Day two

It’s been another great day down here in Guatemala.  Even though we have only been in the country for about 40 hours it feels like we have been in for much longer.  Tonight Abbie Rothstrom and Bri Stonebraker will be sharing a little bit about their experiences today in Linda Vista (the squatter’s village).

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Today my heart was filled with love and joy by the kids at both the preschool and secondary schools we visited. At the preschool, we put on two skits, David and Goliath, and Daniel and the Lion’s den. I wasn’t in either skit so I got to sit alongside the children. There was this group of about five kids who were very excited to have a big kid sit with them, it was so adorable watching them listen to the skit and get so excited at the end and laugh when the skit members were being funny. After we did the skits and sang a couple songs, we brought out a few beach balls and bubbles for the kids to play with. A lot of the girls liked to play with the bubbles and pop them. There was a little, shy boy named Javi who I ended up making a connection with that loved the bubbles as well. We also brought out the parachute to play with which just ended up with the kids, and group members, running under the parachute and jumping around under there. I have never seen so much joy on the kids’ faces, or anyone else’s. They had so much joy and excitement for us to be there and it was such an amazing site, I don’t think I will ever forget them. After lunch we went to the secondary school and we sang some songs for them and then acted out the same skits as before. Miguel Baza ended up sharing his story with the kids and touching a lot of them, it was really cool to watch. Lots of them were effected by his story and you could see their emotions, which made me think about how emotions are all universal and how we all share them. I wish I would’ve known more Spanish so I could have connected with them more. They were all very interested in our lives and it was really cool to see how engaged they were. I can’t wait for tomorrow at the women’s shelter and do some help as well as interact with the other kids there. God’s presence has already been so prominent here and I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Brianna Stonebraker

Today I had the privilege to visit a preschool and secondary school that are both located in the squatter’s village in Linda Vista. There were around 16 of us going to the village. We arrived at the preschool and while we were waiting for one of the teachers to open up the door for us, we could hear lots of laughing. There were 75 children in the little school and it was so surreal just being there. While part of our team was putting on a skit for the children, I saw this little girl sitting up against a wall. She had black curly hair and the cutest, little smile. I ended up sitting down next to her. She didn’t speak one word of English so I was trying to remember how to say and ask her certain things in Spanish. I asked her what her name was and she told me it was Melissa. She ended up resting her head against me and it just made my heart melt, she was so sweet. She started talking to me in Spanish and all I could do was just nod and smile because I had absolutely no idea what she was saying. Throughout our time at the preschool, we played with bubbles, beach balls, and a giant rainbow parachute. All the kids circled up around the parachute and grabbed ahold of the parachute and moved it up and down, creating ripples. The kids, including us, went underneath it, dancing and jumping up and down. While we were playing with the parachute, Doug took class pictures of the students and we were able to be in them as well. When it was time for Melissa’s class to go, I jumped in behind and she grabbed my hand to hold it. I had the best time playing with all the kids. When we went to the secondary school, we sang songs, acted out skits, and asked each other questions about our lives. It took them awhile to open up but they were very respectful and nice. The second song we sang to them was called Rockfist, which is a Rock and Roll song. We got all of the students to stand up and we all went around dancing and rocking out. Some of them laughed and some of them looked at us like we were absolutely crazy. It was hilarious, we had a great time. It was so cool to meet the kids and create relationships with them. It was one of the best days I have ever had.

Tonight, there are going to be two guest authors what will give you an update about all that we did and saw today.  Parker Toon and Layne are here for your entertainment....  Or at least ours.

Hola! Mucho Gusto. You will have to forgive us for our bad english cuz we have been dislocated from the language and American customs entirely for the last 48 hours...Just kidding...we talk english all the time, had pancakes for breakfast, dominos pizza for lunch, and Justin Evans still yells "FREEDOM" every 5 minutes.

Well in all reality, our day was amazing and a culture shock. It was evident that we were not in good ol' Walla Walla anymore when there was an armed Guatemalan security officer with a sawed off shotgun in front of Burger King (By the way, Layne Peters still would make the whoppiest Whopper in all of the country if he continued his profession overseas). We continued to the complex that we are staying at and unloaded all of our stuff before everybody was allowed to take an hour long Phat Nap. We then went and checked out El Refugio (Woman's Shelter) to see the projects that they had prepared for our arrival. The jobs include installing a fence around the backyard area for safety reasons. Currently there is a poorly built fence bordering a Phat cliff that doesn't offer good protection for the children that also live in the woman's shelter with their mothers. We then traveled to a private Christian school that the Missionaries (Mark and Kim) have connections with. We took a look around and then played a high intensity, full of laughter game of soccer. Miguel Baza got the Most Improved award for the girls team and Layne Peters merciless slide tackles that took out countless females including Chloe Pearson won him MVP of the day.

We all agree that the best part of the day was getting to know each other, especially in the evening time. We had a great chicken and rice meal with Stephanie's favorite side, sweet rolls. After dinner Doug had us sit in a circle and share about what walls that we desired for God to break through in these next two weeks. Allison Wanichek had the best answer saying that her upstairs bathroom needed the back wall blown out...just kidding. Getting to know everybody on a real and vulnerable level was incredible. Our team is off to a great start and will keep you posted on all the amazing things God is doing in the future!

As you can imagine, it has been a long 24 hours.  Traveling with 35 people could not have gone any smoother....we are just tired.  Right now we are taking a little time to rest, have a short nap, and just get refreshed for the day ahead.  After resting, the rest of our day will be visiting El Refugio (the women's shelter), touring the Christian Academy of Guatemala, and just some basic getting ready for what is to come tomorrow. 

Thanks for all your prayers, and know that your loved ones are hear safe and sound.

Doug

On the Road....

After months of planning, fundraising, praying, and preparing for this day, we are finally on the road.  This it is the fourth time that I have lead this same trip to Guatemala, and what I am finding is that no matter how intentional I am at getting everything done ahead of time, there is always a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of leading a trip like this.  This year it came at the end of last week.  It was that point when all the big things were done, but the seemingly endless list of little things just seemed to taunt me as I remembered thing after thing that I still needed to get done.

In that moment of feeling overwhelmed I found myself at a point of asking, “why do I keep doing this to myself?”…”Why do I keep planning these types of trips.”  The problem with that type of thinking is that the answer is abundantly clear.  I keep doing these because God makes it clear in my life and ministry that this is part of what God calls me to do.   I keep doing these because I believe in the impact that trips like these make in the lives of everyone that goes.  I keep doing these because of how despite the stress, despite being away from my family, despite all the planning that is needed, God absolutely feeds and encourages me in the midst of serving the team and the people of Guatemala.  I keep doing these trips because I whole heartedly believe in the power of being broken before God, and I love watching our team’s hearts be broken not only for the people of Guatemala, but also for serving Jesus. 

As we are preparing to get on a plane to set out on an adventure of a lifetime, I would ask that your prayer for our team (both the individuals and the team as a whole) be that God would break our hearts for what breaks His…That we would come back broken but filled….that we would come back from these two weeks in Guatemala having been remade by the hands of our savior.

The band Sidewalk Prophets have a song called “Keep Making Me” that exemplifies that prayer request and is going to become kind of our theme song for the next couple of weeks.

I will try to update you all when we can get service once we are in Guatemala.  Thank you all for your prayers, your financial support of this trip, and for loving the people on our team.  Your love and inspiration is a huge part of what makes this trip possible. 

Doug