I know all the parents out there love to hear details about what we do specifically in our day-to-day life, and when I was researching the race I loved seeing what the race life actually looked like.
So here’s some details, phrases we use, and what our “normal is! 🙂
Meals:
The teams go through a daily rotation, and each team takes a turn helping our cooks Sandra and Theresa make breakfast and dinner. The team also collects dishes and cleans them. Breakfast starts at 7 AM and dinner starts at 5:30 PM. We make lunches in the morning to take with us to ministry.
Breakfast: On any given morning we will have an assortment of bananas, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe. The fruit is usually paired with French toast or pancakes. Another common breakfast is an oatmeal that is very runny but very delicious. The “favorite” breakfast for many of my squad mates includes chips, sour cream, plantains, black beans, eggs, and toast. My favorite is French toast and bananas.
Lunch: We rotate between PB&J, chicken salad, tuna, and egg sandwiches throughout the week. We receive an apple or orange each day, and we switch between a small bag of chips or cookies each day.
Dinner: We are so blessed to have incredible cooks at the base who make our breakfasts and dinners. Dinner rotates between a vegetable soup, fried chicken, a mystery meat (I’m not sure what it is) (It’s good though), spaghetti, and empanadas. There is always a basket of fresh tortillas and salad on the side.
Street food = a no go. On our first weekend here, we all eagerly wandered to Parramos, the main town we live next to. Right after eating the delicious street tacos and chocolate covered bananas for 2Q, all the locals told us this was a terrible idea. Parasites, anyone?
Currency: Quetzals
The exchange rate is about 7.5 Quetzals (we call them Q’s) to 1 US dollar. On the first day we went to Wendy’s, and instead of the “4 for 4” deal, they had “4 for 32” deal. Sounds expensive, but it isn’t. A good base price to remember is 75 Q = about 10 US dollars.
Transportation:
We have two main modes of transportation here; either the “chicken” bus (affectionately called this due to the people packed in like chickens) or a small van (basically a chicken bus but smaller).
To get into the bus, we simply wave our arms up and down and it will stop for us. The chicken buses are old American school buses that are painted wild colors. In America, there is a chip that prevents the bus from exceeding a certain speed limit, but they take it out in Guatemala. We definitely go much faster than should be allowed.
When we get in the bus, we are not guaranteed a seat. Usually we share a row with 4 people, or sit on someone’s lap, or stand up squeezed next to someone, or even ride on the outside of the bus holding on for dear life! This is the most fun option.
Prices to get from the base to different cities:
Parramos: 3Q
Chimaltenango (Chimal) : 3Q
Antigua: 5Q
Guat City: 12Q
There are also Tuk-Tuks, which are small 3-wheeled vehicles. They look kinda like the seat of a Ferris wheel or sky ride at the fair. They are smaller, private, usually more expensive, and definitely more fun.
Normal Schedule of my ministry day:
6:30 AM– wake up, shower, get dressed
7:00 AM– eat breakfast in the main room with the squad
7:45 AM – Mon, Wed, Thurs: Devos
Tues&Fri- Deep Dive
9:30 AM– leave to ministry. For my team this involves catching a bus to Parramos, then catching a van to Los Corrales
10:15 AM– arrive at Los Corrales and teach English to second graders for two hours
12:30 PM– lunch with my team and ministry host, Aderkee
1:30 PM– House visits, where we spend time with and invest in the families of the town. Usually this involves praying with them, playing with the children, and even making tortillas or cheese.
4:30 PM– catch the van to Parramos, then the bus back to the base
5:30 PM– dinner with the squad. Often we share anything that happened during the day where we saw God move in big and little ways. Lots of celebration!
6:15ish PM – Team Time. This is intentional time with our teams, spent in our rooms usually, where we spend time together and share whatever is happening.
