You'd Like What's On The Inside by Johann Peikert

So, for new readers of the blog, what’s it like here? On the outside, we see small villages, narrow roads with holes and ruts and broken cobblestone. Tiny homes are made of the most meager materials, with stray dogs and cats that run uncontrolled. Constant cooking-fires burning in the homes make sooty buildings everywhere, and cover the smells of the flowers and the rest of the wild. Busy markets clamber for business, with hope and hopelessness ever present everywhere. Hard-working women and men toil with endless days and fatigued, aching bodies and minds. All this they have in and among a wide array of the most vivid colors of the rainbow in the midst of a gorgeous forest.

Oh, but you’d like what’s on the inside! Those rutted roads are lined with endless activity, noise and laughter, with beautiful children everywhere and faces eager to smile and say, “Buenos dias.” Their homes are filled with love and faith, enough to hold up any weaker exterior, with reverence and humility as a strong foundation. The endless fires indicate the hard work the women are doing to cook and care for the family, the smell a constant sign of their tireless work and love. The men beam with pride as you acknowledge simply their hardworking nature. Families are still number one here, a close-knit unit, with faith as bricks and love as mortar. We see thankful smiles and hear thoughtful blessings, as we see Jesus in their eyes. Poverty has not triumphed over everything.

We have a wonderful team of missionaries eager to demonstrate the Gospel, equipped with love and care, each one clearly bringing unique gifts that are a blessing to the team and the people alike. We laugh and some sing (beautifully, I might add, Carol) and we make sunshine even in the rain. No doubt this mission is every bit from God to us, as it is God to them.

With big smiles and hearty laughs, as we drive down the little, broken highway, in the mountains and valleys of the most beautiful forest, we celebrate to have found a new group of brothers and sisters among us—Gringos and Guatemalans alike. Wish you were here!
- Johann Peikert