¡Buenos Dias para Guatemala!
One week has past since Team Living Water launched off to our first ministry site in the most beautiful city of Antigua (Guatemala). Each day in this new world has felt like a week. Packed with ministry, meeting new faces, cooking and shopping for our own meals, and getting along with the other 14 people who are living with my team. As far as the ministry goes my team has many great opportunities.
Currently there are a few different ministry choices for the three teams, including mine: working at a special needs cerebral palsy home (and daycare for the women who nurse the palsy patients), construction in a nearby city called Santa Maria, marketing for a giant fútbol match we are hosting (we hope to spread the love of Jesus to youth through this event, we are very excited!), and lastly we are teaching students in three different classes: values, English, and music!
My team is currently mixed with the other teams. Andy, Russell, Sam, and myself are serving a man named Juanito in helping his family build their home in Santa Maria. Jodi, Jessica, and Olivia are all working at the Palsy home either at the daycare or with the special needs community. Additionally Jessica,Sam, and I are teaching English on Tuesdays and Thursdays (soon Jessica will teach music). Everyday is quite the challenge to trust The Lord with everything for many reasons. We all take local bus routes to get anywhere and everywhere. These jam packed “chicken busses” are quite the experience, but we are starting to get the hang of getting to where we need to be. I am beginning to realize that the hardest barrier to overcome is language.
At this specific contact point we are staying in the guest home of Luis Castillo. He is an incredible man, with vision and passion for God, I can already tell that we will be great friends. He has the best jokes and speaks perfect English. However, Luis can not always be with us because he teaches all day. This is hard because he is our only translator, and almost no Guatemalans speak English. Everywhere we go we must trust God to get us past the language barrier and pray that He continues touching the lives we come in contact with. In hindsight this has also been a blessing by stretching my team to speak Spanish. I have grown exponentially in my Spanish already and am beyond excited to press deeper into the culture, I can speak faster and faster everyday, although my grammar needs a lot of work.
All in all my dependence on Christ is strong and my hunger for more is ever deepening. We celebrated Independence Day yesterday, it was fairly chaotic. Tons of music, food, and partying, but it was a beautiful experience. Most importantly I have made friends with a young man named Melvin, he is 23 years old and works for Luis. He comes over everyday to help our marketing group to prepare for the fútbol match. We get along very well, he helps me so much with my Spanish and I help him with English. I got to buy him dinner yesterday, a native dish called Papian, which is very good. I can already see God working through our friendship and I am very thankful for him.
I love you my friends and family and pray blessings over you all. Continue praying for Antigua and our ministry, may The Lord change the hearts of these people and my own. Although there is already an infinite amount of pictures, stories, and experiences I could share with you, I can promise that The Lord is very alive and our lives are full of action! Every step is a new adventure and I am so thankful for the place God has brought me, being a missionary is extremely challenging already, but I love what Jesus is doing. The next post should be next week sometime so keep a lookout!!
Miss you!
P.S I am adding three pictures from my new home for three months, the one with the cross is a view of Antigua! Find them in my photos here on the blog enjoy.
