Today we woke up somewhat later than what we normally we woke up to but nonetheless it was still pretty early. We started our day off with another delicious breakfast made by our caretakers at this guesthouse Claudia and Hugo and then we headed out for our day.
It began with us going and visiting some child sponsors that are connected to our group and I learned that in Guatemala people show up unannounced to others houses because it shows genuine interest in the company of the hosts rather than being invited and generously accepting. Each host was so kind to us, offering us almost anything to make us comfortable in their home. The first home we visited was a small girl named Elvi who is sponsored by Emily's aunt. She goes to one of the christian schools in the area that was built by Impact Ministries and she lived with her cousins and aunts because when her dad left they did not have a home. It is amazing to see the amount of faith that these children have in the Lord regardless of the troubles they have and almost every kid you see is like that. After that, we went to another house with another kid where the mom ran a store inside her house. Most people in this city, I am not sure if all of Guatemala, who run a store run it in the front room of the store and out the front windows so that the mothers can stay at home but still have a job. She offered us some delicious blueberry popsicles before we left to do our children's ministry in Purulha.
We always start with worship singing, prayer and then a memory verse for the kids. We then go into groups of 10 and do a craft that goes with the memory verse. The first day we did "God loves me" and then filled a paper heart we created with strips of paper saying "God loves me because..." and we filled it in. Today we created a person on a piece of paper made of a bandaid, googley eyes and crayons, one of the girls drew me and showed her friends where they all laughed, I think they were making fun of me. The kids are always laughing and smiling and it always makes me smile to see them sing with all their heart and how tightly they hug you and don't let go, and you don't want to let go either. They are all so energetic and enthusiastic when it comes to the activity, it seems like everyone is enjoying it and the activities we do are always enjoyable. The kids are amazing and I am sad that tomorrow is the last day we get to see them because I would love to do this all summer.
After that we went to a cell group where they had a special Evangelism night where our group performed some songs and a drama skit. Courtney, Ben, Devon, Raquel, Keli and Jordi all did such an amazing act, although it had no words it had a very powerful message.
Today felt like a long day, but looking back it went by in a flash. I am excited for another day tomorrow, for more home visits and the last day of VBS, God has shown me more than expected so far and we are only have way through our trip.
-Mark Goertzen
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