I’m a Guatemalan resident!…well sort of. That’s still so hard to believe. After a 3 hour plane ride from Atlanta to Guatemala City then a crazy 6 hour bus ride to Quiche, I arrived at Agape in Action (AIA) our ministry site for the month. I thought it would be a good treat give you some insight on what I’ve been doing.
Monday
• 7am: Squad breakfast. 9am: Go to the city square/park to hand out free lunch tickets and talk to folks in the community. 11am: Come back to prepare lunch bags for 70 people. 12:30pm: Head back to the square for outreach. Sing worship songs. Talk about Jesus in Spanish (quite the experience). Share testimony and pray for people. Get mobbed by over 100 people wanting free lunch 3pm: Go to the market and buy food to cook breakfast and dinner the following day for 47 people. Get soaked in the rain. 5pm: Team meeting & feedback 6:30pm: Squad dinner and hangout sessions 8pm: Read on my kindle 10pm-ish: Head to bed in my hammock.
Tuesday
• 6am: Wake up to prepare breakfast for my entire squad. Clean and do dishes. Squad breakfast. 8am: Drive over to another town San Pedro to ministry site. Get a tour of the school and church. Meet 1st – 6th graders. Played soccer with el ninos. Then form an assembly line to begin moving 300+ bricks to help build the pavement leading the church. Chase after pigs invading our work space. 4pm: Leave ministry site 5pm: Prepare dinner for squad 8pm Team meeting & feedback. 9pm: Head back to clean kitchen. 10pm-ish: Head to bed
Wednesday
• 6:15am Start laundry. (Laundry involves hand washing my clothes in a bucket and hanging to dry). 7am: Squad breakfast. Head to San Pedro for ministry. More manual labor. Dance in the rain. Running back to camp hopping someone moved my clothes before the downpour (yes to dry clothes!) 5pm-10pm Team meeting, dinner, squad session, quite time and sleep.
Thursday
• Repeat Wednesday – minus laundry.
Friday
• 7am Squad breakfast. 8:30am Head to ministry. Review financials with team. Completed building walkway to church and played with the kids…yay no more manual labor….false Afternoon: Visit new ministry site for next week which involves more manual labor. Chose joy….Touch a cow (yes, check off bucket list). Play foosball in the most random place. 4pm: Find an internet café to quickly check in with my parents and post up a few pictures. Evening: team time, squad time, dinner, hang out sessions, sleep.
Saturday
• 7am: Go on a 2 mile run then circuit and abs workout (finally decided to work out). 9am: Squad breakfast. 10am: Time with the Lord and me time (finally) Afternoon: attempted to go visit the Mayan ruins…fail. Kept singing “today I don’t feel like doing anything….I just want to lay in my bed.” And that’s what happened – needed the rest, after a full week of manual labor. Mayan ruins will still be there next week. Oh and I wrote my blogs ? The rest of the day is a blur.
Sunday
• 7am: Squad Breakfast. Adventure/relaxation day. Drive to Chi Chi to catch a bus to Lake Atitlan. Bus breaks down 2 minutes into our 2 hour drive. The men push the bus as we wait an hour as the huge school bus is being fixed. Arrive at beautiful Lake Atitlan. Take a boat across to another town. Go sightseeing and do some tourist stuff 8pm: Arrive back at the Quiche exhausted but grateful for the opportunity to relax before another long week of ministry.
So this is what a week has looked like for me so far. Every week is different and brings in new challenges but it’s been a lot of fun so far. I know my eloquent writing is quite descriptive and helps you to live vicariously through me, but you’re anxiously waiting for videos. My goal is to post up a video per country. I’ve been taking awesome footage and will share the complete project in the beginning of next month! To see more pictures, you can visit my Facebook Page: Travel with Tayo. Go ahead and like the page so you can get frequent updates about my mission journey. Thank you all so much once again for your financial support, encouragement, and prayers! So thankful for the opportunity to share this experience.
Coming up Next: Life in Guatemala Video!
