Guatemala 2013

In 2013, led by the Holy Spirit, Bro. Mark Davis and his wife, Sherri, started a new chapter in the life of SWBC - international mission trips. Through a partnership with TEAM Effort Mission Camps, they led SWBC on a week-long trip to Antigua, Guatemala. The team served in a nearby village called Santa Maria de Jesus, where the mission was to prep the ground for a community center that was to be used for several types of evangelical outreach. While there, the team also toured Antigua (the most popular tourism town in the country), hiked a volcano, and went ziplining over beautiful valleys between mountains.

While on this trip, there was a Guatemalan who shared his testimony about how God had saved him from dying from appendicitis. The very next day, one of our youth, Brittany Huckabee, started having severe pains in her side. She was evaluated on a house-call by a local doctor, but no determination was made about the source of her pain. The pain got worse, and when she was taken to the local hospital for reevaluation, they wanted to do surgery to see what was going on. Our leadership determined that the hospital was not in fit condition for her to be treated (it was hot and very unsanitary inside). When the team boarded the plane to go home the next day, the pilot was hesitant to allow Brittany to fly due to her condition. After some intense debate, the pilot not only allowed her to fly, but he got the plane off the ground 10 minutes earlier than planned and had an ambulance waiting on the tarmac in Atlanta, GA, to pick her up when we landed. Brittany went in to surgery in Atlanta and they found that it was, in fact, appendicitis. It was determined that her appendix had ruptured the day before while the team was still in Guatemala. Though there had been some infection that had spread, she had a successful surgery and a full recovery. God truly took care of her and provided for her needs every step of the way.

When Brittany was asked recently if she would go back and do it all over again, knowing the danger that she was in, here is what she said:

“I may sound crazy, but I think I would. It wasn’t until after everything was over that I realized how sick I was. In those moments in the hospital there and throughout the trip back (to the states), I was never scared. I never feared for my life. That’s what blows my mind. I felt safe in God’s hands. If my story touches at least one person, then I feel like it was worth it to go through that.”

When we put our faith and trust in the LORD Jesus and follow His leading, He always provides, and He receives the glory! Guatemala 2013 was no exception.