Step farewell service

This weekend I went to see the Step team for the last time in their second project. We had a debrief- hearing about all that they have learnt through this experience.
On Saturday the church held a farewell service for the team and had put in so much effort in decorating the church with English and Guatemalan flags and colours.
The church gave each of the team a gift as a reminder of their time there.
Josh and the youth group had been practicing a song with pan pipes.
The step team performed a few songs and a drama and several of them explained what they had learnt from being there and from the friendships that they have made.
Each group within the church (Children's choir, adolescent group, youth group, women's group etc) had prepared a song and thanked the team for their involvement in the life of the church.


It's always really interesting how perceptions are different. During the debrief with the team, some of them had expressed frustration that they hadn't had enough work to do and had felt that they hadn't contributed very much. But it was very clear from the presentations during the service that they had contributed much more than they realised. On top of the work that they did on the building site, people were touched that Josh and the boys had played football with the young people every afternoon or that Lucy and Abi had entertained the kids who turned up at the church every day, or that Bekah and Dave had gone to the local school and taught the children to count to 10 in English. All of this and more; just the normal stuff of getting to know people, is special and really significant in mission.
And I know that the Step team come away from this experience having received and learnt much more than they ever expected too. They have learnt from the churches faith in stepping out in the work that God has called them to do, regardless of the lack of resources, they've been impressed with the churches response to the disasters and tragedies that happened so close. The way the church has welcomed the team into their community, how they have sacrificed in order to make them comfortable, and gone out of their way to look out for them. During Storm Agatha, when the power had gone out, many church members turned up at the church in the pitch black and pouring rain, to give the team candles, to help them move stuff away from leaking roofs -and just generally make sure they were safe and OK. It touched their hearts.
And that is Step.