Cory and Staci Herrin
We consider it a real blessing to be a part of Pastor Tom’s life and we have felt privileged to support the good works of Salud y Paz. When the opportunity arose to visit Tom in Guatemala, we were excited about the chance to see this mission site in action.
We traveled to Guatemala with a team from The Turning Pointe and St. Paul’s United Methodist Churches in Evansville, Indiana. We had a plan to build a playground and conduct a vacation Bible school at Salud y Paz. Beyond that, however, we did not know what we could expect from our visit.
What we discovered is that God is using the staff at Salud y Paz to provide amazing services for His children. The Guatemalan children are loved and cared for at the preschool and patients at the clinic are diagnosed and treated with love and respect. The staff at Salud y Paz is a dedicated group who have truly heeded God’s call to love “the least of these”.
As I write this, we are approaching the end of our week in Guatemala. We will be sad to leave, however, we will take with us many memories of our time at Salud y Paz. We will remember the blisters and sweat as we toiled on the playground, and the joy we felt when the children descended onto the equipment for the first time. We will also remember the many smiles and hugs we shared with the kids at VBS. We will certainly remember their patience as we struggled with broken Spanish and the laughter as we realized that we don’t need common words to share God’s love.
Most of all, however, we will take with us the awareness of God’s hand at work at Salud y Paz. Hopefully, the families that use the school and the clinic will be blessed by the work we have done there. We know, however, that it cannot compare with the blessings we received by serving them.
