Mama, I made it!
I’ve been in Guatemala now for about a week and a half, and this place is something else. The culture is amazing and the people are too! You see mixes of Mayan influence everywhere, from women’s clothes to the food. The mountains are beautiful, and the volcanoes are daunting. Public transportation is with multi colored school buses that run from town to town—we call them chicken buses. And the weather everyday is just like spring.
My whole squad is living together at the AIM base near Antigua, Guatemala. This place is SO beautiful and such a blessing. The base is a gated, fenced-in compound with two huge green fields and a single building shaped like an “L”. The long part of the L has the rooms we sleep in lined up, and the shorter part of the L has a big room that triples as a living room, dining room, and kitchen. We wash our clothes at the back of the building in a pila and hang our clothes on clothes lines lining the fence that runs along acres and acres of corn fields that live behind the base.
When everyone is home, this place is so full of LIFE. Enos hang along the sidewalk that runs in front of our rooms. Someone is usually playing volleyball or soccer in one of the fields. And on the weekends, you can walk into the kitchen to find everyone cooking dinner together while laughing and playing country music through portable speakers. It’s LIFE, we’re living it all together and its pretty good!
Last weekend, we got to participate in Guatemalan Independence Day celebrations! Days before the 15th, Guatemalans of all ages run along the roads holding torches, hollering, and beeping any horns they have. While these people run, everyone along the sides of the road throws bags of water at them. So on Friday night, we stood outside by the road and waved and cheered on the runners, while also tossing bags of water at them. Then Saturday, we went into the neighboring town of Parramos to spend the day celebrating. We saw a parade, ate street food, and walked around the town. Everyone knows the gringos are here now!
My team began ministry this week as well. Every morning we walk about half a mile down the road, looking at the morning glories in the bushes and mountains that tower over the fields, and take a side road between a school and a corn field to get to the tiny village of Llano (pronounced Ja-no). In Llano, we are partnered with a woman named Monica who is a big part of her community. Mondays through Wednesdays we spent the morning helping her with her 3 gardens that are spread through the village. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, we teach English in Monica’s garage to about 17 kids and 6 adults. Tuesday afternoons, we have the opportunity to walk around the community to meet people, pray for them, and show them love any way we can. On Fridays, we cook with about 6 women in the community. We’re going to be learning how to cook different traditional dishes, while bringing community to these women.
Before ministry began, we asked the Lord what this ministry holds and different visions for it. As a whole, my team agreed that God wants this community to become one full of LIFE and JOY and PEACE. And we hope that when we leave for Thailand in 3 months that we leave behind a community that can now surround and love each other fully and well.
That’s just a quick peak into what life looks like in Guatemala right now! It’s different than home, and sometimes a little hard, but I’m loving it! Pictures to come.
-haven
