The one about Guatemala

This photo was taken at the Adventures in Missions Guatemala base, where we lived the entire time we were in Guatemala.

        

            Hello, friends!  

   As most of you already know, this summer I had the amazing chance to spend one month in the country of Guatemala, serving the people there and spreading the love of Christ.  At long last, I am posting photos and writing about it.  Here we go...

        The people of Guatemala are some of the kindest and most positive people I've ever met.  They value family and relationships above all else.  The majority of the people we talked to were extremely hospitable and welcoming.  Seeing the way these people live their lives and love each other is humbling, and it greatly challenges your perspective and priorities.  I was so blessed by the people we talked to and spent time with, and I'm forever grateful that I was exposed to this culture. 

       I got to embark on this trip alongside 25 brothers and sisters in Christ; these people were essentially strangers to me on June 22nd (our first day of training camp in GA), but by the following Friday they felt like family (and still do).  

As Meggie pointed out, "This REALLY shouldn't work... but it does!"  It's true.  Bringing together 26 strangers to live and work with each other for a month sounds risky... you'd hope for tolerance at best, right?  And yet our group grew incredibly close, got along remarkably well (all things considered), and truly became a family.  I'm so proud of this team; I love each and every one of them and miss them all like crazy.  I was blessed beyond measure when God put these people into my life.

      ^ This is my small group, a.k.a. "Benny and the Jets".  (Chase, Isaac, Pricila, and Raina are my grandchildren and Ben is their elected bodyguard (and our fearless leader)).  

Our "small team" discussions/debriefs were some of my favorite times during the trip and I'm thankful that I got the chance to know these humans better; they're all freaking amazing humans who shine so much light on those around them.

           During our first week in Guatemala, we went to local villages and spent the mornings giving out water filters and teaching families how to assemble them (I wrote a post about this on the Ambassador blog here).  Then we would go to a school and run a VBS (Vacation Bible School) for any kids in the surrounding areas who came.  This involved acting out stories, singing songs (usually with hand motions and/or dances), arts and crafts time, and some sort of game.  We'd also have a lot of time to just hang out with the kids (they loved playing with Avery's ukulele, and there was usually some sort of soccer game going on.  The girls loved to braid hair as well.).

Soccer is THE sport in Guatemala...we witnessed some pretty intense games while we were there.

There were a lot of beautiful sunsets/sunrises in Guatemala (as is the case pretty much everywhere); however, this one in particular was breathtaking (seriously, the pictures don't even come close to doing it justice).

The guys decided to take advantage of some quality selfie lighting.

We had multiple bonfires while we were there.  One of these was to celebrate the Fourth of July (we also recognized said holiday with fireworks and sparklers...lots of flames.)

This picture and the one below it were taken on our way out of Guatemala City the day we landed.

You're probably already picking up on this, but Guatemala is an absolutely beautiful country. 

 

For the last few weeks of our time in Guatemala, we taught English to students at three different schools in the area (two public schools and one private school).  This was a really cool and unique experience (despite communication issues and the fact that the majority of us are not fluent in Spanish).  The kids at the schools were (mostly) super sweet and eager to hang out and play or dance with us during recess times.

Michal and I with one of the classes we taught.

          There you have it, friends (part of it, at least).  I may be sharing videos or more specific stories on the blog in the future, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this look at what the trip was like.  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else this Summer (10/10 recommend).
     
  Thanks for reading!
-Anna