Today started out with an early morning debrief of yesterday at 6:30 am. We discussed the field trip to the body museum yesterday, and how we could improve our lessons for today’s time in the classroom. Following our morning meeting, we devoured a delicious and nourishing breakfast of pancakes, mango, pineapple, and bacon. Since the students got home late from the field trip, school started a little bit later than usual. However, our day was still full of productive activities including, a morning devotional about the birth of Jesus, the pronounciation of the English alphabet and vowels, sentence formation, and writing numbers 1-100 in English. The students were also treated to a fun science experiement lead by Mr. Swift. He explained the process of making elephant toothpaste which blew the students mind. After our learning time, we had a lunch break, painted countless pictures, made bracelets, and played some soccer. The rest of the day consisted of the last of our home visits to 7 families, and time to prepare for our last day and relax together.
Our fourth day in Pacaya has definetly been my favorite so far. We started off this morning with breakfast and coffee as normal, and then went straight over to the school. We started the school day with a skit of David and Goliath, which the kids laughed at and really enjoyed (especially since Goliath was played by Emma on top of Sarah). After the skit we started with review and then went into new lessons and did stations with the elementary, middle, and highschool students. Once we finished the lessons we had free time with the kids and chose to color, paint nails or play matado, which is a type of dodgeball game that a lot of the kids love. While some of us seniors were helping in the school, Joni and Milo had the opportunity to join the group from Florida to build stoves in two people’s homes. When they finished the stoves, and we finished the school day we went back to the camp, ate lunch and began planning lessons for tomorrow’s school day. At 1:30 we had the opportunity to go on a field trip with all of the Clubhouse kids to a museum to learn about the human body. The musuem was a blast, but my favorite parts were the bus rides there and back, and taking pictures with the kids at the museum. Overall, today was amazing, and it’s so cool to see God working throughout this week. Thank you for continuing to pray for us as we continue this mission!
Today started out with an early morning and the breakfast being eggs and toast. Yoniel, Milo, and Mr. Swift joined with the Florida baptist group to install stoves in the houses of two families. The process of installing these stoves included leveling, laying out stone, and installing pipe. They also joined the Florida group in doing some early morning home visits and this allowed us to see how groups who do missions trips for the long term benefits approach each and every individual family. This is different than the way that we approached this since we are only here for a week and we seek to show a good representation of the Clubhouse rather than our individual churches or communities. This morning the skies cleared and we were able to see that Mt. Fuego had officially stopped erupting. Phillipe was a part of the numbers station and they played a game where the kids threw a ball up in the air and had to clap as many times as they stated in english and this helped teach the kids numbers in english. They also were taught how to count up to 20 in english. They also had a craft where they made animal plates where they would draw an animal and put the name in english and in spanish. We played Matado and we were able to see how the kids act in a competitive environment and they had a lot of fun.
Today begins the main section of our work at Clubhouse, starting our day off strong with egg casserole and refried beans from Wendy and her mother (our beloved cooks). And a volcano eruption, just 20 miles from Pacaya, Mt. Fuego erupted. We are in no danger here though, as the wind is keeping the ash cloud away and we are not in the debris zone. At 9:00am our much anticipated school week began. The school teachers here have given a few topics to give lessons on Ex. English words, colors, and numbers being a few. The school time started with the story of creation read by Sarah Smith. Afterwards we began a few activities to see what the students knew. Which turned out to be a lot, especially among the older students. Having a range of ages from 7 to 17 made this whole time very interesting and lots of fun. Between the scavanger hunt for letters around the classroom to the hand parrot craft and the wonderful game of soccer after lunch, today’s school day was successful. After the school day, we ran to lunch and then an hour and a half later piled on the bus for five more home visits. Following the visits we met up with on of the other groups here at Clubhouse for the week and played with the kids there. Coming back to camp, we went to the tienda, had supper, had a planning session for tomorrow’s school day, and our devos/reflection time. Thus ends day four of the trip.
Our day today started off with an early breakfast followed by orientation. Then the group split up in to two groups. One group helped to prepare and pack food bags for the families we will be visiting and the other group helped to prepare our school activities. Once we finished that we got onto the bus to head up the mountain to visit a couple of families. We visited six families with pairs from the group leading conversation and prayer.
When we arrived back at the camp the group began helping clean and do chores around camp. The boys helped another group with camp maintence while the girls finished school prep work. After that we attended church where we got to experience worship in both spanish and english. Finally we ended the day with dinner. cleaning and debreif.
Thank you for your prayers and support- Emma Christner
Today started nice and early for most of us, leading to a slow relaxing morning before we headed to the market. While waking up, we enjoyed delicious pastries, coffee, and fresh juice courtiously provided by Mr. Mike Parker and Clubhouse Guatemala. Soon after our breakfast, we headed to the market in Antigua where students got to experience traditional Guatemalan culture while buying souvineers for friends and family. This morning was filled with fellowship, site-seeing, spanish-speaking, and obviously lots of shopping.
