Guatemala Short-term Missions trip

Day 2

Today we woke up at our hotel in Guatemala City and had a quick breakfast together at the hotel. We all agreed that the Guatemalan people are very kind and accommodating. After breakfast, we all went back to our rooms, packed up and met in the lobby. Ben from Bethel ministries let us know we’d be traveling to Retalhuleu which is about a four hour drive out of Guatemala City onto the highways and curvy byways.

With Ben as our driver, in the first hour we did our first devotional for the week and spoke about the great commission in Matthew 28, where we all shared our perspectives on that passage and how it sharpens our focus on this specific trip. All this while we drove past a volcano near the city and for some reason a car with a small water tower strapped to the top of the car, and some cattle walking alongside the road. As we left the city the winding roads were filled with so many trees, hills and mountains, God’s reminders of his presence in his beautiful creation.  When we got to our destination in Reutalhuleu, we had lunch with missionaries Ben, his wife Emily, Nick and his wife Izzy, who will helped our house building projects.

After lunch we checked into our hotel, received two more volunteers and drove slowly down an incredibly stony road to arrive at our first house visits to give groceries and to ask how they’re doing. Michaela was our group's visit and she is 46 and has 6 kids her husband passed away three years ago of kidney failure. After a long battle with kidney failure and an infection he finally passed.

Her oldest boy Juan Gregorio is sixteen years old and works in the fields to support the family when there is work. When there’s work he helps with $40 a week. Her other four children are 11 and under and go to school. They are a year or two behind in school but Michaela is very proud of her children. She is only able to work a few times a week cleaning houses or doing laundry for others and she only makes $2 every time she does that. It was sobering to see the conditions in which this woman, her children, her mother and her sister live. After Ben asked many questions of the family to find out their specific needs, he told the kids the Jonah story and then gave the family a Bible and scriptures to read out loud to one another. Then after we prayed with the family, the kids came to our van to get some Chickle (Gum) that Ben had promised.

When we arrived at the 2nd home visit we were welcomed by a sweet family that consisted of the parents, seven children, and two grandchildren. They shared their names, ages, and their highest level of education with us. That is when I realized that none of the girls had made it past the sixth grade due to how expensive it is. Most of the girls help their parents by working on their crops. One of their sons really enjoys school and is in the eleventh grade. At one point a mango had fallen onto their tarp roof, and they offered us the mangos that they use to sell and make their income. It reminded me of Mark 12:41-44 especially where it says that the widow in this passage gave two copper coins but even out of her poverty she gave all she had to live on. I was moved when one of the daughters shared, with tears in her eyes, how thankful she was that God was providing food for them. As I reflect on today, I am thinking about how often I can be apathetic towards the ways that the Lord provides in my day to day life, where food is an anticipated expectation, while for this family it is a continuous blessing from God. The parents and one of their daughters also shared the peace that they have in Christ which was humbling and encouraging to hear. Some prayer requests for the family are for the parents’ health and that the Lord would provide for them financially.

After those two home visits, we went back to the hotel and had dinner together and then did our second day’s devotion together from the passage in Exodus 3:1-10 where Moses gives excuses why cannot go and lead God’s people. Please pray for both families that we visited and also pray for the countless families they represent, which are truly “the least of these.”