Guatemala Ministry Recap!

I genuinely don’t know how those 6 weeks we spent in Guatemala flew by so fast. I personally just loved our ministry so much and the time spent in Guatemala! The variety of what we got to do, our hosts, how we were pushed to grow each day…. I couldn’t have asked for anything else! Our schedule looked slightly different each week but in general, This was how a typical week with team NAYA’s ministry looked like…

Monday’s were always with Chako (our ministry host) doing house of prayer! They wanted to make sure our intimacy with the Lord was strong for the week ahead of pouring out unto others. They always emphasize how if we aren’t allowing God to fill up our cup, we can’t fill others up. This looked a little different each week, but a good overview would be starting with about 2 hours of worship and prayer. We would take turns praying and typically either Kara or Chako would play the guitar. One day Sophie and Willie (leaders of House of Prayer) even brought a keyboard and they played that too. The goal was to simply let the Holy Spirit lead us in worship and give God space to speak. Then to let others hear what God is speaking to us to grow the body of Christ. If you’ve ever heard of house church it is essentially a variation of that. Then we would eat our lunch and the next 2 hours varied. Sometimes Sophie and Willie would give us a teaching while letting us throw our opinions in there. A few of the weeks they focused on teaching us how to start a house of prayer so we can do so in the rest of the countries we are headed to and at home! One of my favorite house of prayer days, we had 2 hours after lunch to simply read God’s word. Having that time cut out for us in the day was such a blessing. This was such a beautiful place to grow in so many ways but I think overall house of prayer helped me grow in boldness to share what God is speaking. All of our leaders did a really good job of leading, yet leaving space for us to step up and take the lead as well. Shout-out to Sophie and Willie for their generous hearts, leadership, and stepping into what God has for them! Also leading their kids to grow up doing the same thing. On our last Monday in Guatemala, they welcomed us into their house to have our final house of prayer. We finished off with prayers and sharing how house of Prayer helped us in our walk with the Lord.
After that, each Monday evening we attended a Bible study at our other ministry connection. This was an academy where the community learned English! We would listen in on their study and they would even translate for us. We went through John and did a deep dive into a few of the chapters. The connections made there were so sweet. After the teaching, we would either play a game or talk about our week. Then we would all share a meal and our AIM base security guard, Manuel, would come pick us up. Typically Mondays were quite long because we would be leaving base at 8:30 and finishing the day at 9. We did have some downtime between house of prayer and Bible study luckily.

Tuesdays, once again, we were with Chako. This was one of our “do what is needed” days. It varied between painting houses, house visits, installing windows, etc. Typically we didn’t know what we would be doing until that morning or arriving wherever Chako took us that day. This way of working is so common in Guatemala, which is quite literally the opposite of the States. I’m used to having a solid week if not 2 weeks planned out. I think it was beneficial to live like this…. be ready to serve however the community needed us that day and set our preferences aside from knowing the plan. It helped me grow in not having to rely on a plan for peace but simply trusting God’s plan. My favorite Tuesday was learning to install windows. Chako was a little hesitant to let us but he did anyway… which he partially soon regretted… I drilled a screw into the plastic a little too far, my first time, which went through all the plastic and into the concrete. It took a minute to get the screw back out but that’s part of making memories and the learning curve, right?! Anyways, shockingly Chako let me do a take 2 which went way better. By the 4th window, he let me take the lead on the whole thing while he helped finish the bathroom. It went well and I found my new love of installing windows into concrete houses that day! Painting and house visits were so sweet as well, we got to bond with the “Dar para dar” (our ministry’s name) team while doing so, which was so sweet, and while doing house visits we bonded with the community which was equally as sweet and important. I loved each Tuesday and the variety between connections and life skills!

Wednesdays were our more laid-back day! We didn’t have ministry until 2 pm. We worked at the English academy again which was in Paramos so we would go to the local coffee shop, Melendez, to get Wi-Fi and catch up on blogs, contacting family, etc. That was such a blessing to have that time in the morning. Then we would walk to the school and a few times I played soccer with the classes, helped teach English, and participated in the games they did to learn… we also had a lot of conversations with the students in English, asking them simple questions and correcting their pronunciation. My personal favorite was playing soccer. We bonded with those classes and the physical activity was refreshing! Luckily most of the classes were younger kids so our soccer skills weren’t lacking too much…. Their soccer skills are impressive here though. The days I helped teach were fun as well, some of the games they came up with were so fun and helpful for the students!

