The school that I do most of my ministry in is not really a school at all, at least by American standards. The home has three floors with many separate small rooms to divide the grades of the kids. Most of our group works in one of the two larger, more typical, schools that have more space, good supplies, and kids, however, I get to work in the house school with Josh, Leah and Sam! It is a completely different environment than the larger schools but I love it. The school is the very definition of ghetto, with doors off their hinges, bed sheets acting as curtains, extremely steep stairs, a sketchy roof with a chain link fence around it for recess, and garbage all over the place. I could go on a while explaining how different it is from American schools, but that should be a given, we’re in Guatemala after all.
I have spent around 2 weeks here, (well at least when I typed this – it takes a while for me to get wifi) and it feels like so much has already happened. I am loving my ministry so far, it has been going really well, thats not to say that there haven’t been any challenges. At first teaching was extremely overwhelming, we were just thrown right into it without any training or advice and were told to teach little kids to speak a language that comes natural for us yet is extremely challenging for the kids. After a while, however, teaching has become much less stressful of a process. I am beginning to get more comfortable with the school and the many children we teach. I have even reached the point where I am learning a lot of their names and they remember my name. Every day we walk in the school, we get swarmed by the kids and their joyful little faces. After many hugs (especially for Leah #their favorite) and hand shakes, we teach our first class to the 4th graders on the second floor. Our team has a great system down where we have one person upfront on the whiteboard teaching while the others observe and help the kids one on one. I love the team of people I work with at the house. Josh is always willing to take the lead when need be and direct the kids’ attention to the whiteboard, when we need something complicated said in Spanish, we have Sam, who speaks excellent Spanish, and Leah, well she just sits there. Haha no just joking, she writes on the board when one of us needs a break, she is great at one on one, and she draws great pictures for English on the board.
A challenge I have faced lately is how to incorporate ministry and Jesus into what I am doing. I feel like our ministry is very secular, as we are not allowed to openly talk about Jesus because it is a public school system. Sometimes I tell myself lies that I am not doing anything but helping these kids learn a different language, and not leading them to a life with Jesus. I like to see the result of what I am doing, so that has been tough. I just have to trust that by forming a relationship with the kids and helping them learn, I am showing the love of Christ to them. One day I hope they ask why I did it, and then I or someone else will say because Jesus is my friend and He is asking me to serve you and love you in this way. That thought has kept me going on those long day when I just want to get back to our casa.
Life outside of the school has been going so amazing. I feel so absolutely blessed to be with this group of people. Geronimo and Lavished Warriors were basically made for each other. We all get along seamlessly, even with the very wide range of personalities we have. Our problems are rarely with each other and more centered on outside elements which I will touch on later. I laugh more with this group of people than I have ever before. Much of the humor comes from Cali who lives with us during the week and speaks very very little English. He is so funny, however, and serves us in so many ways. Everyone is absolutely hilarious in their own way, and we bond so much over smiling together! We have many times said that we could make a reality show of our life and it would be the funniest thing ever. I am hoping to make that a reality and actually make a funny little show. Hopefully you guys will get to see that! The awesome part is that we can also get extremely real with each other, whether it be in prayer, our ministry, or calling each other out. The whole element of living in a home with a bunch of roommates is very new to me and I love it so much. Everyone is very responsible and contributes to our community in a unique way. It sounds stupid but I love just going out with a few people walking into San Lucas, buying some groceries, eating some pastries at San Martin, and getting wifi, that is one of the highlights of my day. I have also gotten the chance to take pictures and videos, and I have already seen improvement in my own pictures. I am learning so much about my camera and am enjoying it a lot!
Our community leans in to each other for support so much, especially when it comes to spiritual warfare. Lately Satan has realized all the good we are doing in Zone 18 so has sent demons to try and stop us. They have manifested in many different ways. A few nights into the trip one of our guys was alone in our room and felt the presence of someone in the room with him. All the guys slept in the middle room that night. From that point on strange stuff started happening, I won’t get to into because honestly I have not felt the presence of this spiritual battle as much as some of the other people on my team. I believe them whole heartedly, I just feel a little oblivious of the presence of demons. If you wish to read more on this then check out some of the other blogs from Geronimo or the Lavished warriors. Many times now we have joined together as a team to pray over the house or for people in specific to cast out demons and fill our home with the light and presence of God.
Thank you for following my blog and wanting to hear about my adventures. Please share this blog if you feel so called to do so. Hope to talk to you again soon!
