Guatemala 2024 Day Two
Written by: Troy
The Second day begins! It started quite early for most of us as we all got up surprisingly early. The guys woke up due to an alarm not set in the right time zone so we woke up all around 6:00am, thinking it was 8:00am and Kathryn was the early bird for the girls. So we all ended up meeting Barb and Gerry for coffee on the roof and had a great time if just a little tired. After we all had eaten and finished the coffee, we started off on our first walk through Sumpango around 9:00am. I definitely felt more comfortable in the streets than last year. The previous members which included myself, Jacob, and Kathryn went on our own adventure with Gerry while the rest of the team joined Barb for the infamous Market! It’s a Market that occurs every Sunday and people come from all over to shop at this giant Farmers Market! I’m sure it was a nice experience for the newcomers Adeleecia, Cody and Olivia to experience the random Buenos Dias from strangers and maneuvering through the tiny chaotic streets.
Next was lunch and that’s when we met with the teachers Carla, Lisbeth, Bryan, Sandra, Darlyn and Julie. It was nice to see them again and to bond over food and games (this helped break the ice with everyone) as well as our shared goal to invite Christ’s spirit into the room. Bryan was the new member of their team and he seems to fit right in and is very friendly. It was also nice to meet a man as a teacher in the PILAS program as last year there wasn’t one. After that we said our goodbyes and did some cleaning and had a bit of a break. The team met up to do our devotionals during this break and got to read about the caution of “Burning Bridges” as told through our hosts’ Barb and Gerry’s perspectives. I think we all are feeling a bit set back from the flight and the timezone change. This always gives me a guilty feeling for needing time to kinda reset and time for my stomach to get back to normal but it’s a good reminder we’re only human and the chance to rely on God was informative.
After our little break it was church and this started at 4pm, and thankfully the church was just next door. This church Barb and Gerry had been blessed with as they had been looking for a suitable home church and then this one was literally set up next to them. They had many good things to say about the church. When we arrived at church, right on time we were greeted very warmly. The sermon was very powerful and as I tried to understand bits and pieces of it Barb and Gerry were thankfully translating and passing notes to us. The old pastor had recently passed away and his son was the one preaching. He was able to use this emotional and vulnerable time to praise God and to remember we are servants to God’s will and we must be humble even unto death, and that His will must be ours. During his preaching some of us noticed that some people were getting emotional and that was powerful to see. Next, the mood was lightened up with a birthday celebration for those who had their birthdays during the week. So Barb went up and two other ladies and we sang and clapped happy birthday and everyone lined up to give them hugs. This was a nice thing to do and Im sure it made them feel special and loved. Finally, we all ate dinner together that the church had brought and as we ate and talked we got some more friendly greetings which was very welcoming. After our first dinner we headed back and had second dinner and this was wonderful as always.
I think we are all excited for tomorrows first day helping the students and I pray we are filled with the Holy Spirit to serve fruitfully.
