Guatemala 2024 Day Five
Hello hello everyone, Adeleecia here :)
Welcome to day 5 of the trip! The days have been both very long, and very short. It’s hard to believe that it is already Wednesday! Again, we had an early start at 6am (don’t worry, Kathryn didn’t wake Olivia and I). This time, we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee on the roof. It is quite surreal looking at the surrounding town and to see the mountains/volcanoes in the background.
Our morning was slightly different than the past couple of days. Once the PILAS kids arrived around 8, we immediately jumped into worship. We did two songs this morning, both of which had actions. They were “Days of Elijah” and “Me Without You” (Shoutout to Compass Camps actions. The muscle memory took over instantaneously). Once we wrapped up in prayer, Guatemalan style, we quickly were put to work. Every Wednesday is a service day where the kids feed the homeless people of Sumpango. Actually, the last years team did the very first Service Day with PILAS! It’s amazing that they’ve continued doing it since. This year, the team + students quickly put together 60 bagged lunches. Once they were done, we made our way to the park near the markets. Before handing out the bagged lunches, we all split up into smaller groups to invite the woman that the students knew to a Mother’s Day event that we are hosting Friday. My group consisted of three PILAS kids + Jacob. They led us around to zone 2 (Barb and Gerry live in zone 4) where we saw a giant garbage dumping area. There were some people scavenging through the garbage, which was honestly, one of the most heart breaking sights. I almost cried. After walking around some more, we met back up with everyone at the park. There, one of the PILAS teachers preached to the people. Everyone was in a giant circle, intently listening to what they had to say. It was an incredible sight seeing all of us, especially the students, praying over the people in the community. Shortly after the end of the message, the people lined up for a lunch. I was honoured to be able to hand the bagged lunches to the people.
After this, Barb, Jacob and I did a little shopping preparation for the upcoming events. It is quite unique to see all the different stores and how Barb knows which one to go to. I would have been so very lost. Once we got back, we had a little downtime before preparing for lunch. Thankfully, we did not have to cut out more cardboard chickens. Instead, we were prepping a craft for the Mother’s Day event. Lunch today was some incredible pork tacos.
The past two days, I stayed at the house to assist with the learning and fun club. Today was my first day visiting one of the surrounding villages. The village that Troy, Olivia, and I visited today was El Arado. Our drive to the village was absolutely stunning. It was in a very hilly area with a lot of windy roads. But the view is something to behold. From what I understand, we had a lower amount of kids for todays Club Conexion. I had the joy of assisting some of the kids with a math puzzle that Barb and Olivia put together. Shortly after, Barb had run into a fellow missionary who works at a clinic. She was quite frazzled as she found the clinic to be flooded with some water. It was truly a God moment that this had happened today, with us assisting in this village. While two of the PILAS teachers stayed back with the kids, the rest of us + a teacher made our way to the clinic to assist with getting out all the water that we could. With 7 people, it took us just an hour to help get the water out of the building. Because it didn’t take as much time, we were able to make it back to play some games and give some snacks to the kids. When we entered the school, we were greeted with the song “Alive” (another Compass Camps shoutout. The kids were staring at Olivia and I as we did the actions). Our game this evening was soccer baseball, which one of the kids absolutely kicked it out of the park. No, I mean quite literally. The ball had gone over the school gate and rolled down the hill!!
While this was going on, the gang that was back at the house were putting together another production of Little Red Riding Hood. Jacob as Red Riding Hood, Cody as Mom/Grandma, and Kathryn as our Big Bad Wolf. Apparently, she did a great howl that got the kids super pumped. These guys assisted the PILAS teachers with some adorable butterfly crafts, by cutting out a lot. Because of the simplicity of the craft, they were able to do things such as play some games, assist with homework, and even read a book to some of the kids.
Before we all reconvened for dinner, Troy, Barb, Olivia and I went on a little adventure around some of the zones. We were able to experience first-hand what driving in Sumpango is like. You have to be a skilled driver to drive these streets. More skilled than driving in Toronto! Our goal was to go to a ladies house who we met earlier in the day, to assist with some of her house issues. However, after half an hour of looking for the house, we gave up our search and made it back home. Our plan is to return later in the week once we identify where her actual address is.
Once arriving, we did a little more craft prep, some card signing for the teachers and students, then preparing for dinner. Dinnertime is quickly becoming one of my favourite times as we all get to share some stories of the day, laugh, and even have some serious discussions. Once we finished our dinner (which was Barb’s AMAZING/FAMOUS green enchiladas) we went back to signing some cards. We ended our incredibly full day, both in busyness and fullness of our hearts, with our devotionals. The topic was “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” which had the team discussing different moments when we have realized that we are in a completely different culture, and having to adapt to where we are. This I would say is a big tie back to Saturday’s devotional when we had discussed the differences between “warm” climates and “cold” climates.
Welp, I think its safe to say that I’ve talked your ear off/typed your eyes out! Thanks for making it this far and for continuing to pray for the team! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip holds! Stay tuned to hear more :)
