“To wake up and realize the condition and needs around the world”

“To wake up and realize the condition and needs around the world” 

            Spoken by Victoria, one of the SI missionary’s who’s been here over 10 years. What do you first think when you wake up? Is it your own needs? Or what does the day have for you? This question Victoria shared with us, came out of her testimony. One of the devotionals that stuck out to me this week was Matthew 5:8 “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, For they will see God”. I can’t help but think of Victoria when I read this verse. Her passion has touched my heart, her hearts is contagious, and only because it is aligned with Jesus’ heart. Is your heart pure? Are you seeking a pure heart? I have been humbled countless times by the devotionals here. But this one hit me hard. There is a lot of self-reflection here in this program. I am learning more than I am serving. How do you live when you are alone or when you are in secret? Does your front stage life match your backstage life? God is not interested in the public version of you, but the person you are becoming in secret. How you live is consistent with what you profess- also know as integrity or authenticity. A friend of mine shared some words that his mom would say to him “son, you have to be honest with God” he went further into explaining that you have to violently rip your heart out to God. Be brutally honest with Him so that no sin is not exposed. How can you purify your heart if you are not real with God? God is honest not fake, a very real God.

              Those are just a few thoughts for you😊 I have been blessed to be serving on the Trade School team here at SI (students international). I have two great leaders, Samuel and Russell. They are a joy to work with. Samuel is a local who knows quite a bit of English, so it has been easy to communicate with him. He is a great man that has given a lot of his time serving. He is what I like to call a “Spiritual weapon”. He serves at his church and plays the drums during worship and on the weekends he and his wife have a little ministry where they minister to little kids that can sometimes go from 30 to 70 kids at one time. It’s encouraging to see someone serving not only at work but at their home too. Their home is where they have their get togethers. Russell is from the States and has been serving at SI for a couple of years now. He has been a blessing when it comes to translating words that Samuel doesn’t know. I am very grateful because I am terrible at Spanish but slowly learning. Russell has a heart for the people here and it’s evident. He and his wife also is expecting a baby, please pray for him! God is using these two very much here. We have been working\building a lot! We are in the process of making a reclining bed, and a roof over an outdoor sink, we’ve made little Guatemala country key chains and spatulas to sell at the SI store to help raise funds for the Trade site, we’ve sanded down chairs and repainted them, we’ve hung up fans in the Special Education site (it gets hot in there haha), we’ve hung up this beautifully made sign for the Physical therapy site. The Trade site has a hand in a little bit of everything in the SI mission field.

               Our service is very helpful, but the main focus here in these two weeks is relationships. I’ve never learned more about relationships than here. I have also learned to eat slower when at the table, haha but seriously. People enjoy each other’s company and spend a long time talking when eating with each other. I’m told breaks are usually an hour and a half, which is not existent in the states. They encourage rest! It has been hard with the language barrier, but actions speak louder than words. I’ve learned that you can say a lot just by the expression on your face when you walk into a room. Or when you are sitting in front of people. A lot of what we do here is spend time with people. Simply sitting in the presence of people, sometimes that is all that is needed, letting someone know that you are there for them. You will be surprised as to what that can do, I’m sure some of you know. I’m reminded of Mary and Martha, how Martha was busy washing dishes but Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. I personally have been caught up in busyness in my life, and it hasn’t been until now where I see the culture in Guatemala is to prioritize spending time with people. A lot of the time we stop what we are doing and enjoy one’s company. I can’t help but bring this into a spiritual aspect of how often we are too busy doing work that we completely forget that Jesus is in the other room waiting for some company, not that he needs it but he does want it. Woah did you hear that Jesus wants your company, the all-powerful God wants your company, wow!

