“Hasta Mañana Profe”! This is becoming one of my favorite things to hear as we start our work here in Poptun. It brings me such joy to hear these words because I get to hear them for the next six weeks that my team is here in Poptun! Today was day three of working with the same kids inside of two different villages in the northern part of Guatemala. Daily we have tutoring sessions, Bible stories, worship songs, and my personal favorite... soccer ministry.
In this blog I want to give you a glimpse into a typical day of ministry with the kiddos in Vista Hermosa and Sabaneta. Our day begins in Vista Hermosa with close to fifty kids. We start off by welcoming the kids and using the limited Spanish/ google translate to talk with the kids about what the kids have been doing since we last saw them (We last saw them 20 hours ago for context.) My favorite thing to do is find some really cool shirts kids are wearing and I let them know, in Spanish, that I like their shirts! Now you might be saying to yourself, “Wow Jaden, your Spanish is so amazing, how are you learning it so fast?” I would respond with telling you that “Me gusta tu camisa” is one of the only phrases I remember from my duolingo days. Through our soccer ministry I have also added the following Spanish phrases and words; Pelota, Pasa Aqui, Portero, Se turna, and bien echo. Really all you need in a soccer game; ball, pass here, goalie, take turns, and good job. But before all of the soccer fun, our kids get to take part in a Bible lesson and worship! Today’s Bible story was the story of Jericho falling. With the help of google translate and our ministry partners we acted out the marching around and falling of Jericho. The kids got a funny show (Jakson, Michael, and I marching around Jordan who was pretending to be Jericho) and some important lessons on how powerful their creator really is. After our wonderful story telling we participated in some very active and fast paced worship songs. My personal favorite has me jumping up and down while action games like a wild monkey for a solid five minutes. Today was our 8th time in total doing these worship songs and you best believe that my team and I are singing at the top of our lungs our best attempts at the spanish verses. From there is where we split. Half of us take the older boys to coach and play some soccer games. The other half of the team stays with the rest of the children and does art projects, helps with schoolwork, and gets to play what sounds like some super fun games. At the end of all of our respected ministries we pray and say hasta mañana to los niños. That’s when we pack up our truck and head 15 minutes towards the next town to do it all over again. At around 4:30 we say goodbye to our last kiddo and head to our new home in Peten.
The days are long and I am extremely sunburnt but I leave each day with such a full heart that it is completely worth it. In the past few days alone I have fallen so in love with the work we are doing and with communities we are doing it in. The kids giggles and the mothers smiles have given me enough energy to last a lifetime. We are truly seeing Kingdom come here in Guatemala and are so blessed to have front row seats. I’ll leave you with a verse that I have come to love over the past few weeks here in Guatemala, Matthew 19:14 - but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
If you would like to be involved in the work we are doing here in Peten there is a way you can donate to One Way Community and to the kids we are ministering to. For five dollars you can sponsor a child for Children’s Day (A national holiday here in Guatemala) so that we could gift them with a hot meal and a few treats. I’ll leave the link at the bottom of this blog so that you may donate to the incredible things happening here in Vista Hermosa and Sabaneta.
https://www.classy.org/give/346564/#!/donation/checkout
Much Love and God Bless
Jaden
