Hey friends & family!
I have been living in Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala for two weeks now, and the atmosphere has been life-giving! My team, Fuente de Vida, has been serving alongside Love Serve Ministry which is a Christ centered mission to serve the spiritual, physical, and financial needs of communities around Guatemala with the hopes of them becoming self- sustaining (stole their mission statement from website: see https://loveserve.azurewebsites.net/ for more details). Through Love Serve, FDV has also had the pleasure to work with hands down the most God -fearing family (the Misteco Family) that just loves to serve their community in whatever capacity. Seriously, they leave me undone on a daily basis, and I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to work with them for two months!
And now, with much excitement and a long-winded intro, I thought I would share what some of our daily routines look like! For starters, we work five days out of the week, Monday-Friday, and have Saturdays and Sundays off for adventures/rest. For the majority of the week, we are helping the Misteco family build a house in Santiago Zamora which is a neighboring village of Ciudad Vieja. When I initially found out we would be building a house, I was speechless!! The thought of sledgehammering cinder blocks, making cement, and cutting rhubarb just didn’t seem possible because it was never a trade I sought to learn. Though it was hard labor, it ended up being really fun thanks to the Misteco bros for teaching us the ropes! With lots of patience, on their end, and unwelcoming callouses on our hands, I think we finally have gotten the swing of things…. and the house is about halfway done already! WOO!
On Wednesdays, we have a soup kitchen for the Santiago community. Love Serve has a rented building in the heart of the village, and every Wednesday morning half our team helps the Mistecos make an authentic Guatemalan soup. Last week, we made pig’s head soup, and I was one of the blessed members who had to help with that prep. I’ll spare the details since you probably already have a vivid image in your minds of what that looks like already! Though it had its moments of turning my stomach, it was really cool to learn more about the Guatemalan culture through special dishes like this one. Also, the dance parties , ninja wars, and constant laughter makes soup kitchen days the bomb diggity.
I like to call Fridays “Fun Fridays” because in the afternoon we get to have kid’s club with the children of Santiago Zamora. After an AM of construction, we skip our way over to this huge park that has a trampoline, space for jump roping/ball tossing etc., a pavilion for bible study, and an included soccer field. Let’s just say, FDV’s inner child definitely takes over as we play various games of pato, pato, ganzo (duck, duck, goose), tag, double dutch, and lots of soccer. Kids club is usually run by the Misteco family, and we just get to be their lovely assistants! To end the week with kids club is absolutely priceless and so rewarding because of the foundation we are helping to build in these kids’ lives rooted in Jesus. I would say this is one of the sweetest times of the week for this sole purpose!
Also, today we hiked, ate, and climbed trees at the Misteco Farm! It was such a treat for the beginning of the week!
So yea, that is just a little taste of what life has been like in Guatemala for me and my team. It has been such a joyous time of tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord over this beautiful country. I know I can attest for my whole team when I say that we are truly blessed to be here and are so excited to see what these two months will look like for us, Love Serve, the Misteco family, and the community of Santiago Zamora!
Hasta luego!
