Disclaimer: I don't have the words to describe the week I've just spent in Pacaya, Guatemala. God is so good to me. These events may be out of order and slightly factually incorrect, but I've done my best to recount our trip here. Our team was Pastor Shannon, his wife Carol, his nephew Adam, his daughters Becca and Tori, Tori's husband Jonathan, Becca's friends Rachael and China, myself, and the following members of the Roachdale Baptist Church congregation: Kylee, Tricia, Tina, her son Matt, Dameon, and his wife Esta. It was a team put together by God's own hand and we worked amazingly together. Here's also a quick reminder that you can click any picture to enlarge it. Another note, most of the photos are from Becca, China, and Kylee, because, as always, I lost my camera.
The night we got in, Friday, it was pouring rain, but even still there was a handful of kids waiting for us to arrive on the porch of the building next to the camp. The girl I talked to first was Verania, 13 years old now, and as we talked on that doorstep, God created a relationship between us that would grow throughout the week until I would count Verania as one of my closest friends. But I couldn't hold off the question long, and soon after I asked Verania where I could find Jasmin, a little girl I had become close with on my previous trip to Pacaya.
Verania took me to the house next door, where I was embraced by Silvia, Jasmin's mother, who is a wonderfully kind and Godly woman. Silvia then led me into the back room, separated by a curtained doorway in a wall of concrete blocks, and after a year of being apart, I found my Jasmin. My heart soared and I nearly cried from joy. We talked briefly, but by nature Jasmin is a very shy girl, so I made conversation with her mother and older sister, Yulbi, whose name I will probably never spell correctly.
That night I slept with peace in my heart, welcomed back home by the family I have missed so dearly.
The next morning also greeted me with joy. I cannot tell you the effect it has on the soul to see this beautiful view upon the opening of your front door:
Saturday was a wonderful day spent visiting the villages and catching up with old friends I hadn't seen in exactly a year, but who had not for a day left my heart. It was ended the way it began: studying the Bible together, which is something that, arriving home, I miss dearly.
Sunday was spent in Antigua, which is a beautiful city, but my heart stayed with my family two hours south in Pacaya. One notable experience was that, after Pastor Shannon taught a sermon in Cerro de la Cruz, (background image of my blog) a man called us over, and I translated between him and Shannon. He asked us to pray for him to continue following after Christ, and told us that he preached in the parks in Antigua. He thanked us for doing God's work in his country.
Later that day, I had what I lovingly refer to as the most chaotic ten minutes of my life, in which I had to give the Spanish-speaking bus driver directions to pick us up in the middle of Antigua, over the phone, without a translator. That wasn't much fun, but I grew from it and God, as always, provided.
Monday was when the work began. We spent a good portion of the week building a new room onto an existing house that was only a small kitchen and one bedroom which housed a woman, Iris, who I grew very fond of before the end of the week, her husband, and her six children. We also had our first day of Bible school, which consisted of a song, a short lesson, and a craft. This was very stressful for me as it was very loud and chaotic inside the church, but God still blessed the experience for all of us and helped us learn how to do better for the following two days.
For Monday, the song was Yo Tengo Gozo, which is the Spanish equivalent of I've Got the Joy Down in My Heart. When choosing these songs before the trip, I could never have imagined how much the kids would love to sing this song, but after teaching it to them on Monday they asked me to sing it with them nearly every time I was with them, and by the end of the week, they were singing it on their own as well. The lesson was about God's perfect creation and how sin came into the world and separated us from God, but how He had a plan to save us. The crafts were three small pages: yellow, covered in animal stickers to represent creation; black, covered in red, blue, and green glitter on one side to represent the chaos of sin and silver and gold on the back to represent God's light; and red, onto which the kids glued a cross. Personally, this hour and a half was the biggest challenge of the week for me, but God used it to make me learn to trust Him and to be okay with not always being in control of what I'm doing.
Tuesday, we went to work on Iris' room and we spent most of the day there. I finally got my tortilla-making lesson from Iris and her daughter Carolina, who said I had natural talent. I couldn't help much with the actual construction of the room because there were a ton of people and not a ton of room or jobs to do, but it was a great day of fellowshipping with Iris and her family.
On Wednesday, our second day of Bible school went much better because we were able to have it outside, and we had Andre translate our song and lesson, who has a much louder voice than the lovely two girls who helped us when we had it in the church. The song for the day was Sublime Gracia, the Spanish Amazing Grace, with which the kids were not very impressed, so we sang Gozo a couple more times. The lesson for the day was on Jesus' death and resurrection and God's forgiveness of our sins if we believe in Him and accept Jesus Christ as savior. The craft was a page on which the kids scribbled to represent sin, and then they glued a sheet of tissue paper over that with Jesus' name on it to represent Him covering our sins. They were also given a pure white page to represent purity and told not to mark on it or get it dirty.
Wednesday evening was the best night for me. The men were working to put a concrete flooring in the staff building next to the camp, so Becca and I were allowed to sit outside the gate with some of the kids for the evening. Carolina and Evelyn, Iris' daughters, were there with us as always, but we were also joined by a little boy named David. For an hour or so, Becca and I sang and talked with the kids and held them in our laps. I would have been happy to never leave that spot. Here's a lovely picture of David and me from the evening so we never forget:
Thursday, after delivering food and working on the house, we stopped work early so we could visit the lava fields. Stretching about seven miles long, the lava fields are evidence of a volcanic eruption which I believe occurred somewhere between seven and ten years ago. They seem to be endless, and are composed entirely of lava rock, which can only be explained in a picture.
(click to enlarge, seriously)
And here's a bonus:
That evening we had the privilege of attending a youth service for 14-20 year olds, put on by our three translators. They had a few games, songs, and a lesson for the teens of the village and it was one of the best parts of the week for me. Little did I know, however, that the younger kids who weren't allowed to attend were being led in a game of Bible story reenactments outside, and David was saved that evening. Words cannot express the joy I have in knowing that he's my eternal little brother now.
Friday was a day of tying up loose ends. We had our last day of Bible school, at which we sang Oh Qué Amigo Nos Es Cristo, which is Spanish for What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Surprisingly enough, the kids didn't care much for this song and only wanted to sing Gozo for the 438th time that week, but I was glad to play it for them. The lesson for the day was what to do after getting saved: growing according to God's word, and who the Holy Spirit is. The craft for those topics were a green sheet, on which the kids put stickers of hearts with crosses, churches, the Jesus fish, and things like that; and a blue page to represent the Holy Spirit, on which they glued a heart made from popsicle sticks to represent that Holy Spirit lives in your heart. After they were done with these, we took all the pages from the week and bound them into a little book.
Other things that happened on Friday were delivering the last of our food, sorting the clothes we brought down, putting in vertical gardens at a few houses, putting in stoves, and finishing the room we built for Iris and her family. Friday night was a bittersweet one; it was our last night at Pacaya so many people were saying goodbye. By this time, all our translators had left for the city so I had to translate a lot of goodbyes, which was hard for me.
Saturday, we left. It was good to be home, and it has been good to see my family, and I know I'll be returning in just a few weeks, but leaving Pacaya is the hardest thing for me to do. I am grateful for the team God put together, for the translators He gave us, for the work He let us do, for the seven souls saved throughout the week, and for the peace I feel in my heart when I'm at home with my family in Pacaya. What I learned most clearly on this trip is that God is in control. He wants the best for His children, and if we stop trying to hold so tightly to the reins, He'll do amazing things we couldn't have imagined. The best things come when you aren't expecting them, so stop trying to expect and plan for everything. And above everything else, God is good.
