Guatemala 2024 Day Seven

Written by: Olivia 

Hey! Let me tell you all about the in’s and out’s of our day. We started off preparing for another Mother’s day event. This event is for the Mother’s who often don’t have anyone to celebrate this special day with. Many of these women are widdowed, abandoned by their kids, homeless, or all of the above. We had the pleasure of meeting these women at our Service Day on Wednesday, so Barb and Gerry invited them to this new event!  Half of our team chopped and pealed vegetables all while the others started a fire that would later be used to cook the meal on. As Kathryn, Adeleecia and I (Olivia) got the vegetables ready for the event, we were given the opportunity to chat with the ladies that came to serve with us, as well as the PILAS students who helped translate of course! These women came from the church we attended on Sunday (literally next door to Casa Barb and Gerry). Because we already had a similar event to this yesterday, the set up and decorating of the church took no time at all. Very soon the women started to show up and the children sat them down at the tables where we joined them. I was enjoying just sitting and listening to them converse in Spanish (which I’m still working on). It seemed they were enjoying themselves a lot because they were laughing quite a bit. For this event, Bryan (another one of the PILAS teachers and coincidentally my favourite) spoke the message as opposed to Darlyn who spoke at yesterdays event. His message was on Jacob, Leah, and Rachel and basically was about how God can be our comfort even when we are abandoned by those we love. As the event continued, it was impactful to see their reactions to Bryan’s message. Many women at my table were tearing up and embracing each other in comfort and I could tell that the message was well received as these women seemed to live out the pain that Leah did in the Bible story. After the sermon I had the pleasure to comfort one particular women who broke down crying at my table by herself. Through the translation of one of the students, I came to understand that she had been abandoned by all of her children and that they will no longer speak to her. As we hugged, she cried out in Spanish and although I couldn’t understand her verbally, God still gave me direction through this. She kept looking up to the sky and saying “Senior Jesus”, which meant she was crying out to Jesus and this I could understand. I felt a heavy weight in the beginning, but by the end I could tell that God had taken control and this burden was lifted from me.

Lunch was next, and consisted of chicken chow mien, more tortillas, and the cupcakes decorated by Troy and Cody today! After sharing this meal, we transitioned into a time of games. One was guessing items in a “mother’s purse” and the other was a matching game where each woman had a card that consisted of a different number of symbols in different colours. A category was then called out, and they had to match up in little groups! I could tell they were having fun while getting to know each other. Another activity was Jacob pulling out the guitar again while the PILAS students sang the same worship songs as yesterday. 

The event wrapped up by us handing out little food hampers to the women that we prepped the day before. The goodbyes were sincere, tearful, but ultimately peaceful. God is good. After the event, we had a siesta of sorts so a lot of us just crashed and recharged for the afternoon.

After, the group split up to accomplish different household needs and tasks. This consisted of sanding and painting the iconic rooftop Canadian wall. It was sad to see the maple leafs, beavers, hockey sticks, and other such images go, but the outcome of the freshly painted wall (not 100% finished JUST yet stay tuned) was a happy sight to behold. We started a game of truth or truth and oh boy things got real FAST, but what is said in Guatemala stays in Guatemala…am I right? The boys tackled changing out the eavestrough and fixing some stuff in the shower. After they finished their tasks, they joined us girls on the roof where we all tackled the painting together. Exhausted, we headed to dinner which was an amazing meal of BBQ sausages (thanks Gerry) along with many tasty sides (thanks Barb). We had two new guests at dinner tonight as two of the PILAS girls joined us for a meal and subsequently a sleepover tonight and tomorrow (yayyyy slumber party!). The dinner conversation started off slow, but quickly snowballed into laughs when the girls gave each of the team members nicknames. I will loudly and proudly say that I am the LOCA (aka the crazy one)!!!! But hey, aren’t we all a little crazy anyways??? Or it had something to do with the crazy faces I made at them, but you can decide.

All in all, this day was packed, but filled with many fulfilling moments full of the Holy Spirit. Man God is at work here in Sumpango.

Peace out Girl Scouts!