Guatemala

So many of the places I get to visit around the world are beautiful. I've seen gorgeous mountain views, lakes, oceans, canyons, rivers, wildlife, flowers, trees, and exquisite sunsets and sunrises.  I am so thankful every time I get to look out over these breath-taking views, but every single trip I've ever taken is made most beautiful by the people that I am visiting and those I am traveling with.  Guatemala was no different. 

Our team of 11 was made up of college students, and three of the oldest of us out in the working world.  What a team. I could do a blog post on each of member of my team and would not be able to convey their awesomeness to you.  What made each of them awesome was not their super-hilarious humor, or their brute strength with the moving of every 40 lb. cinder block; what made them each awesome was that they had surrendered their lives to The Lord and in everything they did they sought to do it through a strength that wasn't their own, and with an excellence that they on their own could never achieve.  

Aside from our team there were the awesome friends that hosted us in Guatemala. Inn Ministries is an amazing family of people serving the community of San Cristobal.  I cannot say enough goodness about the team that works and serves at the school and the church.  Having the chance to hang out with them for a week was a blessing in itself. 

What did we do? 

We had fun!  The kids that we met were a blast to hang with.  We took a load of frisbees and soccer balls (thanks again to those who sent them with us) and would play with kids and share with them about Jesus as our best friend.  With each group a different member of our team would take a turn sharing about their relationship with Jesus. It was fun to hear all the different approaches to glorifying Jesus.  

Inn Ministries is also building a cafeteria for their church.  We got to help lay the foundation.  That was a first for me!  We also moved over 500 cinder blocks to the construction site. That was hard work, but our team did an awesome job with a great attitude.  Many hands make light work.

 

Guatemala is home to many indigenous Mayan tribes that still lives in villages throughout the mountainous country (we study The Mayans in November of 8th grade).  These tribes all speak different languages, and many of them do not speak Spanish, the official language of Guatemala. A highlight of our trip was getting to visit one of these villages where a member of the Inn Ministries church has been holding worship services for his neighbors and the local kids.  Getting there was interesting, but we were so glad that we made it up the mountain. 

I am so thankful for the chance to go to Guatemala, to meet church family there, to share Jesus with children, and to challenge myself and this amazing team along the way.  Then Lord grew us all tremendously.  For some of our team, this was their first mission trip, and The Lord completely changed their lives through their experiences.  If you haven't given thought to going on a short term mission trip you should. Start saving, start raising support, pick a trip, and GO.  With every trip I am more and more in awe of what God is doing around the world, and what He can do in and through me in such a short amount of time.