               Here is something else I’ve noticed. There are a bunch of beautiful dogs here in Magdalena. A lot on the streets and in homes. But I can’t help notice there are some dogs that are malnourished and with scars, rummaging around in the trash for food, eating an empty chip bag, I mean it’s pretty sad but real. Mark 7:24-30 “the Gentiles women’s faith” her famous line that got her son healed from a demon “Yes Lord but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs” Here she is calling herself a dog in front of countless people and in front of the king of kings, what humility! Wow I mean can we publicly call ourselves dogs in front of everyone at church and mean it?! How humble are you before God? Being meek does not mean one is a coward or spineless. Neither does it mean indecisiveness or lacking confidence. Meekness is not weakness, but rather harnessed and self-controlled strength!

 My next question to you is are you willing to serve? And when you are done serving are you willing to serve again when you don’t see the fruit of your service. I won’t lie it’s hard to see the fruit here at least in the Trade site, I’ll be real and say it! But! I know the Lord is at work, and especially here at SI. I will leave you with this, Luke 17:7-10 “In this way, you also, when you do all the things which are commanded of you, say, we are unworthy slaves: we have done only that which we have ought to have done.” I can’t help but selfishly think how God will bless me for the work I’m doing here. But Praise the Lord for this reality check, nothing I do matters and nothing I do here is because of me, it is the Holy Spirit clearly working through the lives of the Lifters and the SI staff.  Now this morning I get to proudly boast in Christ by singing these words “so, here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you’re my God. And you’re altogether lovely altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me, And I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” Would you humble yourself before the Lord today? I am praying for you. Praise the Lord!

         Please pray for the hearts of us LIFTers, that God may continue to do a work in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for the staff here and their families, they truly are amazing and humble. Please pray for God's ministry here, God is working in Magdalena, Guatemala. Your prayers ARE NOT IN VAIN! THANK YOU!

God be with you! Maranatha!

-Matthew Pepe

Hola Amigos y Familia! | Child Sponsorship Update

Hola Amigos y Familia!

 

Where to begin? This trip has impacted me in so many ways. From the beginning, it was clear that the people here have a different way of living. The hospitality, humility, and hunger for connection, even with strangers like us Gringos has been so evident with each family we meet. 

Working with the Child Sponsorship site has not been what I expected it would be. Time and time again, I’ve noticed the radical unhurriedness of my site leaders Cesar and Yvonne.  This was first seen when we walked around town to get to know the area we’d be serving. Yvonne walked SO slow and us LIFTers consistently found ourselves way ahead of her. She walked slowly to be interruptible. Every person she passed, she not only said “Buenos dias!” but she intentionally began a conversation, checked in, and stopped for at least five minutes to hear their stories. 

One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from LIFT has been to take things slower and to be interruptible, but I didn’t realize how much I still had to learn. Early in this trip, I realized how addicted I am to my timetable, to my watch, to my schedule. At one house we heard the testimonies of a family who has been greatly impacted by Child Sponsorship. I didn’t understand a word of it and I was falling asleep, constantly looking at my watch, wondering how long we would need to listen to an untranslated monologue. That night, I reflected on the day and was disgusted with my hurry sickness. It doesn’t matter if I understand, it’s not about me or about my schedule. It’s about being present, engaged, and sharing Jesus’ love and compassion. That night, I decided to stop wearing my watch.

No longer did I care about the schedule. I went with the flow of where Jesus’ compassion led. I was able to be engaged during the sharing of testimonies, I wasn’t glancing at my watch constantly to make sure we were finishing at our sites on time, and I was able to be present, interruptible, and hungry for connection with the people here. I found joy in listening to the rapid Spanish conversations surrounding me, and I tried my best to understand. It was exciting to realize how much I could understand when I looked up from my watch and started listening. 

