My team sat around Monica’s kitchen table yesterday, blinking, breathing, laughing, talking, and wondering: is this really our life now? Are we dreaming? Someone pinch us all, please.
For the next three months, Monica is our host and Llano (Jahn-o) is my team’s ministry site!! Llano is a village with 150 people, one cow, a nineteen student schoolhouse, and thirty or so stray dogs, that was prayed over and picked specifically for my team (AND WOW the Lord knows my heart!!) We get there on foot every morning, as it’s just a twenty minute walk from our host site. Half of our walk is along a highway with volcano views and corn stands; the other half is on a footpath at the edge of cornfields, with overhanging flowers. My team of seven walks to a woman named Monica’s house first, and she brings us out to her gardens on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. Monica, her five year old daughter Maria Jose, her seven year old daughter Fernanda, her twenty(ish) year old sons Alan and Taylor, are family. We work with them, we teach and shop with them, and we cook with them- and it’s just week one of ministry?!
In the mornings when we are working in the gardens, we are weeding a corn and green been field, fertilizing a vegetable garden, and cleaning George’s pen (George is a month old pig. We won’t get to eat him, but the gap team that is here in May might get to). Fun fact: if you let the green beans sit and dry out, then open them, those are the black beans that form traditional breakfasts here!
On Monday and Wednesday afternoons we are teaching English in Monica’s house; the little kids are in her garage and the adults are in her kitchen. So far we have had one class, and had 20 students total- more than the whole school has. Some of the students are 4 years old and some of them are mothers. Because we are teaching out of Monica’s house, my team is making up the entire curriculum for 4 hours of class every week, and deciding what vocal, grammar, and homework to give. Mad respect for the teachers who do this day in and day out!
Tuesday afternoons we do whatever work we feel moved and called to do. Last Tuesday we walked around the village with Monica, meeting different people, and praying for them. One boy in particular stood out to me, Jose Antonio, as he has hemophilia, his legs were covered in bruises, and he could barely sit up. But he has hope. And we know the Lord is working. We get to go back and see him this week and I cannot wait!! Thursdays are set aside for “activation”, where we have the hosts at our base here in Guatemala teach us, and then we listen to what Jesus has in store for us for that day. This is also super stretching for me, but I’m super excited to see where this leads and get to share it all with you.
Fridays we lesson plan for English class in the morning, and in the afternoon we are taking cooking classes from Monica, and other women in the community. Yesterday we made chicken pepian, which was heavenly. It was my first truly home cooked meal, and it was so sweet and life-giving to eat with Monica and her family with my whole team.
I didn’t quite understand how gardening and teaching English and cooking with Monica is ministry at first, but it really is. Here’s how:
People here, of all ages, are SO eager to learn English from native speakers, because knowing English gets them jobs in Antigua, as taxi drivers or hotel workers, which are some of the better paying jobs. This is a way to break people out of the poverty cycle. Learning from native speakers in this house setting is better than in class, because in class they only memorize responses; so when I’ve asked kids who take English, “How are you?” or “What did you do today?” I get , “I’m fine, thank you, and you?” as the answer to both questions. Every. time. So, it really is super special and life giving to be able to teach english to these people, even though it is the most difficult and stretching of the work for me. The gardening and cooking with Monica gives us a chance to pour into her specifically. While this isn’t always outreach, we are loving on someone who does so much and often goes unseen. She has lived in Llano for 20 years, and has no real community. Recently she had surgery to remove her appendix, and not one person asked her how she was afterwards. As she cooked dinner for over 10 people yesterday, and we mostly watched, she just kept thanking us and God for being there. It was hard for me to comprehend why on earth she was thanking us, when she was the one cooking and serving us. But her entire smile explained, that just us wanting to learn about her and her culture, and us wanting to eat a meal, laugh, and talk with her, meant the world to her. I will be sharing more about Monica’s story and beautiful soul in the time to come, but in the meantime, I’m so excited to learn all that she has to teach me about cooking, Spanish, family, and being a strong and gentle woman of God.
All in all, over these next three months, five days a week, my teams gets to pour our time, sweat, knowledge, love, and pride into Monica’s beautiful family and community. We don’t know what the outcome of our work will be in this community, but I am thrilled to share everything I’m learning, doing, and loving with y’all!
Love,
Cait
P.S. My team leader Hannah has beautiful words and so much wisdom, so I HIGHLY recommend reading her latest blog post! She’ll be leading me for these three months in Guatemala <3
https://hannahpauwels.theworldrace.org/post/heading-home
P.P.S. some of the gals on my squad are Facebook famous after dancing at the Independence Day parade in Parramos. Video is linked below!
https://www.facebook.com/100001715484599/posts/1912905432109954/
