Guatemala Short-term Missions trip

Day 3

Mission Mobility is one of the main connections between Grace Community Church and Bethel Ministries International. Members and attenders at Grace know about Mission Mobility because of frequent wheelchair collections that have been held at Grace. Those wheelchairs, walkers, and canes that we have collected at church are sent down to Guatemala where a team of in-country technicians work to refurbish them and get them ready for people across the country. 

The distribution of those wheelchairs is left up to teams like ours that come to work with the in-country missionaries. Today, it was our team that got the opportunity to serve people through wheelchair distribution. Over the course of the day, we gave away 41 chairs and 7 walkers and canes. Every single person was very grateful. For some individuals and families, this was their first wheelchair after many years of living with a disability.

The team had the opportunity to serve a couple people in their 90s with many children and grandchildren. We cut and drilled and retooled chairs for people with extreme disabilities. One man was missing a leg and the wheelchair he received was both his first chair, and his first real opportunity to have freedom of movement. Another couple brought in their young son who was shy, and struggling with significant physical disabilities. But this boy was still mentally sharp and attending school. His new chair gave him both better mobility and it was fitted with a desk for him to use in classes.

Another exciting thing that happened today is that local churches had pastors on hand to meet with all of the wheelchair recipients. These meetings included a presentation of a bible, and a gospel presentation in Spanish. Many of the recipients were believers, and expressed joy at the sharing of the gospel. Some were not Christians, though, and so we were overjoyed to hear that seven people accepted Christ when praying with local pastors!

Tomorrow our team splits up: half will visit Guatemalans in their homes, and the other half will pour another concrete slab to help build a house.