•Ministry: Unsung Heros
• Unsung Heros meant that we went out into the community and looked for ministries that AIM could partner with in the future.
• Team: Sonflower
• Teammates: Katie; Jordie; Erin; Victoria; and Jordan
• City: Antigua, Guatemala
• Language: Spanish
• Currency: Quetzals
• Exchange rate: 7.5:1
• Sleeping Situation: bunk beds
• Gear I’m Glad I Brought: long sleeve, sewing kit
Guatemala is such a beautiful place and it has surely felt like home since we got here. The people are beautiful and the culture is rich despite having a dark history of genocide. Walking into this month without any prearranged ministry I was terrified about what this month would look like, but it turned out to be an amazing month where the Lord showed up in great ways.
While I was looking back on pictures from this month to write this blog and my newsletter, I was reminded about how much ministry that was put in front of us; from meeting with a young man and doing a bible study and answering his hard questions about Christianity, serving with a ministry here in town, or just walking through town and making new friends.
One of the words that the Lord spoke over this month was that He wanted us to see people. While this may seem simple, but it gets really easy to let small things like language barriers and not feeling well get in the way of this task. However this month, I have experienced how important it is to see those around me. I saw a homeless on the street light up and start waving when she saw my team coming the other day because most us take time to ask her how she is doing everyday, and the venders in the markets know our names and call us friend because we take time to ask their name and about their family.
I am having a hard time believing that this is the end of month 4 and our last country in Central America. We will be flying to Asia soon for months 5-8, and with the new continent comes team changes and culture changes. While Central American has been more than I ever could have imagined, I am excited to see what Asia has to hold in the upcoming months.
This arch is a structural icon of Antigua. It was originally built as a bridge for nuns to cross from their convent to the church without having to go into the street. 
This is a restaurant called Ricon Tipico. They only have two plates, steak or chicken, and at the bottom of this oven that is pictures are potatoes that are possibly the best that I have ever tasted (its probably because all the grease from the chicken is dripping on them and that they have a liberal amount of garlic).
This is lake Atitlan, we took a boat over to San Pedro where there is a Mayan community.
This month was filled with new friends, but also some old ones. We got to see some of our friends from Costa Rica this month, while they were in town for a mission trip.
This is Anita, she taught me how the Mayan woman harvest, clean, spin, dye, and weave cotton.
And this is my several of us racer’s with our new friend Havier. We met with him and had a bible study and discussed all the questions he had about Christianity.
This is the landfill in Escuintla, that sits directly beside houses where families live and children play.
These children were sitting outside the landfill waiting for their moms to get done working in the landfill.
I took this picture at lake Atitlan. I don’t know this woman’s name, nor did I hold a conversation with her. However, this entire I have been taken aback by the women of this country. They are women of strength, power, and influence, and they shape the community and country that they live in.
