Day 2: Church Day

The team welcomed a delayed start to our last day of preparation before the full fury of a busy work week sets in tomorrow. We briefly met at breakfast to outline our tasks for the day before separating into our groups. Riley, Emory, and Scott Sr. worked on cataloging and documenting the Stand With Me workshop. Their goal is to provide a model for new workshops to emulate what we’ve built here in Guatemala. Thomas and Trey worked on the digital face of Stand With Me in the form of the website and our various methods of communication with our donors and followers. Jan and Dr. Cheff, meanwhile, prepared for the open, free clinic we will be running throughout this week here at the Hope Haven factory. Scott managed to help every one of us in some fashion, although he spent the majority of the morning chipping away at the workshop guide with his father, Riley, and Emory.

In the afternoon, we visited Xenacoj again. This time, our destination was the church “Jesús, El Buen Pastor” where we danced along to a typical Sunday service. At about three hours long, the service was an emotional release for all in attendance. The pastors delivered moving sermons on the Word of God and danced and sang along with the in-house band and choir. Each parishioner seemed to experience intense emotion in some way; for some it was grief, yet for others the dance, song, and sermon were elating. At the service, we even came across Darline, Stand With Me’s first recipient of a standing frame made in Guatemala back in 2015. Scott and his mother, Jan, held and danced along with Darline and her family. After the service, we visited several food kiosks in the center of Xenacoj to try local food. A few “borritos de pollo” and “bananas fritas” later, we headed back to the factory to rest.

The team in church with Darline and her family!

The beautiful valley of Xenacoj!