Buenos Dias from the breathtaking mountains of Quiche, Guatemala!
This is going to be a general overall update; sorry it’s been a little while since I’ve written a new one! There’s been so much going on since arriving; it’s going to be hard to sum it all up in a brief post, but I’ll try not to make it too lengthy, promise! Also a HUGE thank you to all my prayer warriors, my team and I are all safe and spreading God’s love to all of the beautiful local Mayan people. Another HUGE thank you to all of my financial supporters, I have now reached $10,064!! I cannot even begin to express my gratitude, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! I am not taking this opportunity I’ve been given for granted, and I feel blessed and privileged to be in the position that I am, and being apart of God’s movement worldwide, it’s an incredible experience already.
After departing from launch in Georgia for our final few days of training we headed into Guatemala City, Guatemala on the 10th. From there we took a bus up to Quiche, which was supposed to be only 2-3 hours but turned into about 8 due to a crash caused by the extreme rain and road conditions. Our bus was stopped behind the crash for hours as we awaited news of what was going on. It turned out that part of the road in front of us had given out and many people died in the crash. We were stopped in front of a local Guatemalan church, of course a divine appointment from the Lord. We got off of our bus and went inside of the church and began worshipping and praying with the locals inside. There was a woman leading the worship and I found it so incredible how the Lord was empowering & anointing this woman to lead others in praise to our Heavenly Father! She said something about finishing the race, which was WAY too cool, as she had no idea who we were or why we were there! We were able to use the time stopped at this spot to pray for the families of those affected by the crash, and just worship & love on our God together in unity.
Upon arriving at our host site, Agape in Action, we were greeted by our very sweet and welcoming contacts Sally & Erv. We were told we would be sleeping inside split into several available rooms due to the flooding and mud in the soccer field we would have been camping out in, one of the many blessings from Jesus!
The day before starting at our actual ministry site, Sally had us go out into town and give out a total of 78 tickets for a free lunch that we would be providing. We prayed before giving out the tickets and handed them to the individuals we felt the Holy Spirit leading us to. I met a sweet old woman named Dolores who came back for the lunch, and I enjoyed being able to spend time with her and love on her. Estella was an adorable energetic 7-year-old who I was able to share how ‘Jesus Christ loves her’
This month my team is partnered with the awesome team Boldly Awoken, and we are working at a Christian church and school with a strong man of God, Pastor Arnold. This past week we have been doing ministry laying down over 400 15-20 pound stones to widen the road, which we just finished on Friday. This next week we will began building a concrete fence around a future camp called The Face of God, which will also be apart of Pastor Arnold’s ministry. We carried concrete posts through mud, up and down hills, and through the woods to the holes surrounding the structure. Not going to lie, I’ve got some bruised shoulders after it all, but it was such a rewarding ministry to be apart of! It’s exciting to know that God allowed us to be apart of something bigger than ourselves; that others will have the opportunity to come to this place in the future and learn about & become close to the God who created them!
It was amazing being able to work beside Pastor Arnold, Carlos, and Wendall who all assisted and showed us how to do the work.
When we aren’t doing manual labor, we have had daily opportunities to love on the beautiful local Mayans. The culture here is bright, unique, full of character, and the people are welcoming and friendly.
I have much more to share with you all, which I will be posting within the next few days- I’m working on the next update already 🙂 I want to thank you all for being on this journey with me, and there are just so many more little lessons that I’ve been learning along the way that I’m excited to share!!
Love you all!
