[Note: Visit this link for Part 1.] The best part of travel is making friends and learning about their lives and ministries. That’s doubly true when those friends are Fermin and Lilian Chávez, the pastors of an ISPI church in Coatepeque (say “kwah-tay-PAY-kay”), Guatemala. They were our hosts during the second conference and for the weekend of May 17-19. They have a unique story and an increasingly unique ministry, and we hope we’ve captured some of it in the podcast audio you’ll find above.  And as a part of our “show and tell” philosophy, you will find:

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• Links to two more picture albums we’ve posted on Facebook. (No, you don’t need to be a Facebook member, or even register, to see them. They are “tagged†so that they can be seen by the general public.) These you can go through at your own pace. OR…
  
• Embedded YouTube videos of the same albums, with our recorded commentary about each photo. As with our last episode, these provide more information, as well as background stories we didn’t get to tell in the podcast.
  

Link: Album #5 with notes

In all Jim’s trips to Guatemala, he’s never had a day off to visit the country’s cultural sites.  Fermin, Lilian, Rut (Ruth), and Josué (Joshua) decided that Saturday was the day for us to see a nearby Mayan archaeological site; so we happily spent the day with los Chávez (the Chávez family) learning about los Mayas (the Mayans) at the Tak’alik Ab’aj National Archaeological Park.

Link: Album #6 with notes

Once our breakfast was over, we went downstairs to the hour-long Sunday morning prayer meeting, followed by the worship and preaching meeting.  After Pastor Fermin met with his elementary through high-school leaders (listen to the podcast and narrated slide show for more about these students!), we took lunch with the family.  Before we knew it, out came a board game, a word game made more challenging (and hilarious) by the limitations of everyone’s “Spanglish.”  Our podcast interview brought the afternoon to a close, then dinner followed with more fellowship.  It was a day to remember.

We now have a special link that allows you to specifically donate to these Coatepeque-related projects. Unless you designate otherwise (on a follow-up screen on the PayPal site), the funds will go towards the second-story construction costs. Note that Al Strickland gives an update report on this project in the first 15 minutes of KernelsOfWheat.com/b11.  (Yes, even though the episode is titled Why Romania?  Don’t blame me; blame the mutiny in that episode!)

…that those of you with Facebook accounts would “Like†the Finest of the Wheat Facebook page, helping our ministry by spreading the word about these faithful pastors and leaders and what God is doing among them in Guatemala. Visit the page at Facebook.com/FinestOfTheWheat. (KernelsOfWheat.com/facebook will get you there, too.)

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Podcast theme music: “Steam Train” from the John Williams album Dusty Porch, under license from Magnatune.com.