Guatemala

It's hard to believe how fast our time flew on outreach.  We went to Guatemala at the end of April, and now we have already come back to Kona, gone through debrief, graduated our students, and are in the middle of staff debriefing.  Crazy.

Since I wasn't able to update during my time in Guatemala, here's a little summary of our time there.  After flying into Guatemala City from Belize, we made the short 45 minute drive to Antigua.  Antigua is beautiful, and I highly recommend anyone going to Guatemala to go to Antigua.  We stayed at the YWAM base just outside of Antigua, in a little town called Ciudad Vieja.  Not knowing what to expect at all, I can't tell you how incredibly surprised and blessed we were upon our arrival.

The team arriving at the YWAM base

In Belize, we were practically on our own.  While we stayed at a YWAM base there, our contact was detained out of country due to health reasons, so we just did everything pretty much on our own, and came up with our own ministries.  Upon arrival in Guatemala though, we were greeted by a lovely young American couple, and within minutes we were receiving helpful information about the country, our ministries, and where we were staying.  We arrived at the base and they had two separate rooms for us, one for the girls, and one for Maria & I.  We had beds with blankets & pillows, towels, our own bathroom, and the best part...hot water showers!  I've never been on an outreach with as nice of living accommodations as I have had this trip.  It was amazing.  Six days a week, we had a lovely little Guatemalan lady, named Florecita, who cooked our lunch and dinner.  She made the best food!  Every meal we told her she was making us fat, as we rolled into the kitchen to wash our dishes, and she just laughed at us.

Florecita & I in our aprons (all the Guatemalan ladies wear aprons everywhere!)

While there, we had the privilege to get involved with the many different ministries the base had going on.  It was so good, but was definitely an adjustment coming from Belize.  In Belize, we spent most of our time in evangelism.  Because the people spoke English, we could freely go talk to anyone without the help of a translator.  In Guatemala however, the ministries were mainly children's ministry and mercy ministries, and everyone speaks Spanish, so we needed a translator.  I was surprised at how much Spanish I was able to understand, considering the last time I had Spanish classes was 17 years ago!  So while I could usually understand the jist of what people were trying to say, I had difficulty trying to communicate back with them.  I understand more than I can speak.  No one else on the team really spoke Spanish either, so we almost always had to get a translator to tell us what someone was trying to say, or to communicate back to them.

Three days a week, we were able to volunteer at a local hospital and we hung out with the special needs children.  In Guatemala, if parents have a special needs child that they aren't able to care for, they can sign over their parental rights and the child can go live at the hospital and have care for the rest of their life.  On one hand it seems incredibly sad, but on the other hand, these children are getting care they would never receive if they remained with their families.  The families are able to come and visit though, so they don't completely lose them.  There are over 40 children who are in wheelchairs and we would push them around the courtyard, sing to them, dance for them, hold their hands...anything to give them love and attention that the nurses aren't able to give because they are entirely too busy.  These amazing women work 12 hour shifts, feeding them, changing them, bathing them, cutting their hair, cleaning their cribs, and many more things I'm sure we never even saw.  Some of the children were incredibly intelligent and would interact with us, while others were almost in a vegetative state.  One of my favorites was a 12 year old boy named Alfonso.  He loved for us to push him around, or usually run, he would try to scare us, flex his muscles for us, and was just really funny.  I miss the kids there and hope that I will one day see them in heaven.

Sweet Alfonso

Trying to get Alfonso to take a picture with me

He finally agreed to pose with me

Another favorite ministry was "Soup Run."  Two nights a week, we would drive around Antigua and pass out hot soup & tortillas to the homeless.  We would talk to the men and women on the street, pray for them, and if they had any wounds, there was a medical kit to clean them up.

Serving up soup & tortillas for the homeless

We also taught an English class to children once a week, helped clean at an orphanage every week, would go on prayer walks, helped out at the Kid's Club on the YWAM base, helped at a special needs school, would go to the Market to play with the kids there, teach them a Bible story, and give them a chance to be kids instead of having to sell things with their parents.  We also got to be part of an English church service that the base runs, and helped out with testimonies, worship, and preaching. And we got to help out with a feeding program in a rural village that feeds over 300 kids!  The day we went, we only did 150 because they split them into two days since there are so many children.  We also got to do a little street evangelism as we went out into central park once a week to share the gospel with people.  On one such occasion, our team performed a drama a couple of times, and afterward I preached the gospel.  It was my first time doing open-air preaching and it seemed to go pretty good.  After one of them, 5 people came to the Lord!

Our English Class

Lisa teaching the younger ones their letters in English

Savanna teaching some adjectives

A couple of our young students, proud of their finished work

Susi sharing a Bible story at the Kid's Club on base

Some of the kids doing their coloring sheet for the story of the day

Josue was one of my favorites at Kid's Club

Sharing a Bible story with some of the kids in the market

Playing with some of the kids in the market

Playing with kids in the Market

Just one of the cuties in the market

The 150 kids we helped feed & play with

Some of the cuties that came to get food

These were some of the sweetest kids to play with

All in all, we had a great outreach.  We saw so much fruit from our time both in Belize & Guatemala.  The gospel was shared with 254 people, 20 people gave their lives to the Lord, 1 person re-committed his life to the Lord, 101 people were prayed for, 3 people were healed, 20 people received words of encouragement from the Lord through us, 2 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and 241 people were discipled.  Not bad for 5 blonde girls in 2-1/2 months.  God worked in us and through us in awesome ways, and it was such a privilege to be able to join with Him in the work He was doing in these two nations.

Thank you to all of you who were praying & who helped make it financially possible for me to go and co-lead this small but mighty team.

The B & G Blondes in Guatemala