Traveling in a 4×4 truck to get up into the mountains in a remote area of northern Guatemala, it felt more like we were on our way to an extreme wilderness expedition than a FamilyLife marriage seminar. We were on our way to lead a seminar for the Kekchipeople, descendants of the Mayan civilization. The couples woke up early in the morning to hike down mountain trails, some walking great distances in order to attend. Although over 100 people made it to the seminar, the parking lot outside the church where we met remained empty—these couples don’t own vehicles. Many do not read or write.
The Kekchi people have been evangelized within the past seven years through the work of Campus Crusade for Christ in Guatemala. Anibal Duarte, the National Director for Guatemala, organized the effort and gave leadership to that work using, among other things, a tool called Proclaimer: A solar powered/hand-cranked audio device that contains the New Testament in the Kekchi language. Anibal and his team would gather people together in homes, play the audio recording of God’s Word, and then watch as God moved on the hearts of the Kekchi people, many of whom prayed to receive Christ. Because they were meeting in homes, the Kekchi people just naturally formed home churches. There are now some 3,000 home churches in that region; nearly all of these were planted in the seven years since Campus Crusade began ministering in the area.
The marriage seminar, presented by Dr. Leonel Motta and his wife, Miriam, was an incredible success. (Dr. Motta serves at the Director of FamilyLife for Latin America.)Twenty of the pastors signed up for more training; they want to introduce HomeBuilders small group studies to the other couples in their house churches. The Kekchi people have a very unique culture and history, but the biblical principles for marriage apply to them just as they do in every other culture around the world.
Please pray with us that the pastors will be able to start HomeBuilders groups and continue spreading the gospel to one million Kekchi people in this region!