The past three weeks of ministry have flown by! I have totally pushed off writing a blog, but I am finally getting to it today on my Sabbath.

Each week has similarities in ministry but also, no two days are the same. On a typical Sunday and Monday, we don’t have ministry. On Sundays, my team will usually go out and explore in Antigua, Parramos, Chimaltenango, or somewhere around. On Mondays, we try to chill at the base or a coffee shop for a lot of the day just spending time with the Lord and catching up with friends and family. I didn’t realize until doing such intense ministry during the week that I need a Sabbath to rest physically and spiritually.

On Tuesdays, I typically get up around 6 am to spend time with the Lord and get ready for the day before breakfast at 7 am. After breakfast, we wash dishes and all pile in the van for ministry. We get dropped off in Sumpango where we spend an hour or so in the prayer room at the Reindom house, which is my team’s ministry. This time is really important to make the focus of ministry on Jesus and to be filled up before we go and pour out onto others. After this, we take the bus to the village, Santa Marta. We get split into groups where we either clean the school, go on house visits, make food in the kitchen for the school children, etc. That afternoon, we serve lunch to the children in the village. These children don’t get to eat for every meal because of extreme poverty which is heartbreaking but so cool to be able to provide a meal for them and sit and eat with them. After lunch, we typically either clean dishes or teach Bible class, English class, music class, or art class for a few hours. I have loved teaching Bible and English classes to the kids. They are so eager to learn and it’s been a great opportunity for me to practice my Spanish. Fridays are pretty similar to Tuesdays. An extra thing we usually do on Fridays is plan games for the younger kids to play.

Wednesdays are super exciting days! In the mornings, we do something called Kingdom Table. We head to Sumpango around 7:15 am and start preparing a breakfast and setting up the local gym for 40-ish alcoholics and elderly people to come have a meal with us and learn about Jesus. We get to go out into the town and invite people to come to get a free meal. We pray for them and get to know them. We’ve made some pretty awesome friends through this! After that, we clean up and have a couple hours to chill. During that time, our team usually has a team time Bible study and we head to the Sarita, which is our favorite ice cream place! Thank goodness I have people on my team who love ice cream as much as I do! That afternoon we head to Santa Marta again for Soccer Club. We hold two practices with the kids where we play with them, go through drills, play soccer games, and have a time of prayer and discipleship. My years of high school soccer have paid off during this time. I’ve loved getting to help the kids improve their skills. They have a tournament coming up in a week which we hope to show up to support them at!

Thursdays are Activation Days. These days were a little nerve wracking for me at first, but I have come to love them. We start the morning with a teaching and worship. After that, we each spend time with the Lord practicing listening prayer. We then get split into groups and head to different villages and towns. When we get there, we split into groups of two or three, just like Jesus sent the disciples out in two. We have only 30 seconds to ask the Holy Spirit for a vision, impression, sign, color, etc of where we should go or who we should talk to. It’s hard to only have 30 seconds, but that way we can’t overthink what God is speaking to us. We then all share what impressions we got and then head on our way. We usually talk to one or two people in the couple hours we have. It’s been a really fruitful time of sharing the Gospel and loving on people. I will make another blog post sharing some of the stories from these days.

Monday through Friday nights, we have dinner around 5:30 and then do our chores and have an hour of team time where we do activities together, feedback circles, gratitude, weekly debrief, worship, Bible studies, etc.

Saturday mornings have been some of the most eye opening days of ministry so far. We hold a Bible club for a couple hours at the school where we do a teaching and worship with the kids. The ages of these kids range from 5-13 years old. The first Saturday we went, I witnessed something I have never seen before. When the time of worship and prayer came after the teaching, these young kids all got on their knees, hands in the air, crying out and praying to God. My eyes immediately swelled with tears seeing these kids cry out to their father and seeing them so innocently seek Him. I felt so convicted in that moment because when doing a majority of our ministry here with children, it’s sometimes hard to see what fruit will come of it. I had previously had thoughts like, “These kids won’t even remember this stuff, why did I come all the way to Guatemala for this?” I tried to put God in a box and limit His power. These kids live in huts with dirt floors. These kids take cold showers. These kids don’t know when their next meal will be. These kids have only one outfit. But here they are, praising their Good Father. I fell to my knees in tears watching this. As I prayed over the children, God put the verse on my heart about a child-like faith from Matthew 18. Having the faith of a child means to put your will aside and trust the Lord no matter the circumstances. To love the Lord without hesitation or condition.

Some things I have learned the past few weeks:

1. Guatemalans are rarely on time.
2. Always bring toilet paper to ministry.
3. It’s gonna rain at about 5 pm almost every day, so make sure your clothes are off the drying line by then.
4. Don’t get too close to the stray dogs.. they will chase you.
5. Guatemala McDonalds SLAPS.
6. The UV is 10-12 from 10:30 am - 2 pm so you better watch how much time you spend in the sun.
7. God will use every opportunity He can to connect with you and teach you something new, even if that means scrubbing the school floors on your hands and knees.
8. And quite possibly one of the most valuable things I’ve learned so far: God loves me. He wants to be my friend. He wants to be in intimate relationship with me and when I talk to Him, He will answer.

Prayer requests for the next few weeks:

1. That I will continue to walk in intimacy with the Lord, continuing to have conversation with Him and listen to Him throughout my days.
2. That I will serve others out of a place of rest and peace in the Father rather than trying to earn His rest and love.
3. For continued openness to the Gospel from those we meet and have been building relationships with.
4. Please pray the armor of God, Psalm 91, and prayers of protection over us here as there is a lot of demonic spiritual things going on in both Sumpango and Santa Marta.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I am planning on trying to post on here more often, so stay tuned!

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