HS Guatemala Trip Day 3

Another day, another slay am I right? Today was our first day of VBS at the Cruz Blanca learning center and the worship rotation was a success! We brought egg shakers for the kids to play with and the little ones loved them. We also got to discuss our ages, favorite hobbies and foods, etc. with the older kids! It’s so sweet to know that even so many miles away from home, and with a language barrier, we can all sing and dance and laugh together and worship the same God. We are thriving and we cannot wait to see the Lord continue to move this week!

-Carly 

Sorry Colorado, but Guatemala is officially cooler than you. It is SO beautiful here. The weather has been great, a little rainy, but it’s so pretty when it rains!! Today was our first day of doing VBS for the kids and it was definitely a success!! It was so fun seeing all of the kids jumping around and praising the Lord. We got a chance to talk with them about why we worship Jesus and it was cool seeing them listen and understand why it was important. We taught them the dance Church Clap, and I think I burned at least 5 billion calories jumping around teaching them 😂 but they liked it once they got the hang of it. It’s so cool trying to communicate with them even if my Spanish needs a lot of work haha, but most of them don’t seem to care. I am proud of myself however, for remembering some of my Spanish from Spanish class this year, Señora Eisenhart would be proud of me 😁 Today was so fun being with the kids and I can’t wait to see how God will use both us and them to continue to make an impact throughout the rest of the week! 

-Charlie  

First, let me say, the sweet tea👌🏼delicioso…. 

Today was actually super stretching. Me and my group spent the day teaching, and because of the language barrier it was definitely a struggle at first, but by the end of the day it was soooooo fun and amazing, and we all can’t wait to do it for the rest of the week. We shared our testimonies with the high schoolers and had some fun interactive Bible stories for the younger ones. We taught the preschoolers pato pato ganso (aka duck duck goose) and they were like beyond adorable. There have been so much heartfelt moments between us, especially with the teachers. Last night me and Ruby went up to the roof and literally just talked and were real with each other, and honestly that felt so special to me. whether it was just talking about our anxieties or discussing what our funerals will be like once we get hit by a crazy Guatemala driver. It’s already been a super exciting experience and we still have the rest of the week to go!!!! 

-Hallie  

The first day of VBS is definitely one I will not forget! I was also on the teaching team, and as Hallie said it was a little bit of a tough day. My message outline did not work as well I had hoped, but I got some good practice with improvising messages! The third rotation was by far my favorite. It was amazing to talk to some of the older kids, and they asked us a lot of questions about our lives and just us in general. They seemed to really connect when we told them our testimonies, listening really well. The little kids were also so adorable!! Many of them gave me hugs. There was also this amazing group of third grade boys who thought they were so cool, especially one in a Gucci sweatshirt who was just vibing with his buddies. The bus drives with our team are also really fun, playing loud music and sometimes singing along all together. I have loved getting to know my teammates and talking together in quiet moments. I love Guatemala, its beautiful people, and the wonderful group I get to share it with! I can’t wait to see how God uses us more in the following week!!

- Ruby 

It was so much fun to do games with the kids. The little kids enjoyed the parachute so much and it was so cute when they laughed. We brought rubber chickens for relay races but they ended up being used as an endless source of entertainment for the little kids who just smiled when the chickens squeaked. The older kids had a lot of fun playing volley ball with a giant ball and we had some good laughs when someone just made a funny mistake. Playing soccer with older kids was probably my highlight of the day. Seeing the kids so elated to be at vbs was really encouraging. I can’t wait to see how God continues to works through the team to reach the kids from the village.

- Levi 

VBS day one doing games was amazing!! My favorite part was probably playing with the preschoolers with the massive beach ball that was about 6 inches taller than any of them. They would sprint after it and dive in top of it screaming which was so fun to watch! The rubber chickens were also definitely a highlight, and it let us connect in a super fun and silly way. It was so cool to see God move through some of the conversations we were able to have with and without translators, with the older kids especially. It definitely helped me see how similar we are despite speaking different languages and living in such different cultures. Also a shout out to our insane bus driver Antonio who has been driving us around in a massive manual transmission bus through crazy drivers and super steep one lane roads that are being used as two lane roads with people walking on either side and motor cycles weaving in and out between lanes! God has definitely been watching over our drives. I am so excited to see how God keeps moving through us and the amazing people we are working with in the upcoming days.

- Leah

The speed bumps are still good

-Quinn

The little 3 wheel mini taxis have ninja stars on the rims and there are so many Toyota Tacomas with the same rear widow cover and we think it’s the same dude just teleporting everywhere. And the drivers are so trusting in each other because they drive with inches between.

-Nathan

All the fast food places like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are at least two levels with huge play places in them and they look very modern.🍔

- Logan

- Alyssa Lehman