By Narayan Mitra

SOME four hours north of Guatemala City lies the small town of Tactic. Enter 14 Canadians – a combination of youth and adults – August 1, for a two-week visit.

The group came with big hearts and muscles, to help improve Tactic’s five Vida (Life) Christian School facilities, to conduct Vacation Bible School for kids, and to encourage the local church.

Twelve of them represented Kamloops Evangelical Free Church (KEFC); the other two jetted in all the way from P.E.I.

KEFC has been involved with the interdenominational Impact Ministries in the Central American country since 2006; and some members have made repeat trips there. Impact’s Guatemalan outreach goes back well over a decade.

Another local institution with special ties to Guatemala is Kamloops Christian School (KCS).

Several of the school’s key staff have wound up serving as missionaries in the country.

The first KCS administrator to move to Guatemala was the school’s principal, Bob Adams – who started a missions and cross-cultural college program.

Adams conceded that “the main focus was on discipleship.  This was the best idea I could come up with, for the most effective way to disciple young people. Guatemala was the logical choice.” He and his family have remained there, and now host short-term missions teams.

Les Peters also decided to relocate to Guatemala. Peters had been vice principal to Bob Adams, and took over the head position when Adams left. Peters and his wife left Kamloops in 1997, and established Impact Ministries.  

Impact Ministries is an interdenominational, non-profit society focusing on poverty stricken indigenous people in rural Guatemala. Their website states: “More than 80 percent of the people are illiterate, and this debilitates and isolates them from the outside world. Impact Ministries’ primary goal is to open up the word of God to these precious people, through Christian school education.”

The connection between KCS and Guatemala may have begun through Kamloops resident and missionary Kim Veness.  In 1990, Veness spoke at the school’s chapel service.  It was Adams who caught the vision, and decided to lead the grade 10 students on a short-term missions trip to Guatemala through Veness’ connections.  

At the time, grade 10 was the last level offered at the school.  Only one student was actively lobbying for higher grades.  Upon their arrival back in Kamloops, all the students committed to returning for grade 11.

“I think they realized that perhaps God was calling them to stay and grow together. They really came together as a group, and wanted this to continue,” recalled Adams.

 Two years later, they became the first graduates of Kamloops Christian School.  

KCS continues to send grade 10 students to Guatemala annually – although now their destination is Impact Ministries.  The groups work with the Peters, to improve the school and share the gospel.  

Peters said that while he was still at KCS, the missions trips were a highlight.  “I was always amazed at how God worked in the lives of the young people. It was refreshing to see them broadening their worldview, and enlarging their spiritual perspective. I was moved whenever I saw the Lord touching their hearts, and motivating them to give their lives away.”

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The KEFC volunteers came back from their recent trip with very similar memories. “It was a wonderful time to experience worship with brothers and sisters in the faith, and to pray with them. They are very passionate about their faith,” said Violet Stenekes, KEFC team leader.

“We did help build a soccer field, hauling gravel three inches thick. Mornings were spent doing manual work, the afternoon being reserved for Vacation Bible School.

“Attendance shot up gradually – from the first day’s 140,       to 250. A six-hour service on the closing day saw 300-plus watching the Jesus movie and worshipping – with testimonies thrown in.”

Recent revivals in Guatemala have boosted the evangelical population to an estimated 35 percent. But Tactic’s ancient Mayan and witchcraft traditions have inspired some resistance to the trend.

Evening debriefings with local school and church leaders were high points of each day’s work. The teachers were thankful for the visiting team, and often asked what brought the relay of teams from North America at such great cost to their comfort, time and wallets.

“The locals are very relationship-oriented,” said Stenekes. “My two teenagers helped at the school, visited the medical clinic and prayed with the kids.

“We recognize that a two-week mission trip is not enough; but it’s a starting point. Preparations start the moment one decides to go. The time on the field is just a snapshot of what God’s going to do from then on.”

For KEFC pastor Rob Cave, it was the second time around – but the first with son Ryan, 15.

“It expands our worldview and perspectives on life, when North Americans are confronted with the contentment and joy that those people display . . . How can they be so happy with so little?

“One major benefit is growth in humility. As we send our people, hopefully they will sort out how to relate with friends in schools – and outside – upon their return.

“One of my great desires is that, when the teams return, they would impact local communities at home. We need to engage our culture – which is aggressively independent,” said Cave.

As for Ryan, he was most impacted by how the children worshipped God. They would close their eyes, joined hands and sing aloud. They took to lanky Ryan with ease, and latched on to him at play and work.

“Here in Kamloops, we need to talk to each other. The Guatemalans never pass you by. We need to be more biblical, and initiate relationships. If there’s no connection, it’s hard to bring in the gospel,” said pastor Cave.

Twelve was a large team for a church the size of KEFC. But  the church is committed; it already supports six career missionaries.

Cave said such short trips give good direction to the church’s mission programs.

For Stenekes, a highlight was meeting a child she sponsors through Impact. “She is not just a name now, but is real – with a face.”

While in Tactic, the team distributed home-made blankets and maternity packs for kids and their mothers. More than that, they “left a piece of their hearts with them,” she said.

Contact: ImpactMinistries.ca.  

– additional reporting by Sheila Lockwood

September 2010