Hello! I’m excited to update everyone! We’ve been really busy, so I haven’t been able to write, but this is really long so I know it’ll make up for it. 🙂 I’ll start kinda where I left off: The night before leaving was pretty emotional, but my family and everyone seems to be doing ok now. I enjoyed taking the Greyhound. I was actually able to sleep a lot which was surprising. I sat by a woman and told her what I was doing, and she told me that traveling for Jesus was the best thing a person could do, and she said she was encouraged by me, so that was encouraging. I was then in Atlanta from Thur to Sunday in what the World Race calls “Launch”. We had more training through speakers and seminars, got to spend more time with our squads, and also we had one day where we went out in Atlanta to share our faith. We heard about being servants, being thankful, listening to God, safety, and more. We also had some time to hear some “feedback” from our team, and they gave me a lot of compliments and encouragement and I’m learning to accept compliments more. On the 4th of July, my team and I set off some firecrackers.
1. Ministry
2. Team Time
3. Squad Time
4. Culture
5. Daily Living
6. Financial Update
7. Thank You
8. Prayer Requests
1. Ministry
Teaching the kids about Christ being "The Bread of Life"- The kids were doing a skit about when Jesus fed 5,000 people with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread
My team of 7 people and I, (Team Ergaleio) have, in my opinion, the best ministry site for this month! We’re at a Christian school that has some students who are orphans. Last week, we took some time to teach about Christ and the Bible through reading Scripture, songs, prayer, and activities. I was excited to be able to lead that for my team because it included things that I love: God, kids, teaching, and Spanish. We talked about Jesus being the bread of life, the parable of the lost sheep, and the fall of Jericho. We had lunch every day at the Pastor’s house which was cooked by his wife, and it was so delicious-tortillas, chicken, potatoes, milky drinks. etc.. Many of the other teams have to make and bring their own lunches like sandwiches every day. After lunch, we’ve been doing construction work at the school. We worked on making a new office, and on Friday we did some plastering of walls. It’s interesting to learn and do these things.
Me with the pastor's son Julio (he was trying to play my team leader's ukeleli) and Jockson- They are cuties 🙂
2. Squad Time- Last week, we worshiped as a whole squad every evening. Then we had one of our squad leaders talk. On Monday-Wed. we had some serious confessional time. I’ve definitely never experienced anything like that before. People were sharing their deepest, darkest secrets to the whole squad and so many people were balling. It says in the Bible to confess your sins to each other, and also it brings a lot of healing when sin goes from being into the dark to be being into the light. It also is really good to be able to talk about things and not feel like you have to keep it a secret. It was very powerful. It was really inspiring to see people be so courageous in sharing their stories. It also really, really showed me and could show others that Christians, my squad, and myself are people who need a Savior. Many times I think people think that missionaries and myself are like these “super Christians” who are perfect and are angels. And that night just really showed how imperfect and messed up we were and how much pain, confusion, and struggle we’ve had/have. I shared a little with my squad, but I was feeling that it was important for me to remember to guard my heart because it was with everyone including the men on our team. I wasn’t sure though if I didn’t share a lot because I was trying to guard my heart or if it was because I was just too embarrassed and ashamed to share a lot of my sins. I think it was a little of both. One thing I shared is that I want to grow in the area of confidence. I have to look to the Lord of this. We have squad leaders on the race with us who’ve done the race before and they are really inspiring and encouraging spiritually. One of my leaders in particular is so confident, and it really inspires me to be confident. On Thursday, we had a talk about knowing our true worth and identity in Christ and we cast down all of the sin and struggles that we had mentioned Mon-Wed. The squad leaders prayed and prophesied over us too. It was really healing. We had a really fun dance party too. On Friday, we had a game night after worship. Saturday is supposed to be our “off day”, and we got to go to a lake in a city where there was shopping and restaurants. I was able to give a person that others were talking to a Spanish booklet that explained the Gospel. Tonight, as a squad, we’re celebrating everyone’s birthday that are in July, so that should be fun.
3. Team time- My team has a great balance. We all get along well, and I’d say everyone feels comfortable. We’re really diverse in what our Christian denomination/background is/was as well as where we are all at spiritually. This has been challenging, and I‘ll admit a little frustrating to me, but it’s also encouraging because we all have a desire to grow closer to God, and we can pull each other up and learn from each other. We’re doing a team Bible study every Sunday to help us grow together spiritually, and we did that today about the Spirit. We’ve been eating a lot of the meals together and doing “feedback” which is basically giving each other compliments, encouragement, and constructive criticism. We’re all going to church together in a couple hours at the Pastor from the school’s church. I like church at 5pm oh yeah! Here’s my team:
The men: I’m really blessed to have men on my team as many teams are all women. The men provide leadership to our team as well as logic, strength, protection, and more They are such good men of God.
Nate- He’s our team leader. He’s a natural-born leader. He’s from Massachusetts and was living in California teaching about the ocean to kids because he studied marine biology. He’s a strong, gentle, and humble leader.
James- James is from Colorado. He’s really understanding and has been through so much. His testimony and perseverance are inspiring to all of us. He’s really funny, and we all like his laugh. He’s studying to be a doctor.