Connecting with our host family has been challenging but so so good. Oftentimes, our attempts to communicate has resulted in snorts from our host mama Marta and chuckles from our host sister Veronica. We tried to say we love bread and said, “Te amo pan!” (I love you, bread!), and the snorts and chuckles bounced off the walls of the small, lovely, and comforting kitchen! One night though, we were able to have an impactful connection with Veronica. We told her about the humility we are learning here in Guatemala and how thankful we are for the hospitality. She told us about the poverty that she’s seen in the area, about families that have lots of kids but not enough money to feed them. She asked if it was the same in the US. We told her that the poverty we’ve seen is more among adults who face addiction, who are homeless and hopeless. It was hard but beautiful to connect over the brokenness of the world, to see that there is hardship everywhere, even in the States. We, as the body of believers, must come together to fight this brokenness, this hopelessness, this hardship. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, this posture of humility and interruptibility is so evident. The Samaritan had been raised to hate, detest, and loath the dying Jew. And yet, he swallowed his pride. We don’t get to choose our neighbors. As Mother Teresa said, we must help the person in front of us. Who in your life is a neighbor that you wouldn’t choose? How can you help them?

Another beautiful part of this trip has been the lack of phones and technology. It has been so beautiful to connect with people without our rectangular distraction device that we hold so dear. My only wish is that I could communicate with my fiancée Mitchel and my family. In fact, I wish they could have been on this trip with me! This trip has been so incredibly impactful and I long to share it with those closest to me! I love you and I miss you <3 Also, shout out to my grandma for faithfully commenting on each blog post! It’s meant a lot to me (:

With so much love,

Caris

 

As I write this, the LIFT community and Students International staff are singing How Great Thou Art in Spanish and it is so so beautiful!

 

Thank you for your prayers! 

·      There is sickness going around, I had my share of the virus and it wasn’t fun. Please pray for health for us all!

·      Please pray that we would continue to learn and continue to grow in humility

 

Acts 2:42-47:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. Then awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.

 

 

Gracias a Dios por todos!

Dear friends and family at home, 

Tasked with the assignment to contribute to this blog (I did, in fact, volunteer), it is hard to know where to begin. There is so much to tell! For traveling to a new country always brings a wave of new impressions with it. There are the big things, like the change in landscape, culture, infrastructure, or food; but it is the little things that make the biggest difference. It’s in doors opening with a little string, in noting the Chuchos (street dogs) stationed at their same territory every day, in the new smells and flowers, and even in toilets flushing a little differently (at our site, we flush it by pouring a bucket of water into it).…More than once have I prayed under my breath in Spanish for it to flush at our homestay.

Yet, wherever in the world you go, God’s Spirit is the same. After only a few days spent in Guatemala, I already felt I would miss the people here when it’s time to go. Let me tell you about a few of them...

Our homestay has been wonderful. Together with Nicole, Grace, and Attie, I am staying with Blanca, her husband, and her daughters. She has four daughters, one of whom is married and living elsewhere. Every meal includes tea and sweet bread, and many include homemade tortillas. They have a brilliant view over Magdalena, which means we have to walk down and back up the hill every day. It is good mini-training in this high elevation, and I have been grateful for the conversations we have on the walks. They also have two dogs: “Doggy”  and “Gordo,”  or “ Gordito,”  as we usually call him. (This is huge. Camp has a no-pet policy.) Gordo does not live up to his name (it means “ Fat” ) but it gives us a good laugh. There has been much laughter at our homestay. Blanca teases a lot, and Mariana, her eldest, speaks a lot of English; so we banter with her, too. She also came along with us to Antigua for one afternoon, and has joined us twice for the Eco hike, which is our fitness training for the upcoming Acatenago hike.

I’ve found incredible support in rooming with Attie, our RA, and in the prayer time we share with the four of us at the end of most days. It’s been so sweet to spend time with these girls. …and extremely entertaining.

Today marks exactly one week since our first day at the Special Education site. I’ve been working with Jeff, Jack, and Evelyn, under Brenda and Daniella. Brenda and Daniella are both very humble, inspiring people. I wish I had the time to share their testimonies here. Suffice it to say that God has worked in powerful and redeeming ways in their lives, and I look up to them a great deal. We also love seeing the laughter and and friendship they share with one another.

