Guatemala: The First Ministry Day

6-24-2012

It was a little hard to sleep because it was so silent, and I got woken up by dogs, roosters, and a horse.  When I got up I went to the second floor of the bunk house and watched smoke come out of an erupting volcano!  After that I went to the main building for some coffee.  The missionary, Doug, was there learning all of our names.  For breakfast our wonderful cook Brittany made egg sandwiches.  After breakfast Nathan and I washed the dishes in the pila, which is a stone sink outside also used for washing clothes.  Once that was done we met to go over what we were going to do all day.  The Pupped Master cast practiced their skit for a while and got some pointers from the missionaries.  The rest of us watched and had some down time.  A group of us were able to go outside the base and walk around the neighborhood.  It's very small and quaint with lots of little snack and drink type stores called "tiendas."  We watched some boys play soccer at the neighborhood soccer field and I tried out my spanish talking to a woman with an adorable chubby cheeked 4 month old baby.  I was really nervous to use spanish, but it went pretty well.  =)  We then had to get back to the base for lunch and to pack up in the vans to head to our first outreach.  I got to ride in the back of the pick up.  It was a little scary going up and down the winding mountain roads, but the view was incredible!  Guatemala is so beautiful!  We finally made it to the little village where we were doing our first program!!  We split into groups to walk around, knock on doors, and invite people to "una fiesta en el campo a una y media con dulces, musica, dramas, y mas!" Translation: A party in the camp at 1:30 with candy, music, skits, and more!  Mauri, Clay, Cooper, the missionary's wife, Alicia, and her three kids were in my group.  I invited a few people, and, to my surprise, my brother Mauri asked to invite some people, too!  He was so great!  Then we went back to the camp where we were holding our program.  Our team at already set up chairs and the sound system.  No one showed up at 1:30.  We were all a little nervous that no one was going to come!  So we stood on the street asking people to come sit down and pretty soon welcoming many people as they came for the program!  They were all pretty shy at first.  I stood with the audience from the town while team A did the skit "La Casa Se Quema."  That's where I connected with my special group of 8-11 year old boys.  When Pastor Chris announced that he had brought a group of crazy white people, I informed them that I was not one of the crazy ones.  That's all you need to say to make friends with those kids.  For the rest of our time there they called me crazy and I called them "Mis Cuatro Amigos Locos."  Although, they insisted I was crazy, too, and we were "Los Cinco Amigos Locos."  Their names were Marcos Antonio, Victor, Dario, and Herder.  Brian and Deb shared their testimonies and Pastor Chris spoke a little then dismissed the kids to a tree nearby for crafts, games, and face paint!  I was surprised at the amount I was able to translate and how much I was able to communicate in spanish with the kids!  Most of the time I helped with the craft, translated, and goofed off with my crazy friends.  The boys got me to get my face painted and my nose ended up getting covered in red paint when Marcos Antonio got a hold of the paint brush!  It was already hard leaving this first place after only being there a few hours.  Marcos Antonio tried to take me to his house instead.  But, we had to go.  From that village we went to a small church service where Pastor Chris spoke and Curt and Jaci shared their testimonies.  We all got the opportunity to lay hands on and pray for the people in the congregation.  When service was over we spent some time just hanging out at the church and then came back to base and walked around the neighborhood for a while.  The streets aren't very busy, so a lot of the kids play soccer and other things in the street.  They like to laugh at us as we walk around, and especially if we try to talk to them. =)  We watched Pastor Chris eat a couple gringas at a little carnival food type of booth and then just talked to kids on the street until dinner.  After dinner our team all shared something special from our first day of ministry.  I took a mostly cold shower and then stayed up with some friends to play Mafia and talk.  Then I finally went to bed!

Me, Marcos Antonio, Dario, and Victor! =)