Hola, and greetings from Guatemala! So far, our stay here has been nothing but blessings upon blessings. Monday was a busy day of travel that included four planes, lots of Krispy Kreme donuts, and no sleep for 36 hours (sorry, mom). At the time I thought it would be fun to see how long I could go without sleep but looking back now, wow that was a dumb idea.
Tuesday was our first day full of ministry. We fueled up with a yummy breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit (gracias, Theresa!) and then headed to a local school called Loving Arms. At Loving Arms, we were expecting to do work with the students but God had a different plan for us. The students were on holiday so we ended up helping out with yard work and bathing cows. From there we went into the village of Los Perros where we hosted a VBS type event. We rounded up as many kids as we could find and took them to the local soccer field for games, crafts, songs, and of course, soccer. I had never seen so many genuine and joyful smiles in my life. Every single child on that field was constantly smiling or laughing and it was so very contagious. Tuesday ended with “team time” and a debrief where we discussed our highs and lows of that day. We were so overwhelmed Tuesday night by all God had done that day; little did we know it was just the beginning.
Wednesday was not my day. My fun little idea of no sleep plus other medical problems resulted in me spending the day in bed. However, I did hear lots of stories of the things my teammates witnessed that day. My favorite was a story from sweet Maegan. She asked the Holy Spirit to give her a vision of what He wanted her to accomplish that day. Maegan closed her eyes and saw a lady that looked like the Disney character, Mulan. Of course, Maegan happened to knock on the door of a house owned by a nice Guatemalan lady who did, indeed, look like Mulan. After much prayer and discussion, she accepted Christ as her personal savior. Praise the Lord! We were supposed to attend a local church that night but once again, God had something else in store for us. Our bus ended up with a flat tire which meant we had no transportation to church. Rather than take the night off, a few girls jumped into action and planned a night of praise and worship for us at the base! It was a good reminder to us all that church is not defined to a building. Our Wednesday night church consisted of songs, games, and testimonies – outside by the fire. I personally feel like our team really bonded that night and any remaining walls between us were knocked down. Once again, God’s plan was better than ours.
***Stay tuned for the rest of the update, coming soon!***
Blessings,
Caroline