We start every morning in prayer. Thereafter Jeff and I dutifully sweep the floors, while the other two wipe surfaces. And so we prepare the space for the kids to come. We play games and puzzles with them, and beyond that, every day looks a little different. On Monday, a teacher came to give a music therapy class. We do exercises that involve movement, developing rhythm, and counting. Similarly, the puzzles help the students to recognize colors and shapes—though the learning points are different for each student. Thankfully, my broken Spanish is not too much of a hurdle. Some of the students talk a lot, but some communicate non-verbally. On other days we have joined forces with the sports site, and on others, no students come. We’ve also made greeting cards for fundraising, bookmarks for the mothers, and painted some walls. One fun example of the variety at our site is found on Monday, when Jeff was a gentleman as I was painting in full midday sunlight. Through some creative thinking, he found a frying pan to hold over my head for some shade. This turned into a four-person system in which Evelyn and I painted, while Jack and Jeff gave us shade with their combined umbrella and pan.

Through these days, God has been causing me to reflect on a great deal. The first is practicing being present. Whether I am sweeping floors at our site, or seated around the table with our host family, I have been trying to treat each moment as having eternal significance. It is not in an effort to over-spiritualize, but out of necessity. For with LIFT approaching its end after this trip, my mind has been much fixed on the future. It hit me in the week leading up to this trip. However, there is enough to focus on here, and now. So God has challenged me to entrust him each day with my daily bread. Jesus teaches us not to pray for our needs tomorrow, next month, or five years down the line; only to entrust Him with each day. This has been an invaluable lesson for me in Guatemala. It is in the slower days that I wrestle with this most. For as packed as our schedule is, the rhythm is slow. And so for every morning that I spend in quiet with Him, I find peace and rest in that day. In this way, the 30 minutes we get between worship and our group devotionals have been one of my favorite parts of the day. I sit and overlook a valley adjoining Magdalena from the SI site even as I write.

As such, the first week has flown by. Now I am once again challenged to stay present, and entrust the Lord with my daily needs. It has been good.

Another thing that has jumped out to me during our time here, is the ways in which SI pours into us. We came here on a short-term trip, ready to help however we can. But our experience is as Caleb, Rachel, and Tim told us beforehand: most of what we do is rooted simply in being present. We are a support to the leaders at our site, and we are intentional with our time with our host families. The staff of SI, on the other hand, has done a lot for us. They provide devotionals for us every morning, have prepared amazing dinners several times, pack us lunch every day, have treated us to meals in Antigua, have shared testimonies with us and passed on life lessons, and are gracious in helping us understand and operate in Guatemala’s (and Magdalena’s local) culture. And so I hardly know who is serving who.

Lastly, since we don’t do many home visits at our site, but are more stationary, it has been a gift when we have gotten to hear stories from people in Magdalena. Just yesterday the mothers of some of the kids came for a Bible study. We worshiped in Spanish together with them; Evelyn led and played guitar, Jack was on percussion, and Jeff and I harmonized. As we had prayed before, the Spirit moved, and the mothers each shed tears as they worshiped and shared prayer requests after. It is interesting to find that I am completely comfortable praying over people, now. Because, well, it’s not about me. I just invite the Holy Spirit to give me the words, and they get to receive. It is humbling to hear the burdens they carry; there is illness and alcoholism in this community, and social stigma around special needs. This past week, I have witnessed how SI meets people in their needs; through the material (sickness, education, sports, etc.), they also meet people’s spiritual needs (to know the love of God!). And on a more personal note, I remember how I used to squirm at my own parents praying for people on the streets, even as I saw the good they did. Yet now, I find myself doing the same.

And so I see, this is one small example of how God has been transforming our hearts all year. I have seen this in many of the LIFTers. This trip has been an invaluable place to put what we’ve learned about missions into practice… and the Lord continues to disciple us through it. It has consisted of newness, challenge, and a lot of joy. My heart has been very full.

