Being in a small city in Guatemala is a bit different than last month on a farm in Honduras. However, in week one I find myself doing the same type of manual labor. Week one for Courageous Love looked like trekking about 5 miles outside the city on a small hillside surrounded by the indigenous Mayan people of this great country.
We met Pastor Arnoldo Friday, the day after we arrived here in Quiche. He was a man of small build, medium length black hair, and smile from ear to ear. We were told that he was meeting with us and our partner team of the squad for the month; Wrecked Worries, to show us around our ministry site and talk about what we would be doing starting Monday the following week. As we quickly found out and as they shared with us at launch, we will often get thrown a curveball to what we will be doing. We load up 14 gringos in his tiny Toyota truck and head to the top of this giant hill I mentioned only to be pegged with the task of removing previously grown crops from a hillside with a gorgeous view. Now mind you we have no tools, no gloves, and I myself was wearing jeans on this abundantly hot day. Hmm… work today? News to us, haha. After a quick second of my mind thinking no way, I immediately remembered why and who I was here for. After a short time it turned into a great day of bonding for my team Courageous Love and the all girl team of Wrecked Worries (team Dubbs). We came up with a plan to control burn what was left of whatever crop was growing in that 40 by 40 yard hillside.
We found out that for the next week our task would be to make that field on the hillside that was in raised rows of dirt to be flattened by pic-axes and hoes. This would enable the 60 to 70 children who go to this mountainside for a makeshift church service, worship, and testimony sharing filled Sunday to have more room to do so. Also, for future use to build some type of cover so the children didn’t have to sit in the heat of the sun, or the pouring rain, which would also keep the kids from showing up on those super hot or rainy Sundays. With plans of the cover for shelter, was also hopes of one day building a church in that spot.
After 3 days of pic-axing and hoeing the field to perfection, we caught a break. Thursday we were invited to the school that Pastor Arnold was working with and also the same school one of his sons attended. We were told we could just go and visit, maybe even have an opportunity to help teach an English class. There was nothing set for us to do but go and visit for a few hours, play with them at recess, and help if we felt we could or wanted to. Thursday morning we show up at the school 30 minutes before recess, and are told the teachers just have their normal day planned for the children that day, who’s ages ranged from 5 to 12. So we show up with a small plan of what to do, but the school had no plans for us to show up, so they left it up to us to decide.
The great thing about unexpected plans is that when you ask God to show up. He is right there. We decide that a skit of some sort could work. Then the Spanish speaker Heidi found a book written in Spanish obviously of Noah’s Ark. Perfect. So in about 20 minutes she reads us the story and we assigned parts to act out accordingly; Noah and his 3 sons, all their wives, and some animals who would pick their pair out of the children that are attending to get them involved and active. The bell rings and its time for recess. We spend that time just interacting with the happy go lucky, not a care in the world children, who seem to have not much more that a tortilla with some beans on top and maybe a yogurt for lunch that they ate at the same time as recess. Some of us played soccer with the kids, as others played freeze tag, and some just enjoyed a good half Spanish half English conversation that probably didn’t get past “How are you?” and laughter. But to me and I’m sure the other people of my squad as well, laughter and smiling with those kids beats anything else I could be doing.
Once again the bell rings and the kids go back to their classrooms, as we go back in our designated room which was I believe was the library to finalize or skit. Not 5 minutes later they began to bring the children in about 2 classrooms at a time for us to act out the story of Noah’s Ark and show them a little bit of the Lord. We ended up performing 3 times total to 3 different groups of children. The room was filled with smiles, laughter, and all types of animal noises as they saw, and were a part of the story of Noah and the flood come to life before their eyes. We got a picture with each group, and as they were leaving to go back to their classrooms we all received enough hugs, handshakes, and adios’ to last us a lifetime. Although the beauty of this World Race is that we get to enjoy those days month after month and week after week as we bring the Good News of Christ and some joy to children and people all over the world.
STILL NEED FUNDING IF YOU FEEL LED TO DO SO PLEASE AND THANK YOU SO MUCH!
JUST CLICK THE SUPPORT LINK ABOVE AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!
