I’m currently sitting in a little log cabin wrapped in a blanket on a beautifully colored street in Antigua, Guatemala. Our time here is almost over as we leave today for a debrief with the rest of our squad. In just five days, we will all be headed to a different country, a different continent, while being on a different team (yes, that’s right…all teams are switching again). But before I leave, there were two things I wanted to leave with you all before leaving Central America. First, I want you to all know what we did here in Guatemala because I haven’t described much here on the blog. Second, a crazy story of God’s protection happened and I have yet to fill you all in. So here we go:
Ministry in Guatemala
My team worked with an organization/ministry called Nueva Generacion. Their goal is to share the Word of God with the youth of Guatemala. One of the major elements of their ministry is teaching values and character classes in public schools using the Bible as their foundation.
Our team was able to translate a 75 page values & principles book from Spanish to English! This was our first task, and as you can imagine we laughed because none of us speak Spanish. But with a lot of practice of what we know, research, and the help of Google Translate, we were able to complete the document. This book will be used by teachers who will implement these values in the school. We were also been able to teach in the public schools. There are two classrooms that we worked in mostly, and assisted with the English & Values classes.
The school we were partnered with made us feel beyond comfortable and welcomed. It’s not technically a Christian school, yet all the teachers circle together every morning to say a prayer before the day. All the students speak Spanish, so we didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into. But the director of the English department told us that these kids NEED to be immersed into English, and she asked us to NOT speak any Spanish with them (Phew, not a problem! :p) So, we entered into the classroom, and just had fun with the kids. We set up a “speed dating station” where students were partnered with each other, forced to have conversations in only English. We sang the Banana Song to break the ice, played Steal the Bacon to practice numbers in English, sang Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes to practice body parts in English, played Simon Says to review directions and verbs, etc. We also shared our stories, showed the World Race video, and shared about Jesus and what missionaries do. Literally, our whole team had a blast at the school, and I think the students did too. Even though we had to wake up at 4am every morning to catch 2 busses to the school – I believe it was worth it:) These kids were able to step out of their comfort zones, and try a new language without feeling completely embarrassed! That’s a huge step! They were then able to retain information while have fun. There’s no better way to do it – learning information without realizing it.
At the end of the few weeks, the principal and the English director had a goodbye ceremony for us. With mason jars filled with mango juice and boxes filled with pizza, they honored us for being there. They shared kind words of gratitude as they thanked us. We couldn’t believe they went to all this trouble to honor us, and we felt like we hadn’t done all that much to deserve it. They even made each of us beautiful certificates to take with us that said,
“Thank you for working for a cause, and not for applause; living to express and not to impress. But go knowing that we applaud you and are impressed by you and your devotion, commitment and above all, your joyful way to serve God. You will be blessed and remembered. Thank you!”
If anyone is looking to teach abroad, please let me know so I can refer you to this school. They need English speaking teachers, and I highly recommend looking into it.
Amazing Story of God’s Provision
Our host, Luis, allowed us to stay in Nuevo Generacion’s youth center during our month in Antigua. This youth center looks like a log cabin, and is filled with such charm and coziness. Our team found a home in this building, able to cook together in the kitchen, eat meals together at the table, discuss the bible in the living space, and rest our heads on comfortable bunk beds. It was a blessing to be able to stay there.
Our second week there, we heard from Luis that a team of 20 Canadians were also coming for a retreat, and would need to stay in the youth center. Because of this, my team would need to move locations to a small apartment in another city for just a few days while they were there.
Of course we didn’t mind, but we asked ourselves questions like: “Okay, we definitely would have room for us to stay upstairs in the log cabin even if the Canadians were there. Why do we need to move all the way across town? That doesn’t make sense.” But, we moved anyway.
When we got to the other apartment, we were thankful for a place to stay but were joined by a family of rats in the ceiling. We spent most of the nights squeeling, screaming, and laughing. We missed staying at the youth center, and didn’t understand why we were moved anyway, but tried to make the apartment a new little home. Meanwhile, one night, we got a phone call from Luis saying that something had gone terribly wrong and asking for us to pray. We had no idea what was going on, but we spent the day in prayer anyway.
This is what happened: It turns out that a huge tree next to the youth center fell on top of the house. The rooms upstairs that my team and I had been staying in were completely destroyed. If my team would have been sleeping in that room, we would have been seriously hurt as the top of the roof was totally damaged. WHAT! We didn’t understand why we had to leave the house in the moment, but God knew. He literally sent us out of the youth center because he was saving us and protecting us from harm. There have been construction workers hard at work on the youth center ever since, and it is almost completely restored and repaired now. So, no worries there. But please continue to pray for the ministry and for Luis, that they would know that nothing the enemy throws their way can stop them from doing what the Lord has called them to do.
And wow, I just feel like the Lord is speaking to me about provision this month. We question and doubt God so much. When things go wrong or our plans are changed at the last minute, we ask God “why?” But the thing is, he already has our steps planned out. He sees the bigger picture, when we only see a small glimpse. He protects those that seek Him, and I need to rely on that. Even in the small areas of my life, when I see things happening not as I would have liked or planned. I’m going to start trusting God with those areas instead of wonder why. Amazing.