I find my time runs short now. So, I will close with some prayer points:

• Pray for wellness among LIFTers; we’ve been dropping like flies with a bad cough going around. We want to do this volcano hike all together!
• Also pray that everyone will be able to go to Acatenango; we will have another hike to qualify today
• Pray for continued group strength and unity. There is spiritual warfare going on, I have felt this in my own mind. It has also been a lot of fun, and special, to be in a different country together. So may God continue to strengthen and teach us. Pray that any hardship may form us into being more like Him, and to greater unity.
• Pray for energy! Nights are fairly short, and the sun is hot.
• Please also pray for the people of Magdalena, and how we may be a support to the work SI does in this short-term context. Pray that they may see Jesus through all SI does.
• For me personally, pray for peace, and presence. God has been good to me this week. But on some days I feel a little lower than others, because of circumstances outside of this trip. Pray that I may be fully present in all I do.

So, all that is left to say is,

Gracias a Dios por todos, y adios por hoy,

Rosalie Baak

Greetings from Nate!!

        Day 9 of Guatemala is here! We have different sites that we are serving in. It's been really cool to see the flow of the ministry of Students International in the community in Magdalena. There are many parts of missions that we are to take hold of. Jesus went to the sick, the poor, even to the people who rejected him. We are called to be like Jesus. I see a lot of that calling being fulfilled here.

I have been serving in the microfinance ministry. As someone who is big in business and sales, the conviction hit me like a truck. This is not about the money, its about the building of those around us. The relations in the church and the importance of prayer has been highlighted to me. In microfinance I have been with Abigail, Trina and recently Alena. Gary is our site leader. We LOVE Gary! We have been checking in with business and seeking prayer needs and praying for them. Even if I can't understand some of the things being said, praying in the Spirit is what we have been doing and it's huge and have been seeing fruit. The Ministry helps entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses. The provide loans financially with interest rates more than a quarter of what market is going for, they provide seminars and do check-ins and help with business plans. All while planting seeds of the Gospel. God is moving here! We are seeing a lot of the Lord providing for these people that we are talking too. 

        Some supernatural things too! We prayed with a healed blind man and saw his Aquacate (avocado) farm that is booming with 400 trees on a hill with sandy dirt which is normally not common for trees to thrive. God is now using the Farmer Eladio to further the Gospel as well. He is helping his workers by paying them more and spreading the love of Christ, he has more time to spend in the church and serve. I am seeing a lot of believers building up believers and non-believers here. This is living on mission. We can be doing this in the States too. God uses everything to build up His glorious kingdom. People play different roles. You matter and play a role in the kingdom, too. Your personality, smile, skills, hobbies, all of it. Serve the kingdom. I encourage you and my class with, how can you use your gifts and what you enjoy to serve God?

The hospitality here is also something to note. We all have host families which really make the experience very immersive. We are able to live IN the culture here. It is different for all of us because our host families don't speak much English. For some that is not a problem, and are communicating no problem. My house…. that's a little different of a story haha. But we still pray everyday together and we try our very very best to communicate, although Paul, Brayden, Hage and myself know little Spanish. But I am so thankful to be doing it with them. Our family took us in knowing this. 

        We do home visits to check in on business and other sites check in also on their people and consistent hospitality, we get a warm welcome inside smiles and they even feed us! We have learned how to make tortillas (which means we can now get married in Guatemala lol.) Microfinace was able to make a dessert called Mole (Mole-ay) with Ava, a host mom and business owner. She does it because she loves the ministry and North Americans. She dreams to have a hotel some day to take North Americans in and wants to serve them. Mole has tomatoes, chocolate, plantains, sesame and pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, sugar, breadcrumbs, and some other spices. It was very interesting, but such a great experience. 

