OK- I’m a blog slacker. I know it’s true. So here at long last, is a summary of my August…
My team and I spent last month in Antigua, Guatemala. We were blessed with amazing weather, a beautiful apartment and daily (sometimes twice daily) Chai tea lattes. But, in the midst of all the luxury was a lot of ministry.
My favorite ministry was when Kara and I spent Tuesdays and Thursdays teaching English in Parramos, a village outside of Antigua. We worked with Arms of Jesus, a ministry that educates children whose parents cannot afford the high registration fees in the public schools. As many of you know children are not my strong point- nor is teaching (especially in Spanish!). But to my surprise I fell in love with these kids. There were two classes of kindergarten and two of first grade (one of which was 47 students!) and every one of them stole my heart. They loved to arm wrestle, give me high-fives, and laugh at my attempts to speak Spanish. In fact, I’m pretty sure a few of them never believed that I don’t actually know the language.
We also ventured into the village and saw a few of the houses of these precious children. Bamboo walls, a tin roof and dirt floors are what they call home. Their parents are mostly uneducated and illiterate. Many of them, not understanding the value of knowledge, even fight for their first grade children to work rather than attend school.
The children however are hungry for understanding. Many recesses are spent, by choice, in the school’s small library devouring the limited selection. It is a regular occurrence for several children to be crowded around one book, all reading aloud to themselves. They long for attention from loving adults and would literally hang on our arms, backs and necks as we tried to make our way across the campus.
And now, for your viewing pleasure is a slideshow of pictures.
