As of late my ministry has gone through some big changes. The Guatemalan school season ended around 2 weeks ago. The kids graduated out of their respective grades and launched into the off season, which in Guatemala is during their winter. Speaking of which it has gotten a lot chillier down here, not as fun sleeping outside in my eno. The energy around the school during the last few days was very exciting. It reminded me of my last days of school back in Washington Family Ranch. The cleaning up school, anticipation of Summer, and lack of many assignments produced a feeling that would only come once a year. Not necessarily being needed at the school during the final days of the season meant that our host gave us two extra days off from ministry. We decided to spend this extended break exploring some of the amazing things that Guatemala has to offer.
It took a while to get all the details worked out but once the team leaders had every thing sorted we hopped in a small blue tour bus and drove out of San Lucas, not to see it for another 4 days. Our first stop on our crazy adventure was at a place that brought you inner tubing in underwater caves! After a short trek through the jungle we jumped in the river with our tubes and we soon flowed into the mouth of a dark cave. Bats flew above our heads and at certain points the cave would get very small and narrow only to open up into a giant cavern. We also got to explore another massive cavern where Mayans would hold ceremonies. The next stop was at a beautiful touristy island called Flores. We stayed the next two nights in a cute hostel called ____ where we slept in tree house cabins. In the morning of the next day we drove the short trip to Tikal! It was amazing to see all these ancient places that had stood the test of time for so long. We had an awesome guide that told us so many cool and interesting facts I would never have known. The temples were breathtaking and all very unique. The next day we took a speedboat to a town on the Caribbean called Livingston. The boat ride out there was gorgeous and peaceful. I had a lot of time to just think about life and reflect on the race. One of the main reasons I came on this trip is because I wanted God to give me some clarity on what he has in store for me after the race. This peaceful boat ride was one of my favorite parts. Livingston was an awesome place, the environment of it felt like Jamaica or something. There were a lot of black people, and a lot of dreads, so I guess you could say I fit in haha, jk. We also got to explore an awesome Spanish Castle built in the time of pirates! There were cannons pointing off of it from every direction. It had been renewed so it looked like it had just been built. It was so cool to see, and was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip! The next day we drove back home to San Lucas. It felt very refreshing to be back home. The trip was so awesome but it was definitely not relaxing, it was very go, go, go and it felt really good to be back home just relaxing before starting our new ministry.
For the past two weeks, my group has been doing a soccer camp with the kids. A random selection of kids from the community signed up to participate in the soccer school. Every day at 9:30 we would gather up in a circle do some early morning stretches then start with soccer drills. A Guatemalan teenager named Tato who is an expert soccer player helped run this ministry. Tato and Manuel (another Guatemalan guy we work with a lot) ran all of the drills. We would either participate with the kids and talk to them during the drills or help Tato and Manuel with the soccer drills. At the end of the day David would give a sermon or talk to the kids and then we would play two soccer games, one with the little kids and one with the older kids. This was an exciting part of the day and I had lots of fun with them. I would like to say I was pretty good, but then again it is kind of easy to be good against kids half your age. haha A few days ago the kids graduated from Soccer Camp. After receiving their certificates and hugs from us, they were asked to recite a passage of the bible from Jeremiah. It was so amazing to see the number of kids that had actually taken the time to do this. It really gave me a lot of confidence in my ministry and reminded me that even if I don’t see the fruits of what I am doing God is still planting seeds in these kids’s hearts that may one day blossom into fruit.
About a week ago I went to a sermon hosted by The World Race, and the speaker talked about leaving room in your life for God. This last 2 months I have found a lot of comfort in food, because being hungry a lot of the time is not what I am used to, so I find a way to repel this change. Well the speaker basically talked about how we need to press into this change, so this last month in Guatemala I am not going to spend personal 4money on food or snacks, and only live off of the team budget. This will be hard for me but not only will it help me with change, but also it will leave more time to spend with God. Instead of snacking or creating delicious food I will have more time to have one on one with God.
This last part of my ministry will be spent at Summer school. I will be starting that today and I am actually quite excited to be going back into the school setting. It will be so great to see some familiar faces, and I really hope that the kids I have gotten to know will sign up for summer school.
Recently I posted a short video on an average day in my ministry. I would love for you guys to check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydZgE0VVYU