Team Time Schedule:
Monday – worship ( once a month we have all squad worship, otherwise we listen to worship music in our rooms)
Tuesday – Journey Markers (answering questions and reflecting on our personal, spiritual, ministry, and community lives)
Wednesday – blogging
Thursday – Feedback (Calling each other to look more like Jesus and encouraging each member of the team where they are doing well)
Friday – Free choice (We have done dance parties, making brownies, making smoothies, sharing testimonies, etc. The sky is the limit)
7-10 PM– Free time with the squad. On Mondays and Fridays we have a short session, but other than that, we are free. This looks like practicing for leading worship, jam sessions, deep talks, card games, making salsa, watching movies, scootering and penny boarding outside, looking at the stars, dance parties, working out, just doing life.
This is my favorite part of the day, and I plan to do a separate blog just on this time. SO sweet.
10 PM– time for bed. Usually this looks like staying up with my team far past 10. All good things.
Some common World Race definitions and lingo we commonly use:
Devos: Time in the morning to spend with Jesus, get into the Word, journal, and listen to worship music.
Deep Dive: Twice a week, our base elder Kevin leads the squad in deep dive. It involves looking intently on a certain few verses of the Bible and analyzing it. It’s awesome because we get the perspective of all squad members, and we go so in depth. It’s one of the best parts of the week.
Teams: Our smaller groups of 5-8 people. We sleep with them, go to ministry with them, and have team time with them. They will also likely become your closest friends on the race. Shoutout Selah!
Squad: The entire group of 46 racers, 3 squad leaders, 2 team leaders, and one squad mentor. We live together at the base
The base: Adventures in Missions has many bases in different countries, and it includes our rooms, bathrooms, eating area, worship area, and fields to play/work out/hang out in. The Guatemala base is the newest one, and we are SO blessed to have hot water, clean drinking water, and beds.
Pila: What we use to wash our clothes. There is a clean water bin and soap bin, and we have to scrub very hard with soap spheres. Usually this takes a long time but it is actually relaxing. We hang our clothes on the fence or clotheslines in the back of the base.
Parasite: This means you’re gonna be throwing up for a long time
“That’s really good”: used when someone is speaking and you agree with them to the point of feeling it in your soul
Caseda: The place at the base where the squad leaders sleep. They also have a keyboard in there.
Chunky Peanut Butter: pretty much our life source here. They don’t have smooth peanut butter, and when we live on $5 a day, PB&J is VERY delicious
Cajero: ATM in Spanish
Gringas: slang for “Americans” in Spanish. Usually kids shout this at us; it’s great
Tienda: a small shop where we buy coke, chips, and random food for very cheap. They’re all over the place; we even have one outside the base.
Spanglish: what all of the racers speak. None of us is fluent in Spanish, but we try our best to speak to the locals in their language. It usually ends in everyone laughing and me saying, “lo siento” (I’m sorry).
ATL: This stands for “Ask the Lord”, and we use it to describe ministry we do that isn’t with a specific organization. Usually we pray and ask the Lord for a certain person or place He wants us to pray for, and we just follow His voice. This has lead to so many incredible meetings and healings; its incredible.
Activation: Every Thursday, instead of going to ministry in the morning, we do something called Activation. Usually a couple of the full time AIM (adventures in missions) staff will give a teaching (i.e., hearing the voice of the Lord, healing, intimacy with the Father), and then we will “activate it”. This has included doing listening prayer with people, releasing the Holy Spirit on the room, giving words and visions to people, etc. It is the best day of the week for sure. After activation in the morning, we go to our ministry sites and put it into practice. This has led to countless healings and Holy Spirit encounters.
Mega Pacca: The thrift store in Chimal. I have gotten a SICK smokey the bear sweatshirt, Columbia shorts, and some dope t-shirts there for very cheap. They have the cuts. To anyone going to Guatemala on their race, HIT up Mega Pacca. Our squad has started calling it “the Meg.”
So those are just some basics about Gap Year and living in Guatemala in general; I hope this was helpful for anyone trying to gain more insight! 🙂
Fundraising Update:
I am still not fully funded and have a limited number of weeks before I need to be at 100%. If you feel the Lord calling you, please please donate even a dollar. It all goes towards transportation, ministry, flights, food, and staying at the base. Every amount means the world!
Please continue to pray for me, my team, and the rest of Gap T. All prayers are so greatly appreciated!
If you have any prayer requests or blog requests, leave them in the comments below!!
All for the glory of God
MG
