We’ve finished our first official week of ministry! (still having trouble uploading photos, I will try to make a photo blog soon)
On Monday, about 20 of us went out in pairs throughout the city passing out tickets that people could redeem for a free lunch later that afternoon. Once we bought and made all of the lunches we gathered in the town square. People brought guitars and we were prepared to sing some songs, give testimonies, and pass out lunches. We arrived at the square at 12:30 and began to wait for our translator to arrive. And we waited. And waited. And waited. The people were getting impatient, so my friend Tayo and I (we are one of the few people who can speak Spanish on our squad) decided that we should go ahead and speak ourselves. So we got up on the stage and started by introducing ourselves and explaining why we were there. Then I read out a few bible verses and invited people to receive Christ and prayer. It was pretty hectic with everyone wanting food so nobody responded immediately. The people were jumping all over each other to get to the front of the line to get a bag lunch. It was pretty surreal to see people so desperate to get a little bit of food that they would trample over women and children to get it. After we passed out the lunches the crowd died down a bit and many people came up for prayer. A man on crutches came up to me and I asked him if he wanted us to pray for him. A few of my squad mates and I laid hands on him to pray for healing. I asked him how he was feeling and he said that he felt his knee get hot and believes that God was healing it. Another lady came up to another friend and received Christ for the first time.
The rest of the week, my team has been working with another team. We have been helping out at a children’s school and church called “Torre Fuerte” (Strong Tower) in a city called San Pedro, about 20 minutes away from Quiche. We have been working on building and widening a road at the school. It was pretty hard work, as we have had to move around 500 bricks (each weighing around 25 pounds) one by one to the road. But it’s been awesome to actually see tangible evidence of what we’ve been working on. I’ve pretty much been designated as the translator, which has been really fun and cool to see how well I can actually speak to the people!
(The school/church we’ve been working at)
(The road in process)
We also went to a local church service last Sunday. I can’t stress enough how kind and welcoming the people of Guatemala have been. The pastor made an announcement that American brothers and sisters were visiting and so the entire church body came up to hug/kiss/ and welcome us.
Next week we will be working on building a new site for the school!
