When our plane landed in Guatemala City, we were just Americans on a journey. The Good Works project would soon be underway, and we would work and live with people we had never met. Many of them didn’t even speak the same language as us. We were strangers, foreigners, immigrants. The land we saw out of the cabin windows was beautiful, but it wasn’t home.
By that evening, that had all changed. We were home. We were with family, laughing and sharing our memories of the past and hopes for the future.

What was it that changed? Did we fly back to the U.S.? No, we just experienced one of God’s greatest blessings: the love His people have for each other.

Ever since we started re-emphasizing the Good Works program in mid-2011, helping members from around the world develop deep, godly relationships with each other has been our primary goal. Our vision is brethren helping brethren. A lot of what we do involves physical projects. For instance, in Guatemala, we built infrastructure for a hydroponics gardening training center. We’re hoping it will be a big physical help for many brethren in the country. But even more important than the actual work involved are the relationships volunteers build with those they help.

Jesus was very clear when He said that His disciples’ love for one another would be their identifying mark (John 13:35). Everyone would know who they were by that sign. What isn’t always clear to people is what He meant. Jesus was talking about a strong, vibrant, active love—one that does good, not just feels good. (For more information on what godly love really is, read Arthur Suckling’s article in the May edition of the United News on page 5.)

That’s what Good Works is all about, building relationships on the foundation of godly love. We need to not only feel love for God’s children, but live it. Our trip to Guatemala was a good proof of concept. The urban hydroponics project is wonderful, and with God’s blessing I have no doubt that many will benefit from it. Even better and more importantly, our family is much larger than it was before.

We consider Good Works to be a “whole church” effort. If you would like to be a part of what Good Works is doing around the world, a good place to start is reading Ed Dowd and Kelly Irvin’s article on page 2. It introduces the International Sister Congregation program, which we hope will be your chance to make connections and build eternal relationships with your family from around the world.