“Ole”, “Ole”, Paula greeted as we entered the village our first time in Guatemala. Puzzled, I told her—“No, Paula it’s ‘Hola’”! This would be our very first encounter with everyone in Guatemala. I still tell the story and laugh that she thought she was giving a warm hello to the people our first time here!
We are Chris and Paula McNutt and we are full-time missionaries at Hope of Life International. We have been here full-time since January but our hearts have been here since the first time we came in February of 2010. Our church is a very small country church that had never gone on an international mission trip. We came to Hope of Life International with another church where we thought it would be a one-time trip. But God had so many other plans. Our prayer for this trip was that God would break our hearts for what breaks His. We encountered poverty like we had never seen before in the village of Pueblo Modelo and our hearts were truly broken for the people of Guatemala the day we visited this community. We are so grateful for how God has used this experience in our life and how He has shown us His love through these precious people.
After that trip, we had returned home filled with excitement and passion about what God was doing at Hope of Life. We were thrilled and anxious to share it with our church and return with our own team to Guatemala. In October that year, we did just that, returning with 13 others from our church, the Mount Comfort UMC in Appomattox, Virginia. On that trip, we built two houses, one of which would be in the Hope of Life village. That was the first time we had walked down the dusty road of that village. The children we saw once again touched our hearts and we were filled with love and compassion. Because of the love we felt for the Hope of Life families, we would spend the next several years beginning a Total Village Transformation. We became the leaders of the Mount Comfort Guatemala Mission and together with our team and its’ many supporters, we would be making a tremendous impact on this community in Guatemala. To complete the community project, we began building a church, a clean water system, a preschool/tutoring center, a vocational school, kitchens, bathrooms and providing electricity along with several other needs. But most importantly we would be building relationships, friendships and our team and this community would become family. Today, with the addition of Causelife Village, we have nearly 300 friends and family in the community.
Three years ago, Paula and I, in partnership with Hope of Life, began the Mount Comfort Guatemala Mission Child Sponsorship Program. This program gives children in the village an opportunity to continue their education at Liberty College on the Hope of Life campus after completing sixth grade. Our sponsorship program also helps provide individuals with medical care, shoes, school supplies and more.
The Mount Comfort Guatemala Mission was formed claiming Ephesians 3:20-21:
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
We had come from a very small church and believe that God was giving us dreams that exceeded anything we thought we were capable of doing, but not more than He was capable of. We prayed that He would use this ministry in ways we could not have dreamed of and He never disappoints. We never would have imagined that one day He would ask us to live among the people He called us to serve—our family and friends in Guatemala.
Paula and I are both nurses by profession, surgery being our specialty. We serve as nurses in medical clinics, both on campus and in villages nearby. I work with a doctor in the “Asilo”, providing external consults for the ministry and the surrounding communities. We help with the educational needs at the ministry, providing CPR and First Aid courses. Paula tutors the children in both Math and English. I also help Mark Nash with projects and the Sponsorship Team with needs as often as time allows for.
Our calling though, is being full-time missionaries to the Hope of Life/Causelife village. We focus on the spiritual needs, physical wellbeing, education, prosperity and economic self-reliance of individuals within the community. We were called to live among the people and to be the hands and feet of Christ in service. In the village, we are blessed to assist the pastor with a children’s, youth and adult ministry, having the ability to spread the love of Christ across the entire community. We are currently working on starting an economic project where the village will be making handmade baskets or “canastas”.
God has shown us exactly where He wants us to be and exactly what He wants us to be doing. He gives us great purpose, far beyond what we had imagined. We are thankful and blessed to be a part of Hope of Life and all that God is doing here. Please keep us in prayer!
Dios te bendiga, Chris and Paula McNutt.