After living in Guatemala for around thirty days, it’s easy to say we’re basically locals. We’ve even been oh so gifted with the classic white person nickname, gringo, by many we pass. But seriously, we’ve been adopted into this culture and immersed in this land so beautifully.
At 5:30am every morning, my glorious alarm goes off to begin my day. I run a few laps around the base, make myself a hot cup of coffee, and spend some time with the Lord by journaling and reading my Bible all before breakfast at 7. Before our team heads out to ministry, we spend some time praying over each other and the day ahead.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, our ministry host, Tulio, will pick us up for an hour long trek up windy and bumpy roads to the village of Acatenango. Here, we partner with three sisters and some other lovely Guatemalan women to teach English classes to children and do house visits throughout the village. We teach English every Monday and we’ve been going through the Fruit of the Spirit. We start by having all of the kids in one room as we act out a Bible story and do a small recap of prior teachings. We then split into two groups, one with the older kids and the other with the younger kids. And we split ourselves according to the patience level we have which means I’m usually with the older kids. It is now more fun getting to do house visits because we’ll typically run into the kids we’ve seen at our classes. As we’ve gotten more comfortable with house visits, we’ve been able to bring and speak so much more life which isn’t just an encouragement and refreshment to those we visit, but also for us. Along with words of life, we’ve been able to instal a stove for a family and a bunk bed for another. And this week, we built an entire house for a woman we met on our first day of ministry here. I think as a team, one of our favorite parts about ministry in Acatenango is getting to spend time and grow closer with the Guatemalan women we’re partnering with. They speak little to no English and we speak even less Spanish so we all enjoy learning from each other. It’s been so beyond cool to see that you don’t need to speak the same language to build relationships.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, we partner with Junior at his family’s church, Restaurado la familia. We don’t typically get picked up for these ministry days so we’ll have to wait outside the gate for public transportation. And that means we’ll either get in a van or a chicken bus. As team treasurer, I take care of the transportation money so I’m usually the last to get on so I can hand cash over easily. If we’re in a van, I’m usually practically hanging out since I’m the last one in. There have been a few close calls of PV almost flying out the side when fast, tight turns are made. But so far, I’ve been able to make it to ministry in one piece. If we take a chicken bus, the chances of me staying in it are far higher but I can’t guarantee that I won’t fall over while trying to find a seat. As soon as the last person, which is always me, gets on the bus, the driver takes off at the speed of light I’m pretty sure. And that’s why I’m usually tumbling down the walkway to find a seat. That is, if there’s even a seat open. Sometimes these buses are so packed, there’s three people sitting in each row and the walkway is flooded with bodies, making it almost impossible to find any space to even just breathe sometimes. Let’s also mention how most buses have music blaring so loud it can be hard to hear. You have to pay good attention to make sure you don’t miss your stop. I think what my team enjoys most about the transportation adventures is watching me try to pay. I typically have pretty big bills so I’m expecting a lot of change back which can be pretty complicated to communicate when we don’t speak the same language and it’s chaotic all around. Prime eyebrow twitching time to put it simply.
We’ve done a few house visits with Junior which look different since we’re in a city versus a village. On Tuesdays, we host sports ministry at the soccer field at our base. The first week of this was the kite festival so we didn’t do any soccer specific things that day. Anna and I got to lead all of the kids in a little dance workout before we began the kite activity. We learned how to make our own kites that morning and we got to fly them with the kids later that afternoon. It was so cool to see the sky painted with so many colors and designs. We haven’t been able to partake in the soccer ministry yet but when we do, it’ll be quite a sight as 7/7 of us are very poor soccer players. We bring joy to the kids because they are typically laughing at our just fantastic athletic abilities. It can be quite humbling when a five year old has better coordination than we do. What can we say? It is very, very hard to run, kick a ball, and try to breathe at the same time while not trying to trample over the kids. On Fridays, we put on a VBS for some kids in a nearby village. We get to lead the kids in some worship and while we might not know the lyrics being said, we are fantastic at the dance moves. Due to the difference in our languages, Junior will teach the kids a Bible story but we are able to play games and color with the kids and bring fun and joy when they might not see that all of the time.
