Okay, let me just say, I got blessed with the best ministry hosts. My favorite ministry has been ministry hosts since the first time I went to Jamaica, so God really knew what He was doing when he partnered my team with a bunch of hilarious young adults. Okay so before I start, a little summary of what OWC is.
OWC, One Way Community, is an organization that works in San Lorenzo, a very poor town about twenty minutes (by chicken bus) from Antigua. A lot of the families there find income from working in the dumps and there’s a lot of brokenness. OWC runs a school in a little house next to a huge field Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They teach english, math, literature, and have a little preschool class. Sometimes they do bible studies, and we play a lot of games and sing a lot of songs. They also have a girls and boys soccer team that have games in Guatemala City every other Saturday. They visit houses in the community a lot to get to know the families of the kids who go to the school. They speak life into those families and are not ashamed of the gospel in the slightest bit. On Saturday mornings, they serve breakfast to the community as well. Let me just remind you, most of them are ages eighteen to twenty-one, some are twenty-six and thirty-five. I have never met such on-fire-for-God young adults, I’ve been learning so much from them and their passion for sharing the gospel with the families in our community. Anyway, let’s begin.
Bilsan.
Bilsan is twenty-six and runs OWC, it literally would not exist without him. He just recently went to Colombia to study and learn a little more about discipleship, but he has already discipled the leaders of OWC so well that he entrusted the organization with them for the month. Bilsan has such a love for every single kid that comes to OWC and for everyone who helps. He’s so intentional. He makes time to know all the kids, to talk to all 200 of them at ministry, and to know us. Even though he doesn’t know much english (he knows a lot more than he thinks he does), he tries so hard to learn more about us and have real, genuine conversations with us.
Lidia.
Wow, Lidia has the most hospitible heart. After the first day of ministry, she was already calling us her best friends. She has taken us in like we’re her kids, but treats us as if she’s our age and we’ve been best friends forever. She’s always trying to get to know us better. There’s never a moment that we’re together and not laughing. She LOVES showing us off on her instagram stories and hyping us up about how beautiful we are. Lidia carries herself with such peace and grace. During house visits, she is so quick to love the mothers we meet and empathize with them.
Kevin.
Kevin just celebrated his eighteenth birthday on Thursday (!!!) and teaches preschool. I
normally teach with him, and let me tell you, we have the best time. Kevin has such patience with the children and loves them so well. There have been so many times that kids come up to me and start going off in spanish and I just look at him and we crack up. During “recess”, we typically play tag and Kevin does not stop. That guy can run for hours, and the kids love it. He’s so good with the young kids and it’s so cool to watch. Kevin and I have also made a plan to teach each other our languages, and last week after youth group, we spent a few minutes mostly speaking in spanish and laughing at how awkward language barriers can be.
Pablo.
Pablo coaches the boys soccer team and he really, really loves them. He seeks out the one in the ninety-nine and he embraces them like Jesus would. There’s a boy at our ministry with special needs named Erlin, and I think Pablo sees him exactly how Jesus does. He’s also an encourager. He’s so quick to point out things we’re doing well and ways he sees Jesus in us. He’s so mature in his faith and has such a desire for others to know about Jesus.
