GuateHOLLA!
Hola! Ahora, estoy in Guatemala!
This country is one of bright colors, joyful people, massive volcanoes, more tortillas than you can imagine, and lots of love for the Lord! I never get tired of walking up and down the beautiful streets of Antigua, driving to our quaint, mountainous village, Las Calderas, for ministry, or watching the relentlessly astonishing sunset as I sit in my hammock at the base in Parramos. This country is something special.
My squad lived in a hostel for the first week of our time here. It was a time of exploring, enjoying avocado toast and gelato, and falling in love with this culture. Also during that week I was blessed with the perfect opportunity to see my SISTER, who ended up in Antigua for one day with her short-term mission group from school! It was the most blessed time and I’ll post the link to her blog all about it at the end of this post. It tells the whole story of how that came about and MAN it’s something to praise the Lord about! Anyway, after that first week, some of our squad mates moved to the base in Parramos while the rest of us stayed at the hostel to welcome our PARENTS (ahhhh!!) for the five days of Parent Vision Trip! It was SUCH a blessed time that I could say SO much about, but I’m going to let my parents do that instead; keep your eyes out for a special post from them all about it! It was such a refreshing, special blessing that I’m forever grateful for.
After PVT, we all moved to the base in Parramos, which is about a 45-min chickenbus ride away. It’s absolutely beautiful and honestly I felt kind of overwhelmed by how nice our living conditions are. We have hot, running showers, sinks out back to do our laundry in, bunk beds, a fridge for our personal groceries (there is a grocery store like five minutes away), and we are being fed healthy, delicious food- fresh fruit every morning! And each team is sharing a room so each team has their own bathroom, so I’m sharing with seven girls instead of 37 girls. It’s kind of crazy to be living this nice, I almost felt bad at first. But I’m just taking it as a blessing from the Lord to help us be refreshed and well-rested for ministry, as well as have a united place with a big yard to gather as a squad and have fellowship in our last few months together. I think the hot showers are really going to help me re-adjust to first-world living in two months when I’m back home. Maybe make it a little less shocking. But washing machines and dryers might make me lose my mind. I don’t know.
For ministry, my team is serving in Las Calderas, a precious village at the base of the volcano, Acatenango. In the mornings we visit, evangelize, pray and encourage the people who live in the community and in the afternoons we become English teachers! In a village with such poverty, English is an essential skill to have if you want a job other than farming. A lot of kids in the cities are able to go to school and learn English, but the majority of the kids in our village can’t afford to go to school so they aren’t learning English. My team is honored to be able to teach them this skill! Peyton and I are teaching boys ages 6-13. They are precious and so funny. The first word they learned was “fart” so that’s how that’s going, LOL! But we have plenty of time and I promise we are going to continue trying to get them to learn the important stuff LOL. It’s such a blessing to love them in this way. Once a week we lead a bible study with them, too. That’s my favorite! On Thursdays we are going to be holding a women’s bible study for the women in the community, as well, and I am so excited to cultivate that community with these precious sisters of mine!
Since being in Guatemala, God has totally been blessing my years of studying Spanish and granting me this unnatural ability to essentially be fluent in Spanish. I’m the translator for my team and I’ve loved seeing how God is using this gift of language to create deeper relationships at ministry. It’s literally ALL Him allowing me to understand and speak this language. Thank you, Father!
All in all, Guatemala is a beautiful gift. Please pray health over me and my squad as many of us have ended up with parasites, some more severe than others. Most of us have had very manageable symptoms but a few people are really struggling. God is our healer and our strength! Thank you for your interest in this journey and for covering it in prayer! I love and appreciate you more than you know.
With much love, excitement, and gratitude,
Anna
my sister‘s blog post about how God aligned for us to see each other!!
