(This is literally a recap of what my team did for my first week and their second)
My squad does ministry in a town named Paramos. It’s a very short drive and only costs 2Q. The conversion rate is about 7Q per each $1. We don’t drive ourselves anywhere, we ride in vans or chicken busses.
On Tuesday we went to ministry at a church and we finished sanding a playground and then staining it. Our hands were colored so gross! [look at that picture] Then we got the opportunity (sarcasm) to sweep the cement floor of the church with soap and water (uphill mind you). The floor looked wicked good after though and so did the playground, so we all felt pretty accomplished (and tired) so we napped before dinner and it was great.
On Wednesday we had ministry at the public school and Skylar (read her blog too!) and I have the opportunity to teach 4 classes of 5th graders English once a week. Its very comical because both Skylar and I took French in High School, so the kids have fun laughing at our silly mistakes and we have fun trying to learn Spanish. After school, we walked to a chicken place called Pollo Grandjero , and I was able to buy papas fritas (french fries) for only 5Q! When we got home, our team leader Brittany told us her testimony, and then our team napped. After supper the team got dressed up and went to the same church we do ministry at and had an absolutely awesome worship night. [picture] Even though it was in Spanish, there were some tunes that we recognized like “Reckless Love” and “Raise a Hallelujah”. After worship, one of the worship leaders named Sarah came over to our team and told us each something that we had yet to tell anyone else. She told me that I belonged in Guatemala, that I was going to see God in a big way, and that Guatemala would change my life. I hadn’t told anyone that I was doubting if I was supposed to be there because I was late and because I felt as if my team was bonding without me there. She was very encouraging to me.
On Thursday morning we started with Activation, in which Kelsey and Gabe taught us about Identity. Gabe has lived in Guatemala for 6 years and he was actually the person who did ministry with us that day and we went into the central park of Paramos. We all spent a few minutes asking God what he wanted us to do that day and I kept getting the number “17”. I thought I was crazy because there was no way there would be any flying number 17 somewhere. So I hesitated to say it to my group. When I finally decided to, a little red tuk tuk with the number 17 on it drove by. My whole team stared at it then at me and we were all astounded. We walked over to the spot where they park and Gabe helped me to communicate with the driver. I read him Jeremiah 17:7-8 and we talked a little more, then he accepted Jesus into his life. It was absolutely life changing. I thought about what Sarah had told be the night before, and I knew that I was supposed to be in Guatemala because I was able to talk to this man, God showed me himself by talking to me and me being able to hear his voice, and my life was changed because of that one experience. [picture]
On Friday, we went to the Senior Center and we danced with the people there with their Spanish songs and it was so much fun
