Guatemala Mission Trip

~posted by Roma

Back in July, I had the wonderful opportunity to take my second mission trip! It was refreshing to be back on the mission field again, after 2 years. (In 2012 our family went to Haiti.) Our whole family didn’t go on this trip; just Bianca and I. Bianca went for an internship with other interns for 3.5 weeks, then the last week our youth pastor here in Texas led a team from our church. And I wanted to go! So after having a garage sale here with the help of my family, raising all the funds, packing my bags, putting my pigtails in my hair and grabbing my jacket, I was ready! It took a step of faith to commit to going even if I didn’t know where the funds would come from, and traveling without my family was different, but at least I had a team with me. J

The night our team got there, Bianca came up behind me, swung me around in the air, and squeezed me! It was great to be with her again after a few weeks. Her Birthday had been celebrated in Guat. over and over again, and in this picture we are having one of her celebrations.

Our team. There were lots of other dear people to me that are not in this picture—our translators, the missionaries, the fellowship Guatemala team, and the interns—but this is the team I came down with.

Guatemala was a great experience as all mission trips can be, and this blog post may end up being shorter than I’d like just because trying to share every detail could take so long. All the words and pictures can’t even do it justice. I would encourage you to go to Guatemala yourself. It’s eye-opening to drive past zone 3 (there are 25 zones in Guat.) where no one goes in, and no one goes out, because of the drug cartels. It’s eye-opening to walk along a train track where the people are living in absolute squalor and kids come running up to you to hug you even though you don’t know them and they don’t know you. We went through dirty places, smelly places, and big wealthy houses with sugar cane fields. (We went through a variety of places in 7 days.) There was poverty, and people were broken.

But on a happier note, Guatemala was also a wonderful place to experience Hispanic culture. I will always adore Hispanic culture, being half Puerto-Rican myself. Getting up late in the morning…drinking strong black coffee with cane sugar…never being in a rush…always being on “Guatemalan time” (which is really late)…going to bed at 2:00 a.m. so slap-happy and exhausted; your stomach hurts to death from laughing! Hispanic people coming to the mission house to visit you even though you don’t know them. They’re all smiles talking with you even though there’s a language barrier…it’s AWESOME! And when I got home, it was hard to do the “Texan routine” instead of the “Guat. Routine.” This trip also had plenty of inside jokes and funny memories that make the mission trip even more memorable. J

The things we did during the week were going door to door evangelizing, visiting different churches and a hotel with a church in it, and VBS with kids in zone 25. (pictured above.) VBS was awesome! Everyone took turns teaching every night, (including me J) we got our faces painted, and DANCED.

All these girls in the above picture are precious new friends of mine and sisters in the Lord! Two of them, S and M, have already visited my home in TX. All these girls are great. I’ll be seeing them again for sure.

Some of my favorite memories of Guatemala were: riding on the huge, colorful bus with blasting music on the way to touristy Antigua; shopping in the market for souvenirs for the family; getting a semi-permanent blue and black braid in my hair; panicking for a minute when two Guatemalan Police came up to me and I thought I was getting arrested. But they just wanted me to have my braid done outside of the town square. J So guess what--I was escorted outside the square!

In Antigua, with Mt. Agua in the background. Pastor D has climbed it! I want to climb it! J

Me with the missionaries Pastor D and his wife O. They are an incredible couple!

The most impacting part for me was the first day that we were going to zone 25 to evangelize. We arrived at pastor O’s church and everyone got silent when going inside because a prayer warrior was kneeling at the stage praying. I never learned this woman’s name or anything about her. I just know she was praying, singing over and over again “Gracias Cristo.” It makes me want to be more thankful. Looking around the room, I noticed that an American wouldn’t think there’s much to be thankful for. Pastor O’s church consists of a room, plastic chairs, a stage, and a bathroom that I won’t even get into. But this lady was absolutely grateful. She faithfully prays for her community every day. You can start praying for “the prayer warrior in Guatemala”, and pray God would hear her prayers and do miracles in her community.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and captions, and Bianca will probably post more on her 3-1/2 week internship later. I hope I go to Guatemala again--maybe for June 2015!