Reflections on Mission from APTS Special Student Mark Nygard

Today is Wednesday Jan 11, We left the mission house and headed to a village high in the mountains called Buena Vista. The sights are breath taking. The city is about 7,000 ft in elevation and has a population of around 7,000, many of whom are children.

When we got near the village, we were met by two independent missionaries, Brock Johnson, and Mark Schmidt. Brock arrived at the village in 2008 looking for a place to serve the poor. He could not speak Spanish but remained in the village and learned the language and the needs of village people. His friend Mark arrived in 2009 with his family. Their first project was a home construction ministry called 12 by 12. This simply meant their goal was to build twelve houses in twelve months. This goal was accomplished, and they have now built seventy homes and already have twenty-one financed and ready to build this year.

They share their passion and their goals with us. They stated that domestic violence is high in Guatemala, even among Christian families. Men do not realize it is wrong to abuse their wives. A burden was put on their hearts to develop a sports academy for boys to teach them how to grow up and treat their wives properly. Their goal was completed last year with the building of a soccer gym and classrooms as well. Their next dream is to build a 14,000 sq.ft school. They stated that only 10% of the children of Guatemala go past the sixth grade. They want to see that changed. They have purchased the land for the school in the heart of the village and now are trusting in God to provide the funds for the project. They challenged our team to go out and be the church and to really live God’s word. They shared a statement given to them by a friend, which says, “Don’t be afraid to follow Jesus into the unknown, remember you are following Jesus, not the unkown.” It is evident that God is blessing their ministry. Their final challenge to us as we left was to go out and do something radical.

We visited several of the homes they had built in the village and met several of the people who live in them. I was very impressed with their ministry. We stopped in Antigua on the way back for a couple of hours.

Dr. Gregory Cuellar, Rev. Linda McCarty, APTS Student Greg Allen-Pickett and Faith in Practice In-Country Director Laura Shearer

In the evening, we met Rev Linda McCounty, who is CEO of Faith and Practice. She shared more about their ministry in Antigua. She stated that it was not just about healing bodies, but about the wholeness of helping the people in every way. She stated that even those who can’t medically be helped can still know someone loved and cared for them. She stated that often times the people who come to help are the ones who have the life changing experiences. She stated that even if one cannot speak their language that there is a lot of communication that transcends language.