A lot has happened in the last few days and I want to catch
everyone up on where we’re at and what we’re doing. On our last day of training camp some of the
AIM staff had planned a “fun” day for our squad. We all boarded two boats and traveled across
the lake to spend the morning and afternoon hanging out by the water. Most of our time was spent jumping off a balcony
that overlooked the water. It is amazing
how many games you can come up with that involve jumping off something high
into water. Later that night we had a
birthday party at dinner for Will and Gretchen’s birthday.
for the rest of the month and now we are in three different locations around
Guatemala. My team (NEON) has partnered
with team Agape8 to do ministry on the Eastern coast of Guatemala in town
called Puerto Barrios. Supposedly we are
pretty close to the water, but we haven’t had time to go exploring yet. One of our squad leaders is with us, so in
total we have 16 people living on one floor of a cement building….with one
bathroom. It has been quite an
adjustment from where we had training because it is a lot hotter and the
humidity is pretty high also. It reminds
me a lot of Haiti’s climate when I was there…not quite as bad, but it is still
pretty uncomfortable.
Our contact here is Paul. He has been in Guatemala for about two years and runs a Christian radio
station that broadcasts to a large portion of Guatemala. There radio station is within walking
distance of our living accommodations and we’ve been able to visit and see how
it all runs. They have a pretty cool setup
and it’s amazing the response they get from people all over the country that
listen and are touched by this ministry. Paul has hosted other groups and likes to be a contact person for people
that are looking to serve in Guatemala.
hours in transportation in vans or on buses. We had expected to take what people called “chicken buses” but we found
a deal from Guatemala City on buses that had air-conditioning and even played a
movie during our drive…it was in Spanish, but I can’t complain.
town and find stores and markets where we can buy food and get supplies. That night we headed to church with Paul and
where welcomed with open arms into the small church. It was incredibly hot in the church and I
haven’t been feeling the best the past few days so I was honestly trying not to
pass out when we kept sitting and standing over and over. The pastor is pretty involved in the
community and the last two days we have been working on someone’s house that he
knows in the community. We’ve installed
a water tank, built a fence, and installed a gutter system to collect the water
off the tin roof and funnel it into the tank. Yesterday, a handful of us went to play soccer at a local soccer
facility called Mr. Goal. It is an
outdoor cement pad that has a ripped up, green, turf-like substance on it. The pastor set it up and we played against
two other teams…whoever scored a goal stayed on the field. It was an awesome time and I’m sure we will
do this again soon.
