Left:
Miguel Angel, pastor in Quetzaltenango and promoter for the local association.
Right: Otto Echeverria, president of
the Convention of Baptist Churches in Guatemala.
My Guatemalan Experience
by Verlyn Bergen, Churchnet Resources & Relationships Team Leader
My first trip to Guatemala was planned primarily out of a sense of obligation or guilt. Almost everyone else on the Churchnet staff had been so why not you? Other parts of the world were in need of training as well, so why Guatemala? It only took one trip and the experiences with the Guatemalan people to completely change my life. Now, with a dozen trips to Guatemala behind me, I feel that Guatemala is my second home and the place God has chosen for me to serve as often and as long as God grants me the privilege.
One life-changing experience during one of the early trips was when a group of Guatemalan church leaders, with no human prompting, asked if they could meet with me in a separate room. I agreed with some hesitation, and when we gathered they said they felt God’s directing to lay hands on me and pray for me. Their prayers changed my life. I did not understand at the time. But later I asked one of the persons, one who spoke some English, why they had chosen me for their special prayer? The response in very broken English changed me: “That God would give me strength and health to continue coming to Guatemala to provide training that they felt was desperately needed.” I have not been the same since and God has chosen to answer their prayers.
"It only took one trip and the experiences with the Guatemalan people to completely change my life."