Last week, Geoff and Rita Doppenberg, along with their three sons (Zack, Luke and Gabe), boarded a flight to El Progreso, Guatemala. They'll be in Guatemala for at least six months, serving rural Mayans by focusing on rehabilitating malnourished children.

Here is an excerpt from a recent post on the Doppenbergs blog:

Life is full of lessons… even for us “old dogs”, God can teach us many new tricks.  We have been here in Guatemala for only 5 days…. feels like 5 weeks.  So much has happened and we have learned so much already.  There is a certain arrogance that surrounds our culture.  We think we are going to come into a country as missionaries and teach them better ways.  Funny thing happens instead… they teach us VERY quickly what is wrong with our ‘better’ ways.  Pretty much just about everything.  We come in with plans… Our plans suck, for lack of a better word.  Us arrogant Canadiense’s are brought to our knees within moments of being here.  We truly don’t mean to be arrogant… we come here with the best of intentions…. but we get knocked down instantly, to their level… which quite frankly is above ours in so many ways.

If Guatemala had a better system of equality and Government they would be coming to Canada as missionaries to help us.  Of that I have no doubt.  They would teach us patience… they would teach us to trust in God and not in ourselves… They would teach us lessons that our brains need to learn.  It has taken less than 5 days for us to be humbled beyond measure.   God wanted to make sure we were in complete surrender before He made things the way He wanted them to be and not the way we had envisioned.

To learn more about the Doppenbergs, and to stay in the loop on their journey, you can follow their blog here.