We end each day by heading back to the base for dinner at 5:30 with the entire squad. There’s nothing like coming home at the end of every day to be welcomed by all of our squad mates, or siblings, as we would better reference each other now. It is always so fun at dinner to hear about everyone’s day of ministry because we all get to do something different. With the exception of squad worship two nights a week, we will usually have team time after dinner to study a book of the Bible, talk about the book we’re reading as a team, share personal testimonies/life stories, or just be together and watch a movie. Each team has their own room so Abide has been gifted with the lovely room 3. We bought Christmas lights to hang up because I couldn’t handle the single LED light the room originally offered. Due to the cozy effect the new lights have provided, you can most likely find most if not all of our team in our room. It really has become a safe little home for us. Let’s just say that it is very easy to spot which bed is mine when you walk in our room. Not that everyone is extremely unorganized, but my corner is just a new level of organized. Every morning, my bed is perfectly made and I even set up my pillows in the corner to be opened up to the room. I also roll up my sleeping bag perfectly and place it in line with the pillows to make it look extra clean. My single shelf has my books lined up by height and my bins under my bed, storing my perfectly folded clothes, are all pristinely lined up. For some reason, our neighboring team, Harvest, just loves to come and mess up even the smallest portion of my corner so I know that they were there. Everyone has learned that it’s easy to push my buttons in this area.
Thursdays are “activation” days. All of the staff will come to the base to lead us in worship and give a teaching before we go out and “activate”. We’ve been covering all of the portions of the five-fold. After eating lunch and praying as a team, we all go out into Parramos to street evangelize. One week while with Emmery, Lianne, and Maggie, we prayed that the Lord would send us an English speaker. God sent us to this 25 year old French man named Bazile. He was a backpacking traveler who started to travel when he was 18, and did one of these adventures after every degree he earned. He was in Guatemala to hike Acatenango, the volcano, and was waiting in the middle of the Parramos square for the guy he was going to stay with to pick him up. He broke up with his girlfriend that morning and was doing this hike to find himself. He dian’t know much about Christianity but grew up Catholic. Having seen so many religions and cultures, he told us that he takes all the high points from each religion and puts it all together to make his own religion. We told him about the World Race and where we stand in our religion. He really loved the fact that so many young people were traveling the world like this. That, along with his hunger to find something truly fulfilling in this life, gave us the space to share what we have. We encouraged him to read the book of John and we showed him how he could get the Bible on his Phone, in French too. We truly believed that he would encounter God that day. This is just one of the many cool stories we have experienced and heard while street evangelizing.
As of the past two weeks, I have suffered from salmonella (all four types might I add) AND food poisoning, back to back. I started feeling poorly one Thursday night so was encouraged to go to the doctor Friday morning. But just going to the doctor isn’t as easy as you’d think. One of our fearless leaders, Banks, took five of us sickies into the city where the doctor was it. We had to get on a very crowded chicken bus for a 45 minute very bumpy ride to Antigua followed by a 30 minute walk to find the place. After filling out some basic paperwork, I am one of the first to get called back to get checked out. I tell the doctor my symptoms and she decided to test some blood and give me an IV. And I knew exactly what that meant…A NEEDLE. And if you know anything about Peyton Vetter, you’d know that needles and any sort of pain is not a friend of hers. Two more people came in with a bunch of needles and things so I started freaking out. The doctor asked if I wanted a friend so I got Grace, my team leader, to come back with me. I put up some fight to get that needle in my arm to say the least. I should also mention that they gave me the neede they usually give to infants. After sitting in the bright, cold room by myself for two hours, the doctor came back after they got my blood test results to tell me that I have all four types of salmonella. She explained to me all of my medications and dietary restrictions as they unplugged me from everything. To make matters worse, I had to suffer watching McNick and Emma Bland eat the glorious McDonalds as I was running on four hours of sleep from the prior night and on dietary restrictions so I couldn’t partake in the feast. Later I would learn that McDonald’s isn’t always the greatest idea. Later as in one week later. Just a few days salmonella-free, is when I entered into the stronghold of food poisoning. I spent the entirety of Saturday night throwing up and dry heaving and also had an encounter with the one and only Bill Swan that will humble me for as long as I live.
But it is looking like I am fully recovered from both and now extra cautious about what I eat ahahah. Over this coming weekend, our squad will be hiking a volcano! We will hike up Acatenango on Saturday and early Sunday morning, we will summit more to see a neighboring volcano, Fuego, erupt. Life has been so beyond exciting in Guatemala and I am learning so much and getting stretched even more. Being an extremely fast-paced, task-oriented person does not line up with sickness and living in a foreign country. I am learning to slow down, to soak in the exact moment the Lord has placed me in, and to open my eyes to see that it is far more beneficial to build relationships than to get tasks done. There truly is nothing like fully embracing the community God has gifted you when on the race. It is so beyond beautiful to see God’s hand and His people in this land and it is going to be incredibly hard to say goodbye to Guatemala.