Thursdays were AIM base activation day. So some of our ministry hosts would come to help with this day or do their own thing without us…. It was up to them but meanwhile, we had worship and then a teaching. In our time on base, we had 5 teachings, due to Thanksgiving falling on 1 of our Thursdays there. We went over the 5 fold ministries, taking 1 week for each fold. If you’ve never heard of this the 5 are Prophetic, teaching, prophet, Shepard, & evangelism. Someone who is currently walking in the gifting we were talking about that day. did the teaching… so we had a different. AIM staff teaching each activation day. We would listen to the teaching and then the leaders would decide who was going with who. We would go to Paramos and tell the locals about what we learned or practice what we learned. For example evangelism day, we went out and told people about the gospel, and on prophet teaching day we went out and asked the Lord what He wants to speak over people. They emphasized that all of us walk in all 5, but we typically have 1 we are strongest in. Personally, mine is teaching! Then we had the rest of the day free, which ended up being around 2 pm, so we could choose to stay in. Paramos to explore until base curfew or ride back in their vans and hang out on base. Typically I would stay in Paramos!

Fridays we taught PE class at a different school and then the rest of the day was essentially a repeat of Tuesdays with Chako. Do whatever is needed this day. The kids at the school were really fun to do PE classes with. We would typically lead and then Chicho (Chako’s sidekick) would have them play a game. It was very cold because this school was on a mountain, so we had to stay physically active to stay warm. My favorite day here was probably going up higher on the mountain and helping the kids fly their kites! Then typically we would end up doing house visits afterward because the houses were within walking distance! We made some really precious relationships with these families and their kids. My last blog was mainly based on house visits and how much we meant to them! Go check that one out next!

Weekends we had adventure day and sabbath. I ended up being sick a few of these days and having to rest, but the ones where I was healthy I typically explored Antigua with a few people! I think my favorite adventure day was hiking volcano Acatenanga! We spent the night on the volcano too and then watched the sunrise! I will add a picture below, it was definitely the most gorgeous sunrise I’ve ever seen! I didn’t get to do a few of the things I wanted to but I plan on being back someday and hope to explore more! Finally, the Sabbath is for rest and being ready to serve for the upcoming week. I would either stay on base usually or go to a coffee shop to call family and friends! God created us to have a rest day each week so our squad is very adamant about doing so!

Shout-out to all the AIM Staff and ministry hosts! They are all so passionate about serving the Lord and it’s so obvious by the way they live. They are all in tune with God and what He has in store for them which is why all this is even possible! Especially our ministry host, Chako, had such an amazing impact on my whole team! The way he led us, balanced all the different responsibilities, helped grow relationships, and was so intentional with each of us was so beautiful. He has a way of making ministry so so fun yet getting what we need to do, done. Funfact: he taught us how to axe throw one day. Everyone who works with him is the same way and I am so happy we got to be a part of that team for 6 weeks. My favorite times were just working with the team and getting to help each other learn our languages. Shout-out to Chicho, Abner, & David for also being a part of this team and making ministry so much more fun! If you’re reading this, thanks for everything! Miss you guys already!

Overall, Guatemala was so special and I grew so much as a person and in my walk with the Lord over those 6 weeks! We just took off from the South Korean airport and are currently on our last flight to Vietnam. I’m so excited to be in Asia and to see what the Lord has for us here, but I will say leaving Guatemala and especially our ministry hosts was very sad. Guatemala will always have a special place in my heart! Time to flip from learning Spanish to Vietnamese! I can’t wait to share all about it!

team NAYA with Chako & Chicho & Thanksgiving dinner 

daily ride to ministry & pool day at Chako’s!

 <- painting day 🙂 < – kids we met during paint day!

 <- picking radishes!

 <- giving away houses we finished!

 <- school we worked at 🙂

 <- prayer mountain 

 
Packing day 🙁