        We are sending our best wishes to you. We are definitely having a live-changing experience. I have been on mission trips before and this one is different. But we still miss you. We miss your hugs, encouragement, whats going on with your days, we miss your laughs. Be encouraged, work together, serve, Seek God for this very moment. He will guide your steps. I pray that you find him today, that he builds up your faith and he reminds you of the skills and all the things He's blessed you with that you may help others as well. 

Prayer Requests:

1. We are hiking a Volcano soon! Saturday and Sunday we will be 13,000 feet high looking at the active Fuego Volcano. Please pray as some try to qualify today, for injuries that some are facing, and also the Spiritual Emphasis that Paul and myself are doing. We want to make an impact with LIFT but also with the Guides that are leading us and to the many tourists that will be with us as well. A good, safe, and edifying Hike!
2. Open hearts to the people we are ministering too and the people that we run into today
3. Eyes to see the Spirit and a willingness to act (this is something we learned early on, God giving us opportunities and we had to adjust to culture on how to act)
4. Encouragement for what we are feeling called to from God, What the next steps are and how this trip impacts that. 
5. The continuing of the building of relationships 

Your Prayers and support is way bigger than you know! Thank you so so much. 

Many Blessings, Much Love and One GREAT BIG HUG coming soon!

-Your Brother In Christ,

Nathan Tarnowski (:

¡Hola, amigos y familia!

¡Hola, amigos y familia!

It’s officially been one week since LIFT 49 arrived in Guatemala. I wanted to share some insight about how the Lord has been moving. From Wednesday through Friday last week, we each served at our job sites, working alongside Students International staff. The week was full of immersing ourselves in the community of Magdalena and surrounding towns, where many sites would spend their days visiting the homes of the locals, hearing their stories, eating with them, or even just being with them. The community has been so kind to us at women’s social work, undoubtably waving as we pass by and shouting, “buenas!” The SI staff have been so generous to us and intentional with us. Even though we’re only here temporarily, it truly feels like we’re a part of their team. Sheny and Hannah are awesome!! God is so clearly softening the hearts of local women, using the two of them as His hands and feet.

When we aren’t serving at the sites, we’ve been spending time with our host families. We’ve been blessed daily by very delicious food, and tiendas all around to satiate any late night ice cream cravings. Two nights ago, los chicos at my home stay played uno with my roommates and I. Not that the language barrier has been much of an issue (thank God for Caris lol), but playing a card game was muy chillero, breaching the language gap in new ways. It’s funny, for some of us it’s felt like some of our English is leaving us as we try to think en Espanol. Lauren Goodison ("LEG") joked, “go to Guatemala and forget how to speak English, but never learn how to speak Spanish.”

Every morning, we meet up at the park in town and walk together as a class to the SI Community Center. Here, we’ve been gathering for worship (and yummy coffee) and partaking in a devotional that was written by SI. As I write this blog post now, everyone else is in their devotional time. The devo specifically dives into the sermon on the mount, which conveniently is also the scripture passage we’ve been memorizing as a class this semester. This is very typical of God, but the devo has perfectly reflected the posture that our hearts ought to take, whilst perfectly correcting my own heart.

Day by day, especially in the beginning of the trip, culture shock was prevalent. Culture shock is also a just convenient way of saying that we’ve been incredibly privileged in the States and all of a sudden, we’ve found ourselves outside of our comfort zones to some extent. I’ve felt frustrated with myself, trying to reconcile my discomfort with the fact that this is how much of the world lives every day. To be completely honest, this experience has been incredibly eye-opening to the fact that I am not entitled to comfort – none of us are. Any “comfort” we receive ought to be held with open hands to the Lord and to our neighbor. Nothing that I have is mine. I want to encourage you, reader, to revisit the parable of the good Samaritan. Pray for us as the Lord continues to teach us what humility looks like.

I was reading 1 Corinthians 12 the other day, and I knew that I wanted to include it if I was asked to write a post. This passage, I think, describes what it’ been like to partake in cross-cultural missions and Christian community here in Guatemala.

