I am so sorry it has taken me ages to write a blog. Its hard one to put everything into words and two to find time to write a blog. I will promise to try my best to write more.
11 Things about where we stayed
- The whole squad was together for the first month- its crazy how quickly these people became my family, I seriously love them so much
- Our hosts were a married couple Sally and Erv. Sally was Puerto Rican and she loves people well. She loves to sit and talk about anything and everything. Erv was a little quieter and straight forward. They were awesome.
- We were suppose to stay in our tents for the month but because of the monsoon rainy season Sally and Erv let us stay in the rooms with bunk beds
- My room was 21 girls sharing 1 bathroom- we had absolutely no problems (goes to show you how wonderful the people I’m serving with are)
- If you use the bathroom in other countries you don’t flush toilet paper down the toilet you throw it away in a trashcan
- Each team had to make breakfast and dinner for the whole squad once a week (aka feeding about 50 mouths) Talk about a new experience
- I washed my clothes by hand in buckets— needless to say they really didn’t get all that clean
- We were up most days by 6-6:30AM
- We lived across from the hospital
- We were about a 10ish minute walk from the local square/plaza
- There wasn’t internet so if we wanted to get internet we had to walk into town but with 50 of us we crashed many local Wifi (aka weefee) spots
11 Things about ministry
- We didn’t start ministry until the second week because we had to get all of the ministry contacts situated for all of the teams and the Guatemalan Independence Day was Monday Sept 25 but they start celebrating early
- My team and Jeff’s team (Boldly Awoken) worked together during the month
- Our ministry contacts name was Pastor Arnold
- The place we served was about 15min away
- Pastor Arnold started his own church and Christian school on the same property
- Pastor Arnold was so kind and only spoke Spanish. But he was always willing and wanting to learn English. Some days when he would tell a story or make a joke he would always say with a huge smile in English “I’m funny” haha he was the cutest. He also bough us coke and cookies the first and last day of our ministry
- I had the expectation that we would be helping with the school or teaching in some form- imagine my surprise when we found out we were doing manual labor
- The first week we carried 500 (20ish pounds give or take) concrete bricks
- We pickaxed and hoed land to be able to place the concrete bricks to expand the path leading from the road to the church/school
- The second week we carried 100lb concrete poles, dug ditches, mixed concrete, and made a concrete fence
- The concrete fence we were making was encompassing what will be a camp in the future for Pastor Arnold- his vision is that people around the world will come to this camp
11 fun things I did
- Rode in the back of a pick-up truck— standing up (multiple times) SO Fun and best way to see the scenery
- Rode in the back of a Tuk-Tuk during a torrential downpour
- Went to Lake Atitlan
- Went on a boat ride on Lake Atitlan
- Amanda and Seth started a new series called “Adventures of the Little Plantain”
- Oh which brings me to another point my new nickname is little plantain because when I wear my yellow rain-jacket apparently the word that people think of is plantain
- Got ice cream at least once a week J
- Held a little baby at the hospital who had been abandoned
- Walked around with my team at the hospital and passed out coffee and prayed with people (Thanks to Christina on BFF’s for the beautiful vision and for team BFF for making it happen)
- Went to Antigua with the whole squad- it was a great night with friends watching football
- In the morning watched the sun rise over the city of Antigua
11 Things I am learning
- I can and do hear from the Lord
- I need to be more confident in hearing from the Lord
- I can’t do anything on my own because if I do I get worn down, I need to rely solely on the Lord
- I am learning that sometimes I put God in a box
- I heard from the Lord that I am a leader like Ruth
- Meaning like Ruth I will work hard for my team, I really do love people, I am a woman of character and virtue, and I’m strong in the Lord.
- I learned how to wash my clothes by hand
- I learned I thrive in community
- I learned even more that I have this overflowing love for people that only comes from the Lord
- My squad is my family whom I love each and everyone of them so dearly
- My team is perfectly designed to be together. We are strong women in the Lord who love and serve each other and others well.
