Walking through 11 hellos and 11 Good byes is overwhelming to think about. I remind myself to always keep my mind and heart open for more people to break me. I don’t ever want to close myself up in fear that I will be hurt. My heart already broke for the loving people of Guatemala long before I arrived here thanks to the amazing “Saltt” club we had at my high school. A little under 1,000 students are yearly educated about the realities Guatemalan immigrants face in the U.S. They are encouraged to build relationships and love on children to steer them away from gang violence. Hearing that my route switched to Guatemala was one of the most exciting moments for me before launch.
I want to give a big shout out to my Royal Lions! Keep up your amazing work, you are making more of a difference than you realize, even if it’s just in you.
Quiche, Guatemala is my home for the rest of February. Agape in Action is the name of our ministry. This month is an “all squad month,” where all 44 of my squad mates will be camping out at the same site. During the day we split up by teams and cover different jobs, much like Honduras was arranged, but everything else is done as a squad. Our weekends are our free time to explore Guatemala and go WIFI hunting. Since I am the finance coordinator for our wonderful C squad, my ministry this month will mainly be making sure that the money is spent appropriately and everyone has enough to eat! Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner for 44 HUNGRY people. Seems more intimidating than it really is though. We try to make the daily adventures to the market (1.5 miles away) as fun and exciting as possible. I also have the privilege of sitting down with the wonderful contacts here and paying for our lodging and water/gas/detergents fees. I love that much of my time here is spent behind the scenes making sure that everyone else can go out and put 100% focus onto their ministry jobs. I have learnt the importance of community and confidently stepping up to play your part so everyone may live comfortably. Heads will/have been butt, but it’s always a growing experience.
What Jobs do we deal with?
Day Care Center:
• Children ranging from babies to 8 years old
• Help the Assistant teachers teach since the teachers are on strike now
• Play with the kids and help to clean up the cafeteria after lunch
Santa Elena Hospital:
• Mostly manual labor, building carts
• Still able to spend time with the kids in pediatrics and new moms
San Pedro:
• Construction
• Leveling fields, plowing/hoeing/raking
Agape Home:
• Responsible for making Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
• Walking to the market daily
• Building bikes and walking around the village in search of people who need a way to get around
Lodging:
Tents on the Grounds of Agape in Action:
• Girls in one area, men in another area
• Hot showers- 2 showers for women, 1 for men—WOOHOO!
• Toilets
• Need warm clothes to sleep in, goes as low as 50 degrees
• Rain fly is a must, usually rains almost every day there
• Outdoor Kitchen
• Good security
#Enjoy & #GiveJoy
