by Janice Mills Thomas
The highlight of my last four summers has been my trip to Guatemala City with middle school and high school students associated with BigLife at First Baptist, Daytona. Each year we work with an organization called Clubhouse Guatemala. God is using Clubhouse to have a positive spiritual impact on children and their families and to assist with basic physical needs in some of the toughest parts of the city. These are beautiful people with beautiful hearts who need the hope only found in Jesus. Days are long and emotion-filled. Students prepare and lead Vacation Bible School for the week which includes teaching, dancing, crafting, and recreational games. Our Daytona church family supplied over 400 pairs of shoes for our trip enabling 99% of the children in the school to receive a new pair of shoes. Our students wash feet and share the gospel. During the week over 50 Guatemalans prayed to receive Christ. We made daily home visits where we would pray for the families, share the gospel, and deliver much needed food bags, water filters and Spanish Bibles. In addition, we painted, prepped the floor, completed the electrical wiring, and contributed a new stove and refrigerator to an in-progress kitchen project. This year we added a women’s Bible Study. I was asked to lead the Bible Study because of my association with First Daytona’s prison ministry. This turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to share God’s Word with women in need. Each day, everyone returned and brought several new women with them. They are so hungry for the gospel, I think I could have talked forever and they would have stayed. We also provided Spanish Bibles to the ladies that needed them. What a blessing and privilege it was to be part of this new Bible Study. Our team reconnected with old friends, and made new ones. We experienced extreme poverty, we cried, we laughed, and at the very center of all of this was our God. He encouraged us, He gave us hope through His Word, He helped us remember why we were on the mission field, and when we were exhaust-ed, He gave us strength to finish our days. Our hearts were broken over and over again, helping us grow in Him. We were our best selves, as only we can be, when God is working through us. Each time I leave, a piece of my heart stays behind, but I know that God is using me in the way He intends, so I will go as long as He calls. Cada Al-
JANICE THOMAS is the Controller for Southern Stone Communications. She spent most of her life in the Carolinas before moving to Florida in 2014. She has 3 adult daughters and 4 grandchildren.