Although our time here changes day by day, I thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse of our life here in Guatemala! Team Jubilee has quite a varying schedule, but this will at least give you a small peak into our rhythm here!
6:30 am • This is the time of day where Abby gets up and has a few moments of quiet before everyone else stirs. Sometimes the morning consists of team snuggles or a workout, but it is always greeted with scripture or prayer with the Father.
7:00 am • We all stumble through the doors for Monday breakfast! One of our angelic cooks, Sandra, greets us with a delicious breakfast of pancakes accompanied with lots of fresh fruit. Papaya and I are in a steady relationship now. We take our temperature daily and do a health check to make sure we’re all set for ministry. Team Jubilee is on breakfast dishes this week, so we got to clean up after packing our lunches for the day.
8:30-9:30 am • While our morning quiet times vary depending on our ministry, today we got a good chunk of time to soak in the Lord’s presence. He is so so faithful to meet us and satisfy us both in this time and throughout our whole day.
9:30 am • This morning, my team got the opportunity to work with our friends’ organization called Dar Para Dar. We loaded into different cars to head into the mountains to help build a house! It has been a joy to get to know this family and so see their house come together!
1:00 pm • My team masks up and loads into the van with the legend himself, Manuel our driver, to go to our ministry spot. The gringas (an affectionate, accurate, and teasing name for us all) walk to a park after getting dropped off to set up for our afternoon. Our Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays look like welcoming in a bunch of niños and working through three different rotations: Bible, English, and games! Bible looks like listening to our ministry hosts and occasionally helping act out different scenes (quite entertaining to watch). English looks like presenting phrases or words while creating a space for notes, lots of practice, and encouragement. Games most often looks like fútbol or pato pato ganso (duck duck goose). We also have started teaching them “Jesus Loves Me” to sing to their parents before we leave! As we sit under the Guatemalan sun on the grass or concrete, we get the privilege of building relationships with these kids and even some moms in this community! It is such a soul-filling and also tiring gift.
5:00 pm • Manuel picks us up and we go back to our home at the base for the day! We have just a little bit of time before dinner. I squeeze in a run today since the rest of our day was too busy to workout. My teammates wash their feet from dusty fútbol games or catch up with the rest of the squad.
5:30 pm • A truly golden hour. Dinner welcomes us along with the beautiful Teresa who has poured her love into food for us. Tonight we were greeted with lots of rice, different veggies, some chicken for my carnivore friends, and, of course, some hand-made corn tortillas (a necessity at every dinner regardless of what is served). The sun sets with radiant colors against the volcanoes as the squad talks about their days sharing food and the works of the Lord together.
6:30 pm • Team time for us! Monday night we watch a video from The Bible Project. 2 Timothy was on tap this week. Our little family of a team gathers in a circle to discuss the Word, ideas, applications, and more in our cozy room. We often go later into the night with our team times, but what a joy it is.
8:30 pm • Around this time we can shower, hang out, watch a show, read our Bible, sing songs, play games, dance, pray for one another; the usual.
10:00 pm • Alarm is on and everyone is (for the most part) in their rooms. Jubilee laughs, cleans up, and manages to filter 7 people through a tiny bathroom to get ready for bed. We go to bed with gratitude and sweet rest readying ourselves for the next day!
Hopefully this gave you a fun little peak into our lives here! Wherever two or more are gathered there He is (Matthew 18:20). Whether it’s teaching english in Guatemala or sharing a cup of coffee in the States, He is there. May you view your life and breath as ministry this week!
Love,
Abby
