Guatemala 🇬🇹

October 17- October 28th

What a blessing it was to go to Guatemala. It was a very traditional mission trip in the sense of the work that we did verses the mission work that I have been doing for the past few years. We did VBS and build 3 houses and handed out dresses to the little girls in the villages. I've been more used to friendship evangelism and random work that it was refreshing to go back to my roots so to speak. We stayed at a place called "Casa de Fuego" which means "House of Fire" and worked with local missionaries from the live to serve organization. Life is so simple over there. Something as simple as a package of cookies can make their entire day. It was a reminder to be joyful for the little things. To look for God in all places. God is already there already working, there's nothing that I can do to bring God somewhere he already is. But, I can be intentional to look for Him and join Him where he is at work. Day 1: We did VBS as a church in the community of Escuintla we prepared a craft and games for the kids. A man named David from the England served with us, and engaged the kids by drawing stick figures on a white board while telling a bible story. Before VSB began we did house visits inviting the neighboring people to join our program. The church is  Escuintla has only been open for about a year and it's the only church in that area. We handed out bags of rice and other essentials as well as a Spanish bible. We took the time to pray with people and share the Gospel.

We also served with some missionaries from Mexico who helped bridge the language barrier. Day 2:

We went back to the Church in Escuintla and did VBS for a second day! We provided them with bean sandwiches for lunch and handed out dresses to the little girls. Also going around and doing more house visits.

There were a lot of moms that stayed for VBS so during story time "Los Hermanos" (the brothers + missionaries from Mexico) saw an opportunity to share and minister to them. Their sister Ana shared her testimony with the women and so did a few people from our American team, including me. This trip stretched me in a lot of ways especially serving with Cam because I didn't want to serve as a performance or for him. I genuinely love to serve and it's never a performance its just a part of who I am, to glorify God. Day 3: We served at a village in the mountains, I can't remember what it was called at this point. Our group split up and half of the people did VBS at a church across the river and the other half of the group when and built houses farther up the mountain.

I had the privilege to help at the building site on day three. I wasn't too much help, I held a few pieces of metal and organized the tool box but I also got to play with some of the kids at the house. And it was so cool to see that language doesn't matter when there is a common goal. All the men knew what the goal was and despite the minimal talking there was such efficiency because everyone knew their role. I feel like it should be like that for the kingdom of God. Even though people don't speak the same language we all have the same goal - to see people saved. If our actions are speaking louder than words sometimes we don't even have to say anything to share the love of Christ.

Day 4: We did VBS in that same community and did crafts and games with the children and handed out backpacks and sandwiches.

Day 5: The houses were finished except for the flooring so we went and dedicated the houses. There was 4 families living in the same house