Day Eight: Monte de Salvacion

Mar.27.2013

10:25 p.m.

Phew! Up-and-down day. Was great though. With bad traffic, we rushed through lunch after continuing work on the compound. Even with rushing, we were still late for VBS. Managed to teach English and got some crafts done. Then we went off for our house visits before having dinner and going back to the church for the service.

So yeah, rush here, rush there. But that was pretty normal-ish by then. We visited some families who were affected by the mudslide and gave them some gifts to bless them. I just thought that it was pretty cool to see how they continued to trust God in the midst of everything.

Service went pretty well…

Okay, obviously, I don’t journal too much. But it was a great time. (Monte the Salvacion is the church name by the way). Definitely a new experience. One of the thing that I noticed was how there was no projector or screen. Everyone knew the words to the songs that the pastor played. One cool part was that we, the youth worship team, consisting of Josie, Martijn, Sarah, and myself,  and the group as a whole had a chance to lead worship for a little bit. We did Our God, My Redeemer Lives, and Happy Day with a Spanish chorus. It was just a pleasure and honor to have the Guatemalans allow strangers to be part of the service. Phil preached a little sermon about how Jesus is greater.

God, thank you so much for what you showed me thus far in the trip!!

One day to go!

#JesusIsGreater

Day Five: Palm Sunday

Mar.24.2013

7:40 a.m.

Breakfast at 9, leaving for downtown at 10.

Palm Sunday! Woo! Today is kinda a relaxing day for us where we recover a little from the hectic week so far. How do we do that? Visiting downtown Guatemala…

Back from downtown, from Easter play. We originally intended to visit the palace but it was close due to [it being] Palm Sunday. So we watched the Easter procession.

Along the way we visited a cathedral. It was very huge and I took plenty of pictures. As we made our way through the streets, we spotted plenty of people selling stuff. Reminds me a little of Malaysia. Then there was the procession. People carried statues of Jesus and the twelve disciples. It was quite a sight!

The cathedral

Later we [relaxed] at the house until we left for the Easter play at a HUGE church. It had 12, 000 seats and it was virtually full. It wasn’t bad play…

Fraternidad Cristiana de Guatemala

Just huge….almost like an arena. Anyways, again my Spanish came in handy as I helped figure out what one of the CH people was trying to say. (It turned out we were supposed to take a shower before church. And I understood it!! Yes! Thank you God!) The play was very showy and full of effects, especially light. I rather liked it though it was difficult to understand even with the translation-device-thingy. But I think it was pretty accurate.

It was quite a day. But we would anticipate tomorrow a lot….

#JesusIsGreater

Day Four: Sin Chair

Okay. You’ll see what I mean by the title.

March.23.2013

11:15 p.m.

Today was great but hectic. We were late to get to the worksite because of a huge factory fire. I have never seen so much smoke in my life. Traffic was bad and so we had to work faster to try to get some work done. Painted the church again. Then went up to help paint the house. Window and roof is up. For such a hasty morning, we managed to work well and still interact with the people almost as if as normal.

The kids’ T-shirts hanging out to dry after drawing on them!

When we finished painting the church, we decided to go up to see if the other group needed help. We the reinforcements helped paint the house a nice yellow color.

VBS camp went great, (a little “boring-er” than usual). Had a little skit called “Sin Chair.”

I don’t know, I think it’s just me. But I was just tired to the day as a whole. Anyways, I just thought that the skit was very interesting. The story is basically a person walks by a chair marked “sin.” The person decides to “explore” it and touches it. To that person’s dismay and horror, he (or in our case, she) can’t remove his hand. Stuck in sin, she tries to free herself and a group of friends also come to help. Eventually, they leave her because they are not strong enough to free her. Then another friend walks in and explains Jesus to her and how He could free her. As he says a prayer, “Jesus” walks in and takes away the chair. As extra emphasis, He sits in it. (In another time, He also rips the sign in half.) I just thought that the skit sent out a really good message of what Jesus did to help us.

Food….

Rushed back to get ready for dinner. Authentic Guatemalan food!! It was delicious!! Ended the night going (0-for-10) in Dutch blitz.

We went out to Alfredo’s and, boy, it rocked! Plus, ice cream later!! My very first Guatemalan ice cream was a mistake. I ordered chocolate mint, not knowing what the Spanish word was! (I love chocolate, but I strongly dislike mint. So there you go.) But it turned out all right, and I rather enjoyed it. And yes, I lost ten straight games of Dutch blitz.

#JesusIsGreater

Day Three: Round Three

Mar. 22. 2013

11:10 p.m.

I don’t know where to start. Construction went well; I had the cool opportunity to climb to the roof to nail some stuff.

