Mission Without Limits, Serving Our Neighbors with Love

By: Marta Encarnación

“He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).

On January 4, 2021, on the North District of Guatemala, “Mission Without Limits” took place in the neighborhood of La Primavera, Santa Elena, Petén. A main objective of the event was to impact neighbors for Jesus Christ, reflecting his love by serving the community.

Rev. Mateo Reyes and Rev. Martin Che were a part of the missionary team and remarked that Mission Without Limits “is a great opportunity for the Kingdom of God to grow”.

The event began with a prayer walk of the site, where in the following days the planned activities would take place.  One of these activities was the “Cleanup Train” and it took place in a park inside the community.  Children of the community were invited to join the team and pick up trash, while other members of the team went door to door to pass out invitations to the week’s activities. Of course, the team experienced a bit of nervousness, as they didn’t know how the community would respond to the invitations.

The team was pleasantly surprised to have 15 children of all ages attend the activities! Due to the pandemic, school rooms have been closed and a variety of subjects had not been completed, so children came to receive help with homework.  There was also a group of 5 women and 2 girls that attended a workshop on how to embroider. Each of the team participants found ways to serve the community using their gifts and talents.

“The youth that participated left feeling very blessed and encouraged to continue participating.  Even the daughter of the mayor of the San Andrés district came to join us!  The most memorable were the people of the community, when they watched the Jesus Film on Saturday night, deciding to give their lives to Jesus: 15 children, youth and adults.  The honor and glory belong to our God!  The church in Santa Elena will follow up with each of these people, and God willing, we will be planning new activities.” –Martin Chen, Superintendent, North Petén District, Guatemala

Because of the never-ending love of our God, hearts of children, young people, and adults were moved, an answer to the prayers that the local church was offering up even before any neighbor’s name was known. The Lord also blessed each participant through their love and service in the community of La Primavera, Santa Elena, Petén.

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12).