Next Friday is November 1st. That will start the beginning of our third month on the race and our last month in Guatemala. Reflecting on these last 2 months I wanted to update ya’ll on everything we have been doing in ministry for the past 2 months.
On Monday’s and Wednesday’s we work at Loving arms which is a private Christian school with all students being sponsored. The past 2 months there have looked different for my whole team. For Lexi, our team leader, she has been painting a mural for the school. Bri has been working with various teachers and helping teach English. Anna and Sadie, have been cutting and sewing uniforms for the school. Kaya and I have been assigned with the task of redoing all of the sponsorships for the kids and other admin tasks. I have been really favored by the lord in my ministry at loving arms because I get to do my favorite thing in the world, photography. It has been really awesome to see how everyone on my team takes their assignments with grace and with a goal of pursuing excellence – because the kingdom deserves nothing less.
On Tuesdays and Fridays we teach English at a public school in the village of Los Encinos. At the school there are 2 classrooms, one for the 1st-3rd graders and one for the 4th-6th graders. I am with the 4th-6th graders with Lexi and Anna. Each week we prepare a lesson plan for the class and go from there. There are only 8 students in our class so we get to teach them very personally. We only teach at Los Encinos for an hour in the morning so in the afternoon we usually do house visits which are basically opportunities for us to go into the village and build relationships with the families there. After 2 months we have built deep relationships with the families in Los Encinos and it is so incredible when we get to go see them and they are excited to see us – like a reunion of friends. Also on Tuesdays we sometimes have cooking classes with some of the women In the village. What that looks like is basically a time for them to teach us how to make a traditional Guatemalan dish and we get to have good conversations with them and get to know about their lives. It really is an amazing time to get to talk to the families about their relationship with the Lord if they have one or just to talk about real life stuff. Also on Friday’s in the afternoon we have VBS with the village kids which basically looks like hanging out and playing games and then sharing a gospel story with them and having some sort of activity. We do this in the village ‘campo’ which is a large public field we are blessed with to do ministry on.
This past Friday was our last day teaching in the Village school because the kids are now out for summer. It was a bittersweet day but we got to rejoice in all the work the Lord has done through us these past months teaching our kiddos.
On Thursday’s we have activation which is where we learn a teaching from someone on the base staff and then how to ‘activate’ in it daily. One week we talked about identity and then we went out into our villages and got to tell other people about identity and encourage them in the spirit. It really has put an emphasis on my life about how important it is to be doers of the word and not merely hearers of the word.
So that is what a week of ministry looks like, but more than the logistics, ministry is a lot of asking the Lord where he wants to lead us and following him in the path he leads. It is making strange foods and laughing with friends while doing it. It is seeing the way Jesus’ hope and peace can change a families life. Ministry is far more than what we do with our hands and feet but the Holy Spirit we get to bring into each of the homes we visit, each of the schools we enter, and ultimately each of the humans we get to meet.
Let me know if you have any questions about what we do for ministry or why, I would love to answer any and all questions. I am so grateful to get to partner with the Holy Spirit in doing ministry everyday in Guatemala and I am so grateful for each one of you who have partnered with me financially && through prayer and support.
How are you activating in the spirit each day to bring kingdom?
Ministry-is-life-life-is-ministry,
El
