The main ministry we have been helping with here in Antigua, Guatemala is teaching valuable life lessons to the children in the schools of the nearby communities. It has been a great time and a wonderful blessing to both the kids and my team. The first week of teaching we did simple introductions of ourselves. We told them our name, age, where we are from, and a simple fact. Although the week started our simple it became so much more than that.
The first lesson we taught was on the subject "values". We taught the children the definition of a value and explained the five main places that our values are established from: family, friends, church, media, and school. We discussed the story of David and Bathsheba to give them an example of values and to explain that even though sometime we may fail, God always forgives us if we ask. The second lesson we taught was on the subject of "identity" and we explained to the children that our identity is in Christ. We told the children that even though we may all look different, each person is unique and made beautiful, for we are all made in the image of God.
Quick facts about the schools:
Most of the schools are very poor and some do not receive funding from the government.
The schools are very small. Ex: one school has 400 children in only 6 rooms ( room size is about that of a normal bedroom )
A lot of the schools are attended for only half a day ( usually from 7 am – 12 pm )
Although I came to teach the children here a lesson, they in return have also taught me one as well. For me junior high and high school was easy. I was a great student. I did all my homework, I was never skipped class, and I always listened to the teachers; however, they reminded me that school is so much more than that. School has a lot to do with friends. Peer pressure was never a big deal to me, but here is Guatemala it is. One day as we taught a certain class of third graders the lesson of influence we asked the kids if they have ever been influenced or persuaded to do something and I was completely shocked by the answer. Now mind you that this was a third grade class! I was expecting silly answers like "I was once dared to hold a girls hand" or "I was double dared to give a funny answer to the teacher in class" these are the simple things that happened when I was third grade; however, to my surprise many of the answers were about drugs and alcohol. Kids told story after story of being pressured to drink, one kid made a joke about cocaine, and several had admitted that when under pressure they gave in. I was floored! I talked to our ministry host more about this and he admitted that these things were most likely true. He gave me some statistics of underage drinking among children ages 10-18….
- 74% had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more days during their life
- 26% had their first drink of alcohol, other than a few sips, before age 13
- 43% had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more occasion in the past 30 days
- 26% had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row (i.e. binge drinking) in the past 30 days.
- 4% had at least one drink of alcohol on school property on one or more of the past 30 days
My heart broke when I read these statistics. I no longer looked upon the children as innocent, but God opened my eyes to truly see what is being exposed to children at such a young age. That day I made it my prayer to pray for all the children who are being exposed to this. I prayed that God starts changing the lives of these children. I prayed that God reveals Himself to the children everyday. I prayed that parents take a true interest in their children and do as the Bible says in raising them according to His Word. This prayer may have started in Guatemala, but I know that with the help of all who read this that prayer can change the lives of the children all around the world. Let's do our part in being involved in the lives of our children and the children around us. Let's do our part as the body of Christ and show our children the true love of God. Let's do our part in lifting up a simple, but well worthy prayer to the God with whom nothing is impossible.
This is a picture of the last class we taught. We asked the children to stand up if they wanted to take a stand against the statistics of their country. As you can tell, all the children stood up. We then prayed over the kids. 
