattern for us. Each farmer was more generous than the last. One provided us with a feast of guacamole, salsa, tortillas, and chicken. We have worked at five farms in total so far and none have failed to feed us so generously that we have been too full to eat the lunches we packed.

Another pattern every farmer took part in was the request for prayer before we left. They asked us to pray for the protection of their families, the blessing of their crops, and the fulfillment of God’s plan. The humble, lighthearted, yet reverent love they show toward God transcends language barriers and has been inspiring to all of us. They work hard but never cease to smile, and the most frequent phrase on their lips is Gloria a Dios. Glory to God!

-John Gallagher

Bringing the students and the poor together...

The mission statement of Students International: Bringing students and the poor together cross-culturally to encounter God, share the Good News, disciple and serve others in occupational ministries.

This mission trip to Guatemala is starting out well.

Our students are spending their time shadowing occupational missionaries who live their whole lives ministering to people in various kinds of poverty - material poverty, emotional poverty, or spiritual poverty, not yet knowing the peace, grace, and salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These missionaries live their lives to share about Jesus Christ with the people in these materially poor communities through sites like the creative arts site, pictured below.

Communities can be transformed through the love of Christ. Because Christ first loved us, we love others, and alongside the full-time missionaries who are involved in community development in Magdalena, Guatemala, our students can learn how Christ's love transforms people in radical ways.

We love partnering with long-term relationships, so as to work beyond some of the potential short-comings of short-term trips.

Side point: This Friday night (1130pm) to Saturday morning (1100am) we will be hiking Acatenango, a local volcano. It would be neat if God shows us his glory by having Fuego erupt, which it does very often, while we are up on Acatenango, within a mile of the eruptions. It creates a beautiful fireworks display!

Our LIFT Discipleship Program Facebook page has some more photos, if you are interested.

Blessings.

-Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director

He guides us...

He guides us along the right paths for his name's sake. (Psalm 23:3)

The Lord has guided us here to Magdalena, a beautiful small mountain village only 30 minutes from Antigua in Guatemala. After a lightly complicated day of travel, all four flights along with all 33 students and leaders have arrived safely in their homestays. This morning, when we met in the park in the center of town to walk to the SI base, the community center, the students were glowing with the praises of their kind, hospitable families and the good food they had eaten for dinner and breakfast.

Students International really knows how to do it! They have such a great system here that we come under for these two weeks. We will be immersed in Guatemalan culture, practicing Spanish, dealing with cross-cultural insecurities and uncertainties, and trusting the Holy Spirit's peace through it all.

Here is the view from the top of one of the homestays.

The students are working in their sites, fresh with excitement and a bit of fear. God will grow us in ways that we do not yet know, which is very exciting!

Keep us in your prayers.

Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
(Psalm 117)

-Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director

The winds of life...

The winds of life blow where they will. Who knows where they come from or where they go to? (Answer: we do! We know! God is in control of all those winds!)

The Holy Spirit is providentially arranging that we are blown to Guatemala in four waves, with four separate vans leaving COTW between 9:30pm tonight (Sunday, November 3) and 5:30am tomorrow morning (Monday, Nov 4). We will arrive in Guatemala City between noon and 10:35pm on Monday, November 4.

Students International has all our travel details and will pick us up at the airport. They do this all the time and are uber-experienced. I will post some blog update Tuesday, signifying that we have landed and are all in the country.

We are being carried by the winds of the Holy Spirit! We have wise concern from a human standpoint for all contingencies. We are prepared!

God bless you all!

-Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director

The waters of life...

The waters of life are difficult to navigate. We choose our path to swim and wait and see what waves come our way. In the physical reality of Speculator, NY, intense rain and wind have caused flooding, downed trees, power outages, and many closed roads in our county (Hamilton county) and a couple others. See the link below for more information. There is an official state of emergency, called by the governor of New York.

State of Emergency - North Country Public Radio

In response to this state of emergency, we are not going to Guatemala today (Friday). I will acknowledge that there have been stories of people being able to leave Speculator on this or that road, but three things in response: 1) those people have reported crossing deep waters that were "iffy" and we will not take that risk, 2) road conditions change by the hour, and 3) there is the official state of emergency and government call to be off the roads.

Thus, we are staying in Speculator today.

I am talking with the travel coordinator with Students International to see about a rescheduling of our flight, perhaps delayed by two days. I will let you know when we get more concrete information on our new departure date and time.

We had a class on salvation this afternoon and the process of justification, sanctification, and glorification (we went over ten steps, but those three serve my purposes now). This is part of the process of sanctification, trusting God, pursuing his will, growing in wisdom, and seeking his peace despite unforeseen circumstances.

