Today was the team’s first day of ministry in the village of San Mateo and it started with an amazing drive through the mountains to our 6500 foot elevation.  The village offers stunning views of the volcanoes Fuego and Agua.  After unloading our supplies, the men were given instructions on how to install the stoves.  Installing stoves may seem like a small thing, but to these people it is a life changing event.  Before they are given these stoves, they are usually cooking in an eight by eight tin building with a small hole and the smoke lingers there.  The tin walls are caked with soot and their eyes burn continuously.

We walked to our first house and were greeted by a sweet older couple.  He is 91 and has been blind for 14 years; she is 86 and takes care of him.  Their kids are grown and gone and they have each other.  As we began to walk into her cooking room, the smoke was overwhelming and most of our kids were not able to be in there.  To say we were humbled and overcome with emotion is an understatement.  She was so kind and hospitable to us and her tears and many “muchas gracias” were touching.  The tenderness she showed her husband was one of the most beautiful and most convicting things to many of us.  There are days she walks 2-3 miles to get wood to cook with and she didn’t strike any of us as one that would complain.

After the stove was installed, Fernando and Pat explained how it worked and she cried when she realized her eyes wouldn’t burn anymore.  Pat explained that she would not have black soot covering her walls anymore.  He then explained that we fixed a problem that they had, but Jesus came to fix the biggest problem, their sin and our sin.  Sin has made our hearts black, but Jesus came to make them clean.  It was an amazing moment and experience!

We then headed back to the church to feed the children coming from school and to have our Vacation Bible School.  We had about 65 children and the next few hours flew by!  The lesson was titled, “God always wins” and Krista shared with them that no one wins all the time, but God does.  The children listened well and enjoyed the small group time and the games. We ended the day with a bunch of hugs, and anticipation for tomorrow.

We are so thankful to God for such an amazing day.  We had a few setbacks, but everyone pitched in and did more than what was expected and they were flexible!

Thank you all for your prayers!