(Had an accident on the way to VBS camp, bus driver backed into a scooter. No one was hurt, thank God.)

I say “cool opportunity because, technically we weren’t supposed to go on the roof….but (not because I’m better or anything) I had the chance to climb on the frame and nail some supports down. And then the accident. The driver (he was a different driver from our usual)  missed the turning and reversed to try to get back. We all saw two ladies on a scooter pop up behind us. We all yelled “STOP! STOP!” but whoops. Of all the words we knew in Spanish, we knew how to say that one…so figure out how the brain works.

VBS camp went great. Did crafts…Had a great dinner: rice and chicken! Had youth night! Played soccer…(Did not tally, pity. 🙂 )

As you can see, I’m not much of a journal-er. Short and to the point… It honestly was kinda a great time just trying my best to communicate to the kids what they were supposed to do and all that. Pointing things out and saying whatever I know….Perhaps today was particularly trying on my nerves. But I quote a friend who simply told me, “Pray for patience.” I also am thankful for another friend who patted me on the back just to try to encourage me.

Man! I thank God for the friends I have.

#JesusIsGreater

Day Two: God Continues His Awesomeness

March.21.2013

10:50 pm

It was a great day! A great many things continued to go well. VBS, construction. I did painting this time and I guess picked up some good tips [about painting]. We played soccer with some kids losing 6-4 which is a rather respectable score, so I think :). Roof of the house will probably go up tomorrow.

Hey, Guatemalans are good at soccer. 6-4 is a good score to lose, especially since I tallied one in the effort 🙂 .

VBS was great; I did games….What I liked best was the end where as some kids were lining up to leave, Phil, [two other team members], and myself [amused the children by doing] a random mime…”show”.

We simply made faces behind Phil’s back as he tried to “figure out” why the kids were laughing. Good fun.

Kids playing with a parachute

Later that night, we were supposed to have some Guatemalan youths join us, but due to rain, not many showed up. But it was still good fun, hanging out with some of our peers. The next night we would have another youth night.

God is good! and A-WE-SOME!! I was never much of a “kid” person but I think that God opened myself a little to the children He so dearly loved and loves.

Spanish continues to improve(praise God!).

#JesusIsGreater

Day One: Expecting the Unexpected

For the first four days, the schedule is more of less the same. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to construction, go to VBS, return to the compound, and debrief.

Sunrise in Guatemala

Mar. 20. 2013

Early morning

Not sure what time it is. I’m not much of a sleeper in events like this. So I’ll journal. Today we will start construction work and VBS camp. I’m not sure what to expect.

Honestly, I never really expected much. Before the trip, I just decided to go with the flow and brace myself for what’s going to happen. Funny thing happened. Now Guatemala is 2 hours ahead of Vancouver. Which would be fine except that everyone actually did not sync themselves with each other. Some people got mixed up, and then breakfast was early. By the time we were ready to leave and found out the right time, we realized that we were early, and some of us accidentally woke up early. With all the confusion sorted out, we left in a bus for the worksite. At least, everyone else did. I decided (or at least it was unanimous decision) to go in the car with some other Guatemalans. I talked with them a little about Guatemala and other casual stuff.

Phew! Back from everything! I won’t say it was a blast, but I’ll say it went well. Construction went very smoothly and without any hitches. A couple of walls are up. Tomorrow, I think I’m back doing a different job: painting.

The house we worked on

We had split the team into two groups the night before. One group would help paint a church, and one group would work on the house. I got my first taste on construction. We put up wooden boards on the houses and soon most of it was up. Also I think most importantly, I got a taste of how the Guatemalans live and how friendly they were.VBS camp went pretty well! Lots of kids showed up, and I think my Spanish has improved a little. Whee!

I was extremely nervous about VBS. Most of the reason is because I’m not a “kid” person. I don’t really know how to children. That is not to say I dislike children! I certainly believe that children are a gift from God and are precious. But sometimes I just don’t what to do or how to act. But I will say that God helped me in this. The children were very friendly and very excited, and I guess I will say I was too. It wasn’t really as bad as I thought and I’ll give God glory for aiding me.

Another thing that He helped me was in my Spanish. I was actually able to use my Spanish. Honestly, I don’t know how much of my Spanish was slightly incorrect or just plain terrible, but in most of the cases, the kids could understand me. In fact, the first time I utilized Spanish was with a CH volunteer who did not speak any English. I asked her if she needed help in carrying a cooler box. She understood and said that it was ok. She understood, and I was so excited!! Yes! To me, this was why I took Spanish lessons. It was for such a time as this ,and God prepared me.

#JesusIsGreater