Ministry with Worship Room in GT

What the heck has been happening in Guatemala?! Sorry that I haven’t kept you super updated on what we are doing here. Especially for those who gave financially I want you to know and see what your support is going to. So here is a breakdown of what our ministry schedule looks like.

Monday:

In the A.M. we have the opportunity to go to “Eco Farm” (Which is where Worship Room is at) maybe 20+ minutes away. While there we help in any way that is needed. Last week we put bark on a path to make it look a lot nicer, and this week we dug a trench to eventually allow rainwater to flow to a new pond. By working here for 2 or 3 hours every Monday we cover the cost of the rent for Worship Room to be there on Thursday nights.

In the afternoon after eating lunch at the farm we head back to our town of San Antonio. We arrive to the local church at roughly 2 and get prepared to teach English to the kids in the area for a couple hours. Kids grow up being taught English in schools, but the teachers typically don’t even know the language. The three of us guys typically are with the “older” kids going over months, days of the week, numbers, and colors. While the ladies on our team hang out with the younger niños teaching them the same things at a slower pace. Teaching English may be my favorite part of the week. The kids are so much fun and very eager to learn.

Tuesday:

In the morning we get the wonderful opportunity to visit families in this same area the church is. Typically, we get to visit two houses that are not super well off. The families that we have visited have all been single parent homes typically with the husband leaving the family. One husband even rides his bike past his family to work and doesn’t even acknowledge his kids as he rides by. Heart breaking. We visit each family for about an hour, hear their stories, worship with them, and pray over them. This can be very difficult as we need everything they say, and we say to be translated for us. Really wish I knew Spanish….

These families have just enough money for food, and almost nothing else. It really puts things in perspective as you stand in the middle of their home which is dirt, surrounded by tin and some cement walls, sometimes a roof, and bugs flying everywhere. Yet they are so welcoming to probably 10+ people coming into their homes to talk about it. They are often so filled with joy even in some really tough circumstances.

After visiting homes, we remain in that same area to help with VBS. All the local kids come by to be taught a quick Bible story, play some games, worship, then they get some more learning in with math or reading.

Wednesday:

We are super spoiled and blessed on Wednesdays as we get to head to discipleship. The ladies and gents split up and have a small group type thing every Wednesday with mostly people from our ministry Worship Room. So, about half the group is local Guatemalans while the other half are us gringos here to serve. Luckily, we get to do this in English as these people are more amazing than us and are bilingual. For us guys we have been going through David’s life, and examining the fact that David is a man after God’s heart throughout his life.

After discipleship we get to just chill with most of these people. The place we hang out is home to Willy and Sofi who actually lived in Washington State for quite a while before returning back to Guatemala. They are amazing, and we are so thankful to everybody from worship room for bringing us into their amazing community. So, we get to have lunch with them, play games, talk, and last week went to the Adventures in Mission base to play some soccer.

Thursday:

All morning we get to chill. Typically, around 3 or 4 our ministry host Jeofrey who I mentioned in a past blog picks us up to head to Worship Room which is the big night for this ministry. We get to Eco farms to help set up. Tymon and Annie get to be a part of creating the beautiful music as they are gifted unlike the other four of us. Leaving us to welcome people to the night. We get to open up the night with announcements and prayer while being translated for. Then during the worship, we pray, and as prompted by the Holy Spirit pray for others. This is such a powerful night every week and is so beautiful as we worship in both Spanish and English although it is probably 75% Spanish.

After worshipping is over the entire ministry team goes to a local hole in the wall restaurant to get some cheap but amazing Guatemalan style food. Probably my favorite thing about Guatemala over Costa Rica is just the dive into their culture we have experienced. So, by the end of the night we get home around 11.

Friday:

We typically have the mornings off Friday as well because we get home so late. After lunch we get to play soccer with the local kids for a couple of hours. Another one of my favorite things to do even though soccer isn’t my sport. These kids are so fun and full of life. Fridays can look different however as last week we also got to put in a stove for one of the families that we have visited on numerous occasions.

So yeah there is what our ministry will typically look. A little all over the place as we get the opportunity to do several different things with many amazing people that we have met, who I am hoping to talk more about later.

Again, I lost my phone and won’t have one until the end of my time in Guatemala, so I am very sorry that I am not posting pictures. Hopefully I can steal a bunch later on.

 

Peace y’all! Love you a lot! Jesus loves you more!

JD