Guatemala baby!!

Sunrise at the baseMcDonalds in Antigua Night sky at the base

We landed here on October 18th, 11 days ago. A couple days later my team and I met our ministry host….Reindom!! Most of what I’ve been doing here is serving with them so I’ll focus on that in this post. Also I just realized I never mentioned what my team’s name is. We are ……..drumroll please……the D.O.G.s! Since it’ll be more fun to not say why, everyone that doesn’t know-I’m looking at you Ben-guess what that stands for in the comments. Reindom does children’s ministry in this village called Santa Marta in Guatemala which we help with on Tuesdays and Fridays. What we do is clean and prepare all the rooms for afternoon Bible study, make and serve lunch to all the kids, play with them, do Bible study with them after lunch and then clean up. We also do house visits with locals in the village, sharing the Gospel with them, encouraging, and praying for them. On Wednesdays we help them with the King’s table, this incredible ministry Reindom does for homeless people and people addicted to drugs and alcohol. We find and call all the local drunks, homeless people, poor, homeless, and elderly people to come eat breakfast with us and then we talk with them, love on them, and there’s a message given. It’s such a beautiful thing to find and call all the rejected of this world to come and eat with us and love them as Christ did for us. It reminds me Matthew 9:10-13

“And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

On Thursdays we have activation day at the base. We have a lesson and then go put it into practice. This past week we had a lesson on evangelism and then went to Parramos and shared the Gospel with and prayed for the locals there. On Saturdays we do VBS with Reindom in three villages. Then my team has a Sabbath on Sunday and an adventure day on Monday. On those days I’ve done multiple really cool things. One has been to go to three beautiful rooftop coffee shops, one of which I’m at now writing this. Another was to go to the McDonalds in Antigua. Bro, McDonalds here is crazy!!! The one I’ve been to has a huge outdoor courtyard with stuff for kids to do like a seesaw and swings, lots of seating, and hanging plants and vines everywhere. They also have two outdoor water features. Which reminds me of my old job at good ol’ Easton Outdoors. I’ve also been to the market here, the grocery store, and done laundry in a pela at the base. Another awesome thing about Guatemala is the chicken buses. Whenever we want to go anywhere we have to take one. It’s basically a painted school bus packed with people to the limit blaring Latino music. They’re so much fun! Guatemala is also so stinking gorgeous! The views are stunning! Guatemala is filled with mountains and our base is surrounded by them so I get to see them every time I get up to read the Bible in the morning and every day when we travel to and from ministry. The people here are also so friendly, kind, and generous, even though most live in poverty. One last super dope thing I’ve experienced here is THREE MORE healings! Two of the girls on our squad came in with injuries, a broken toe, and a badly sprained ankle. One of the first days while in worship, a bunch of people prayed over them and they were both healed! The other girl injured herself playing soccer, and was in the process of going to doctors and finding out what happened and how long it would take to recover before she was healed during our activation day! In closing, please be praying for me, my team, and my squad, and Guatemala as a nation. Specific requests:

-God has really been growing me in my identity, and that’s been awesome but also really hard at times                                         
-Learning to hear from the Lord has also been something He’s been teaching me that’s been really hard and I’m struggling with currently                                                                    
-One of my squadmates, Emma, left to go home and won’t be coming back. Please be praying for her team, leader Ally, and the whole squad with that, as that’s been hard for all of us

Until next time,                                                          
God’s beloved son Luke