Hi everyone!
First, I want to tell you that these past few weekends have been FILLED with adventures. Two weekends ago, a gaggle of my squadmates and I hiked volcàn Acatenango. It reaches just under 14,000 feet above sea level, and it was amazing! I started the morning filled with the joy of the Lord, and encouragement flowed so easily. It pulled us closer together as brothers and sisters, and I learned very practically that we can only give as we receive from the Lord.
Second, this weekend past a treat was given to us by the men’s mentor, Matt Blair. He took our team to Antigua on Friday for dessert, and surprised us with an overnight stay at an AirB&B! It was so beautiful, and gave us even MORE space, after our two weeks in the mountains of Chicaman, to really pour into each other. I see the fruit of unity in the Spirit within our team so obviously these days!
Now, to the photoblog!
On Monday of last week, my team went to Los Aposentos, which is a small town in the opposite direction of our normal ministry. There, I had some of the most lovely encounters with those who lived there. Let me introduce you!
Here is a picture of my new favorite Guatemalan intersection, where we met our friends at their snow cone & orange stand.
A few of the kids would laugh as I kept looking behind me really fast and making funny faces. They loved having their pictures taken!
Eventually, I was able to convince a few of the women at the stand to let me photograph them!
Down the street, another woman was separating the chaff from the beans. She would pour one bucket of beans into another, letting the wind blow out the lighter shell of the bean (This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken so far on the race :D)! I loved to see some of Jesus’ teachings with a real-life example in front of me.
This woman’s name is Margarita! She is filled with the fullness of the love of God, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory was definitely reflecting off her face as we talked! She was so encouraging to my squad leader Brook and me (our squad leaders have a rotation to be with each team throughout our ministry days). She might have been the highlight of my day in Los Aposentos.
And that’s it!
This has been one of the most special ministry days for me so far. Our time in Guatemala is coming to a speedy end, as we only have two weeks left before our MIDPOINT DEBRIEF! Time is flying, and it is so hard to believe that we are entering month 7 of the Race. My squad and I are SO looking forward to our next country, COSTA RICA! We don’t know what our ministries will look like yet and have very few details. Be praying for our squad (Gap C), and Gap E as we hand off the torches of our kingdom work to each other.
I love you! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have had a little taste of what our ministry has been like in Guatemala!
-Elijah