Please keep supporting Kate in prayer, as she is in the hospital with an infected heart valve and sepsis, and please continue to pray for LIFT 42 as we keep navigating the waters of life, no matter what waves come our way.

May God bless you.

-Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director

Time of Reflection

Greetings friends and family! LIFT has had quite an unforgettable past week. It has been one for the books to say the least. Before I reflect a bit more on our trip to Oyacachi and update everyone on our hike to Sincholagua, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for praying for us. God’s hand has been all over everything we have been doing. We have seen him bring to fruition what we have been preparing for weeks prior to coming here to Ecuador. Please continue praying that we finish strong and for safety as we fly back home tomorrow.

I want to share a little bit about a special little girl named Rosy. Rosy might just be the coolest, sweetest, most down to earth nine-year-old I have ever met. She has made many friends over the years, as she received multiple gifts from past LIFTers. Tim told me that she had captured the hearts of many LIFTers that have come to Oyacachi, and it was clear to see why. She was among the many kids we were playing with on Wednesday night, and almost immediately I started talking to her. I told her in my broken Spanish that, “mi Espanol es no Bueno!” and she began to laugh. I asked her to be my Spanish teacher and so she started helping me, and I began teaching her English. That was the start of a special friendship that I will cherish for a lifetime. You see, when we accept a gift from someone, and we also have something to offer, that is where relationship begins.

She began clinging on to me, along with James and Alyssa. The love she has for people was evident and I loved getting to know her. She introduced James and I to her little sister and what she said astounded me. She said in Spanish, “This is Noah, the one who built the ark, and this is James, the disciple of Jesus.” Wow! I had to have a heart check. This little girl was pointing everything back to God and it was humbling. She then went back to her home to give us roses that she picked from her garden and a small little wooden bowl that she decorated and simply wrote “Dios” which means “God.” The next day she was teaching me songs and was telling me about her family and our friendship grew even more. Then came Friday – the day we had to say goodbye. I almost thought I wasn’t going to see her again before we left, but she came through right at the end. She had another gift that she gave us as we hugged goodbye. I told her I was going to miss her, and she responded with “Yo también” at which point I lost it. She just laughed and said, “Boys don’t cry.”

This is just one story of our many interactions with the kids in Oyacachi. They understand love and they love well. They get it. No wonder why Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Similarly, in Luke 18:17 he says, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” We really saw these two passages come to life while being there. God reminded me of his love, generosity, joy, and care through those kids. All of them are special to him and he knows them each by name. I hope to go back some day when my Spanish is better; Oyacachi will always have a piece of my heart.

We got back to El Refugio Friday afternoon and stayed at Rick Borman’s brother’s house Friday night as mentioned in previous blogs. We got ready for Sincholagua and, after a brief tour of the historic downtown area of Quito, hiked into base camp Saturday afternoon. We had an absolutely beautiful campsite surrounded by a river, wild horses, ginormous mountains, and a sky full of stars. We set up our tents, ate dinner, and went to bed early to get ready for summit day on Sunday. God gave us beautiful weather the whole time we were there. We split into five groups with some of the El Refugio staff joining each of them. Group one left at about 4 a.m. with group five leaving around 6:15. Each one had their own spiritual emphasis led by the LOD (LIFT student Leader of the Day). It was such an amazing day. The views were absolutely stunning, the hike was challenging, and almost everyone summited.  Tim said that was the highest percentage of LIFTers to have finished the whole thing. It was a full 13-hour day for my group, literally from before the sun came up until after the sun set. 

As my group was getting close to the bottom a song came to mind.  The sun was setting and Cotopaxi (Ecuador’s second highest mountain @ 19,600’) was directly in front of us fully unveiled from the clouds and radiant with the day's final golden light illuminating the glaciated peak.  It’s an older worship song and the chorus says, “From the rising of the sun ‘til the sun goes down let the name of the Lord be praised. From the sky to the depths, from the east to the west, we give you praise.” We were surrounded by God’s beautiful creation, we were up in the clouds heading down, and we could see endlessly in every direction. I was totally in awe of God. Three weeks ago, I sprained my ankle and could hardly walk on it. To go from that to summiting a 16,000-foot peak in that little amount of time is a miracle. All glory to him! He is SO good!

We hiked out from base camp yesterday morning and got back to El Refugio around 12:30 in the afternoon. It was a very restful day. The staff here had a celebration banquet for us, and our dance and drama teams each performed. To end the night, we had a special performance from the man, the myth, the legend – Tyler Nelson, performing his world-famous rap “La Historia de la Biblia en Dos Minutos.” Today we will have our final work project day, then time to pack as we leave early tomorrow morning. Thank you again so much for all of your prayers. They are not in vain. Please know that God is doing an amazing thing here, and you are all a part of it!

God Bless,

Noah Henkel