One Body with Many Members

"...12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[d] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together..."

Each devo ends with the question, because of the beautitudes, what do you think the kingdom of God looks like? If you’re willing to respond, I'd love to hear what you think.

Asking for prayer as the Holy Spirit leads,

Love you, thank you!

Lauryn Stornelli

Riding back from our LIFT vs SI soccer night. 

Watching Fuego erupt (voclano on the left). Acatenango (the volcano we'll hike) is the one on the right.

Learning to make tortillas during a home visit

One of the towns we did home visits in with the Women's Social Work Site

Hola amigos! | Our Weekend in Antigua

Family and Friends,

We had the awesome experience of spending this past weekend in the city of Antigua, Guatemala! On Saturday we met at our meeting spot in Central Park and hopped on a bus to ride to Antigua! Our first stop: Chocolate and Coffee tours! We had the blessing of experiencing and learning about authentic Guatemalan coffee and chocolate. Everyone got to sign up for either the coffee or chocolate tours (or choose to just rest in the courtyard) and I took the opportunity of being a part of the chocolate tour! Our tour guide led us to make our own chocolate bon bons using a mold with different shapes. There were many toppings we could choose from such as sea salt, almonds, oreos, chili, and cinnamon. We also experienced and learned how they make chocolate, the steps of fermentation and how to roast the cocoa beans to bring out the flavor. Once we were finished with the tour, we received our customized chocolate bites, but we had to eat them fast before they melted!

We then got back on the bus and rode to downtown Antigua. Once there, we established a meeting spot at Cafe Barista then split into groups and went off to find lunch. In my group was Zach, Julia, and Attie, and myself! We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Ta'Cool alongside Caleb, Rachel, and Nivia! The food was so good! After lunch my group headed off to walk around the city. We walked past many tiny markets, shops, and vendors. We stopped into this giant artisan market where there were various pieces of clothing, toys, mugs and so much more! We stopped by the San Fransisco Ruins and walked around remnants of old school classrooms, kitchens, and a library filled with old Guatemalan history books. We walked around some more, taking photos of everything we saw, then headed back to cafe barista to regroup with the others. We all had dinner as a group back at Ta'Cool (it was too good! ) and had a wonderful time of community as a whole group, story sharing from events of the day, and fellowship with one another! After dinner, we rode back to Magdalena on our bus and dismissed back to our host homes. 

On Sunday, we headed back to Antigua for church at Shoreline church. After the service was over, we were given free time to walk around the city before lunch. Alena, Gavin, Andrew, Raquel, Jack, and I stopped back at the artisan market to buy some Hackysacks! We then walked around until meeting back at Cafe Barista for lunch. We had lunch at the delicious Luna De Piel. The menu was full of sweet and savory crepes, salads, smoothies and more! After lunch I headed with Zach, Julia, and Matt back to Cafe Barista to relax my feet! It was really rejuvenating to sit with my bible and journal and have a chance to slow down and reflect on my time here in Guatemala. There has been so much that the Lord has been teaching me about missions, community, and not taking things for granted. How blessed are we that we get to experience the amazingness of his kingdom here in Guatemala! I’m so grateful for the time I have spent and the time I get to spend with the leaders of SI and with my LIFT community! One of my favorite moments from this day was the bus ride home. You wouldn't believe how loud these bus rides have been, but this one was especially loud and filled with conversation and connection. Sharing stories from the past days, laughing with one another, and reflecting on some of the best memories!

As I wrap up this blog, I’d ask that you all would be praying for us as we continue our last week here in Guate! Some things you can be praying for:

• Connection not only between us LIFTers but also with the SI staff
• Personally, my ankle. Its been tough getting around but prayer for healing would be awesome:)
• A continued fire for the Lord and his mission for us here in Guatemala

Thank you all for your support! It means the world,

Regan