Jake- Jake’s from Michigan. He has such a great balance in his personality. He’s really playful and spontaneous, but he’s also has a lot of spiritual depth and knowledge and is really caring. He reminds me of the “All-American man”. He’s also studying to be a doctor. I can relate to him because he was really involved with Cru like I was.
The women: I’m really thankful for the women on my team to be able to connect with them in ways that only women can. They’re beautiful, humble, and strong, and I know they want to grow in their walk with Christ.
Mindy- Mindy is from Arkansas. She’s really humble and has a boisterous laugh that I like. She’s really sweet and she keeps it real. I’m looking forward to getting to know her more as we haven’t had much time because she’s the “Logistics” coordinator for our squad.
Erin- Erin is from Wisconsin. She has a lot of experience with camps and just general wisdom and experience from being the oldest one on our team. She’s really understanding and gentle.
Grace- Grace is from Minnesota like me! We connected right away since we were both from MN. She’s really real and understanding, and I always feel calm around her. Our tents are right next to each other, so we’ve been able to have some tent-to-tent chats. Haha.
4. Culture- We’re about 4 hours away from Guatemala City in really high elevation. Guatemalans have a Mayan history, and one of the first thing I noticed when we got to Guatemala was that many of the women wear special, traditional skirts and blouses. They’re really cute! There are so many mountains and valleys here. It’s been raining every day. It’s currently raining right now. I think this is there “rainy”season. It doesn’t rain all day, but you can pretty much count it to rain at some time. It's only been like 75 degrees here everyday which is nice. There’s a lot of random stray dogs walking around and barking. I’ve also been hearing fireworks/firecrackers a lot. Apparently, Guatemalans celebrate birthdays with fireworks and probably other stuff because I hear them a lot. The area we are in doesn’t seem to be super poor. They don’t seem to have a lot, but they seem to be doing pretty well. No one looks like they’re starving. It also feels pretty safe too. The people, especially at the school, are really friendly, and the kids always give us hugs.
Our ministry contacts and now friends! The pastor's wife makes us lunch every day in the week and we eat with the pastor and his family. 🙂
5. Daily Life- We have been so scheduled and busy since getting to Guatemala. Also, things usually haven’t been starting on time, but that‘s ok because I usually arrive to things late ha. Last week, we had breakfast, then time with God, then go to the ministry site, then have supper, then have team feedback time, then have a 3-4 hour long session of worship, speakers, etc. I’m an extravert, but a lot of me is introverted, and we’ve had like hardly any alone time which has been draining to me. This weekend has been a little better, and they said that next week we won’t have as many sessions. I’m here with my entire squad of 56 (I think it’s 56?) people, and we’re living at a Christian compound that’s gated, and we’re sleeping in tents in an open field. I don’t mind sleeping in the tents because then you have your own space, but some rain has been getting into my tent. I use a lock for my tent and most others do too. We don’t have internet where we live, but we can go to internet cafes that are really cheap. We also aren’t allowed to go anywhere by ourselves at any time. We walk to most places, but can take these little taxis for pretty cheap. It’s kinda hard having such limited internet time. We have breakfast at 8am and supper at 6pm everyday. We’ve been taking turns having certain teams buy food and prepare meals for the whole squad. We’ve been eating a lot of variations of tacos. I’d say the staple of food in Guatemala is the tortilla. We’ve been eating eggs, yogurt, granola, bananas, French toast, etc. for breakfast and tortillas, beans, beef, chicken, rice, guacamole, lasagna, etc. for supper. I like to get snacks and Coke at the many snack and pop shops nearby. I also have been able to eat 2 cheeseburgers and some pizza when we went out to eat a few times haha. We have to hand wash and dry our clothes which isn‘t a problem, but hard to figure out how to dry when it rains all the time. We have hot showers here which is really nice and good bathrooms. We have like 40 girls sharing 3 bathrooms and 2 showers, so you usually have to wait a few minutes to use it. We have a team budget for certain things like meals and personal items and other thing, and so we’ve been sorting out how to divide the money and make everyone happy. The currency is called “Quetzales” and 1 quetzal is around 12 cents. We’ve been doing a lot of talk about food and when we’re gonna eat and what, and I’m really guilty of it, but I really don’t like it because “the body is more than food”. Grace from my team is in charge of our finances. They speak Spanish here, and I’m loving trying to speak and learn it more. This verse was encouraging to me: “Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:11-14
6. Financial update: I currently about 91% funded, and just need around $1,450. wooo whooo!!!
7. Thank you
Thanks so much everyone for your love, support, and prayers. I truly appreciate it and miss you all and love you all. Sending love from Guatemala to the U.S. I will keep you updated. I want to take all of the love and support that I’ve received and give it to others and remember that I’m here because of other people’s support.
8. Prayer Requests:
I’m doing well! I’m really liking it here a lot and am feeling really healthy. I’m learning a lot already.
1. For the students at the school- that they’d grow to know and love Christ
2. For my team and I to be open to sharing Christ with others
3. For my team to desire God above all else to and work together in our different spiritual backgrounds/maturity.
4. For my team and I to be bold and confident
