Impacting MAC: A First-Hand Report from one 2008 Youth in Mission team

Written by:
Kendra Hughes and Esther Quezada

Our group of eleven youth from Mexico and the United States spent two months participating in missions in Central America. The work was difficult yet fun and above all was rewarding.

We began by learning about the ministries of the Nazarene church through workshops given by the regional directors. These included Evangelism, World Mission MAC, Maxima Mission and Compassion. Knowing the purpose of each ministry, we were able to put them in practice. Our main projects were: Maximum Mission in Joventé, Guatemala, as well as in Cofradía and Villa San Francisco in Honduras, a ministry called Gotitas de Amor, and the youth conference EJUMAC.

For the most part, the community of Joventé is an indigenous culture that speaks the k’ekchi’ Mayan indigenous language. During our time in this community, we evangelized and ministered with children. When we arrived, we were excited to find that the members of the community had already constructed the fence that we were going to build around the health center using the materials we had delivered to them days before. This encouraged us because the people were excited and willing to better their community.

Four groups visited the people of the community house by house, sharing the gospel. We estimated that there were 80 houses in the community and we were able to visit each one! In each group, there was a translator that spoke both Spanish and k´ekchi´. We shared the evangecube and the holiness cube, and began discipleship lessons with youth and adults who accepted Christ. In the evenings, we showed the Jesus film for children and another film, Out of the Dark. The amount of people that attended the films was amazing; the street was filled with people and the estimate is that more than 300 people viewed the film each night. Various pastors from the area helped us in the evangelism effort, such as Pastor Augusto and the superintendent Renaldo Lemus.

The children were eager to participate in the children’s ministries, from the songs and lessons to the games. Many children came to the programs during the two days, and arrived an hour before the lessons were scheduled to begin! The children’s enthusiasm and energy was contagious.

In Honduras, we spent three days in Villa de San Francisco, painting a kindergarten building, constructing bookshelves, and at the same time evangelizing and ministering with children. In the evenings, we showed the Jesus film and the testimony of Felix Vargas; more than 100 people attended each time. As in Joventé, we began discipleship lessons with the people who encountered the Lord. The two pastors that are planting the Church of the Nazarene in this village: Rigoberto and Gustavo González, joined us in these evangelism visits. These pastors were excited to continue with the discipleship lessons and visits to the people who accepted Christ during these three days. In total, we started 10 discipleship lessons, with children, youth and adults.
We continued with the Maxima Mission in a town called Cofradía for two days. As in Villa de San Francisco, we painted the school. We also fixed the bathrooms of the school and built two roofs: one for a cafeteria for children, and one for the house of one of the ladies of the church. The children that attended our programs were children that attended the school that we painted. We enjoyed our time with them making crafts, playing games, singing songs and showing a program with clowns and puppets.

We had three evangelism groups and we were able to reach all of the houses of this community, with the help of three church members who took us to all of the houses of this small and close-knit community. The church members that went with us included a married couple and a teenager. A few people made the decision to accept Christ and we immediately started with discipleship lessons. We used lessons for youth as well as for adults. The church members looked forward to continuing the lessons.

Gotitas de Amor is a beautiful ministry, started by Carlos Monterroso in an impoverished community in Guatemala with many children and youth. Every Monday, Carlos offers a time of homework help for the children. Teenagers from the community help with the children as well. Our team had the privilege of supporting this ministry by painting the building, playing with children in the park and helping with a literacy program for adults in the community. For the first month of our time in Central America, we ministered with Gotitas de Amor every weekend. We spent a lot of time with the youth of the community, encouraging them and teaching them what it means to have hopes and dreams and make them come true!

In our last week, we traveled to Costa Rica to help the leaders of a conference called EJUMAC, a conference that happens every four years for the Nazarene youth of Mexico and Central America. We helped with details like set-up, registration, serving meals, directing the participants during their activities, and recreation. The event lasted five days, with concerts at night, services and sermons, and a service day in the community that included picking up trash and planting trees.

Overall, we were blessed to watch the working of the Lord in Central America and participate in his Kingdom work. Praise the Lord for his great love!

Sent
Scott Armstrong
MM MAC