Guatemala has been a wild ride. A few days in to our arrival we were hit squad-wide with COVID-19 having to quarantine, make doctor appointments, and figure out a lot of emotional and logistical things. After finishing my own time in quarantine, I was able to finally join the teams for ministry at the end of our second week in Chichicastenango. Our ministry this month included children’s ministry, church ministry, and police ministry. I never got the chance to join for church visitations, but we would invite the local kids, town leaders, and policemen over for services, food, and fun. Several people on our teams are gifted in singing and playing guitar so we learned a handful of worship songs in Spanish to use for worship. As a group we would rotate preaching and sharing words of encouragement from scripture.
(Squadmate Samantha and I at the hospital for COVID in Guatemala City)
In kids ministry, our teams divvied up the tasks of teaching Bible lessons, leading worship, English and Spanish lessons (most of the kids spoke a local dialect), and group games. These local kids were so much fun to hang out with, and by the end of our time with them it was truly sad to leave them. We were able to take a lot of photos and say sweet goodbyes. Several people from the teams were able to teach them practical skills for them to continue leading the group in the ways we had been leading them over this past month. They are able to now lead their own worship and prayer times, and young leaders from within the group will help Pastor J (our ministry host) to continue the amazing things God is doing through his ministry. It would be really cool to years from now see how the kids are doing, how much they’ve learned, and what God is doing in their lives. In Chichi, its common for kids not to go to school past a certain age and to have a limited education, which means a limited future. Through Pastor J’s ministry they will have greater opportunities and a relationship with God that will be able to bring miracles to the area, break patterns of the past, and pave the way for a brighter future. I truly admire how Pastor J and his family continuously sacrifice their limited resources and have a deep dependence and trust on the Lord to provide what it takes to pour into the local kids. Pouring into the kids costs Pastor J without reaping any physical benefits, but he and his wife are determine to out pour and believe in a bigger picture that God has for the community of Chichi.
(The kids asked me to draw them puppies. I must have drawn a dozen of these for them.)
With police ministry, we invited the police to come hang out at our compound for coffee, food, and a short church service. The first few times they had to reschedule because they were called off for meetings or their jobs, but we had one specific night that was absolutely amazing with them. We met with them, shared a few short messages and sang worship songs with them. Some of them are believers and some were new to the group. It was so cool to see how interested they all were in our messages and worship though. We laughed a lot together and they weren’t shy about building friendships with us. After worship, we were able to serve them dinner and coffee. We ate together and took turns telling funny stories. Our teams asked to play with their hand cuffs, which greatly entertained them. As we played cop with each other I leaned over to one of the officers I had connected with and asked her if it was normal for people to want to play with their hand cuffs, to which she said “No.” So then I asked her, “Oh, do you think we are weird then?” and she said “Yes!” and we laughed together. When we had finished our joyous time with them, they drove off while playing their siren and flashing their lights for us as we continued to act like small kids losing our minds over cool cop things.
(Squadmates Jacob and Jose playing with the hand cuffs)
The last sweet ministry memory that I want to share from this month is our time reviving a nearby soccer field with the town leaders. For a while the town leaders would not welcomed Pastor J, and in fact have refused to let him use the soccer field for ministry for the longest time. We are the first team to be allowed to play with the kids and do ministry out on the field, which was such an honor. Pastor J asked the town leaders if they would meet with us one afternoon to clean up the field, paint the goal posts, and hear a few gospel messages from us. They agreed to work with us so we all gathered with tools, supplies, and food for an afternoon of hard work. We sanded down the rusty goal posts and painted them a vibrant blue. Several of us cut grass with machetes, picked up trash throughout the field, and helped line the field with white powder. By the end of the afternoon the park looked beautiful, and the best part was that none of the kids knew we were doing this for them. We finished our time with presenting the community leaders with brand new soccer balls and goal nets, and lead them in a short worship session. They thanked us for our partnership and by the time we started leaving the field the kids showed up with a lot of joy and excitement. It was well worth it, and in the following days we saw the kids take better care of the field themselves.
(The soccer field in Chichicastenango)
This month is one for the books. I’ve seen God’s faithfulness in different ways, and overall the word I feel for Him in this month is ‘good’. God is just so good. In sickness and quarantine He was attentive and active. In ministry He blessed us more than we could bless others. In relationships He built beautiful bonds and connections. All around there is not one area that God did not move this month. I’m excited to see Him do it again for our next ministry assignment in Honduras.
Thank you for following my journey and reading my blogs! It’s hard to capture everything as we go, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to share what God is doing and connect the Body of Christ around the world. If anyone would pray and see if Pastor J’s ministry is a ministry they would like to support financially please reach out to me by leaving your email in the comments. I would love to give more details of who he is and what he does because it’s a ministry worth supporting and believing in. I would love to help connect people who want to make an impact with his ministry because I thoroughly believe in Pastor J and what God is doing in Chichicastenango.
