Monday: Senior Center
Tuesday: ATL and Lesson Planning
Wednesday: Antigua flyers and ATL
Thursday: Activation (Chimachoy)
Friday: Senior Center (others)
I am in love with this country, and I’ve only seen a small amount of it. The people I’ve met and the relationships I’ve built have already changed my perspective of life and have made it so much better. I was able to celebrate the beginning of my 19th year in this absolutely gorgeous country.
Our ministry is done with the Gomez Family: my favorite people. Junior, his wife Rake, their 2 sons Juan Diego and Mateo, his father Abner, and his little brother Chris; are some of the most amazing and loving people I have ever met! Their hearts are so full of the Lord and His love pours out of them so abundantly!
Junior has organized some of our ministry days to be at the Senior Center, which has been so eye-opening! The folks there are so happy when we walk in and can’t wait to give us our hug and kiss on the cheek as we greet each and every one of them. My buddy, Abraham is 88, and has been so eager to learn English and I’ve even made flash cards to help him. Last week he told me, in English, “You is my love”. He asked if I had a boyfriend, and when I said no, he told me that he was now my husband! This man is always smiling and loves puzzles. He plays checkers, the game memory, reads his newspapers, and lets me do the word searches with him. He is just such an amazing and joyful man and I hope that I am able to come back and see him!
Junior takes P31 around to different parts of Paramos to do ATL. Last week he took us to a part that we had never been to, and it was the most life changing thing that has happened yet. This part of town was not the center of town where we normally are; with dirt roads, lots of farm animals, and steep hills. We got out and prayed, and asked the Lord to give us images of what he would like us to do today. I received “red flower, dark brown dog with white on its chest laying in front of a home, and to remind someone that there is hope in Jesus”. As we began walking we stopped at a house, and the family opened the door. Inside we were able to see red flowers. We prayed over the family for healing over her sick children and for the mother to be able to find a job. At the next home we stopped at, a grandmother wanted prayer for her mental and physical body. There were dogs there that were black with white on their chest, and there were red flowers, but not the dog that I saw. At the next place we stopped, we saw a dark brown dog with a white spot on its chest laying in front of a house. There was an older man working outside so we stopped and talked to him. He is 93 years old and about 20 years earlier, he was working and something flew into his right eye, and now he has a glass one. He wanted prayer for continued health because he feels like he’s chasing death, and we also prayed that he’d find the Lord in his miracle of old age and be able to spread Gods love through that. The next house, we prayed for a woman and her sister because her sister is in the hospital. We prayed that she would be healed and able to come home asap. At the last house, there was a woman who had pain in her shoulders and knees, and she had also broken her arm 15 years previously and had not been able to get it fixed, so it was at a weird angle (diagonal on the wrist). Due to this injury, this woman was unable to lift her arms above her head. We prayed over her, and she said that she had no pain in her shoulders or knees, yet her arm was still not healed. So we prayed over again, and Skylar and May (who were physically holding her arm) felt her arm move back into place! We finished praying and the woman put both her arms over her head and began crying and thanking the Lord.
On Wednesday my team went to Antigua. Junior, Rake, Juan Diego, and Mateo were with us, along with some of Juniors friends. We were handing out flyers to go to Juniors church and praying for people. It was a great ministry day because it was something other than what we normally do (staying and doing ministry in Paramos) and we gained a new perspective on ministry. After ministry, we got to go into a museum/study space that is owned by the country Spain. We learned about Mayan culture and what the Catholic Church did to the Mayans. It was amazing! After, we were able to have some team time and had a great day! That night we had ministry at Pastor Abner’s Church. Every Wednesday night we are able to worship (in Spanish), then we go and teach and play with the kids for about two hours after. It is an amazing time! We taught them about Joseph and the Colorful Coat and played with them.
On Thursday, the whole squad had Activation, and we learned about intersession with prayer from May, the base mentor. Then we got the opportunity to go to a town called Chimachoy. No squads from Adventures has ever been there, and it was an amazing experience. The squad took a bus (about 45 minutes) to this village in the mountains. We started with group worship, accapella. After, we got into our teams and prayed, then we began our ATL journey. While praying, we were reminded that we need to reach out to the men; we usually talk to children, women, and the elderly, but not young men. We began walking down a pretty steep hill, and once we reached the bottom, we stopped at literal crosses. We prayed at the house across from them and then the house next to the crosses. We continued walking down the hill and came to a field. There was a cow and lots of vibrant green grass. Our translator, Aderkee (Walter), told us that the Holy Spirt was telling us to pray in tongues. It was interesting because none of us are fluent in any other language, but we did it. I prayed in Spanish, and it may not have been great, but I know that God doesn’t care about how sophisticated my words are, only that I’m praying to Him and his love is flowing through me. After this, the team walked back up the hill. It was extremely difficult because the hill was so steep. Training Camp’s “Devil Hill” was something that actually helped to make it more bearable because it wasn’t as bad as it, but it was close. I was able to talk to Aderkee (Walter) about some personal things and it was great getting to know him better. After finally making it up that hill, I noticed that one of my teammates was still walking up it. I immediately turned around and walked with her. It wasn’t necessary to go because she was being encouraged by Hannah and Gabe, but I still walked it with her. The day in Chimachoy was amazing because we were able to ATL for a few hours and pray over the streets, houses, people, and the town itself. We prayed in tongues, in silence, and together. It reminded me that this squad is full of warriors who are able to worship the Lord, fight for Him, and learn to love Him more than we have ever known.
That night we had worship room. It was held at a different location than usual; at Eco Farms. Worship Room is celebrating its third year and is holding a Worship Room every week, not every other. My team took a bus to Refuge Coffee and I was so excited to see the Furches family there! I had met them the week before at the squad soccer game, and invited them to Worship Room. I was able to talk with them and get to know them better! (Read about them here) Riding in the bed of a truck on the way to Eco Farms was a time of joy and laughter! Worship was absolutely amazing. Singing praises to the Lord and feeling completely free to love Him is the most wonderful feeling. Worship Room provides a safe place to truly worship the Lord in any form; laying down, kneeling, jumping, yelling, weeping, singing, reading, and anything else. (Video of Worship Room last week on Facebook)
On Friday, we went back to the Senior Center. I brought the flash cards and Abraham had an absolute BLAST. (Video of playing cards). I also taught him the alphabet! (Video of alphabet)
On Saturday there was a soccer game hosted at the Base. The MOG have soccer ministry, so they go out to four different villages and teach and play soccer with the kids. Those kids were able to be at the base and play against each other! The team that I was cheering for was Chirijuyú (Chiti-hoo-you) and we wore green to represent them. Valeria, Melanie, and me, and the coaches, Grant and Blake worked together to love these kids and show them how proud of them we were! Everyone thought that they would come in last, but they actually came in third!! Aderkee (Walter) gave each kid a medal for their town depending on what place they got. Seeing these kid’s faces full of absolute joy and laughter during the games, brightened my whole day! Seeing how ministry can be brought home and absolutely loving the outcome was extremely encouraging.
Ministry in Guatemala is amazing. I have fallen in love with country and I never want to leave. The reality of needing to pack and begin saying goodbyes is heart-wrenching and I feel as if I can’t do it. I HAVE to come back soon because I need to see the Gomez family, the people my team and I have made relationships with, and this beautiful country.