After this, we headed over to a Clubhouse and LC favorite for lunch, Ta’cool! This traditional taco restraunt was a huge hit with favorites including the guac, summery drinks, and of course the phenominal tacos! This lunch certainly got us through the rest of the day. Soon after, we loaded up the cars and headed to the coffee plantation, La Azotea. We first toured the coffee museum, then the chocolate museum, and finally got a peak into the traditional and classically Guatemalan proccess of coffee making. After buying a few more souvineers, we once again piled into the cars and headed to Pacaya!
Throughout the day, we stopped at many famous Antigua landmaks, like the Arch (as seen on the back of the senior fundraising t-shirts), many old abandoned churches, and the beautiful central park, with it’s gorgeous fountain.
While there were a few bumps in the roads getting to our home for the week (pun intended), we are now peacefully awaiting our dinner, playing Dutch Blitz, and getting to know lots of new faces! Thanks so much for keeping up with our progress. We are looking forward to an awesome week of service and humility!
Thanks for your prayers and support! – Sarah Smith
After a long day of travel we made it to Guatemala!! The senior class left Lititz Christian at 2:00am for a 6:00am flight out of Baltimore. After a short layover in Atlanta, we arrived in Guatemala City by 12:30pm. We got stuck in some traffic headed to Antigua, enjoyed a delcious lunch at a local Guatemala establishment, and got to experience some local life walking around the main square of Antigua. We are thankful for safe and smooth travels and are excited to serve Club Guatemala this coming week!
What a wild week! From standing in airports to chasing children, from singing on buses to visiting in homes, from playing spoons to listening to the stories of families. From carrying kids on our shoulders to kneeling and washing their feet.
Right now is the stillness before the full “normal” resumes Monday morning. When school and work and life come at you at full volume. I hope you take a moment to stand in today’s stillness and think. Think about what happened. Think about how you feel. Think about what you now know to be true. As you do your laundry, sleep in your own beds, flush your toilet paper, and continue to process your experiences from the trip, allow this final thought to intermingle with your own:
It’s still not about you.
After our send off on Day 1, when we huddled up in the main lobby, I told you that we were “on mission” from the time we left LC to the time we returned. What I said was true, but I didn’t tell you the full story. The full story is that when we follow Christ, we are “on mission” until we stand face-to-face with Jesus in eternity. That’s who it’s all about.
It’s all about Jesus.
That’s the big picture. The smaller pieces of that picture—like a jigsaw puzzle—is the day-to-day living that we do. The decisions we make. The relationships we build. The work (and homework) we do. The things we buy. The words we use. The jokes we tell. The music we absorb.
Little moments don’t feel significant. Little decisions don’t seem to carry much weight. Little acts of faithfulness don’t seem to matter. But they do. All of it does. Because, miraculously, God wants to use us.
Not because we’re awesome, but because He is.
Philippians 2 assures us that at the name of Jesus “every knee will bow of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” No one will be singing our names in heaven. (In fact, according to Revelation 2:17, we’ll have completely new names that God gives us in heaven. How cool is that?) Our names don’t matter. The only name that does is Jesus.
When you think about all the other names we learned this week—Javier or Billy or Litzi or Santi or Ashley or Naomi or any of the beautiful, laughing faces we met in Pacaya—remember that Jesus loves them with the same everlasting love with which He loves you and me. And we got to show that love to those kids this week only because He first loved us (1 John 4:19 – that’s our t-shirt, guys!)
It’s all about Jesus. That’s the full story. Our words, our thoughts, our decisions, our lives—the little things and the big things—let all of it be about Jesus. That is our prayer for each of you as you carry this experience forward.
Mrs. T, Mr. Swift, and I are overwhelmingly proud of you. Thank you for allowing us to serve with you this week.
Since today was our final day having the chance to work with the kids, we were provided with the opportunity of being able to tell them the story behind Jesus washing His disciples feet. We explained to each child that Jesus washed His disciples feet because it was an act of service towards them. Us being able to wash their feet was our act of serving them. Afterwards, we provided them with a pair of socks and new shoes. We also prayed with them in Spanish. Having the opportunity to serve these kids throughout the week, along with being able to show them God’s grace was one of the most meaningful events I have experienced.
More stove building for some of us today.
Reflection from Hayden:
For my experience I would say it was awesome. My time here has been such a blast and having the ability to deliver food packs to homes and play soccer all day with school kids just becomes heartwarming. I would gladly recommend anyone who wants to have an amazing experience to come down to Guatemala and play with the kids and deliver food packs while praying for them. I have enjoyed my time here and hope the kids I got to play with stay safe.
BONUS! Reflection from Mrs. T:
I can’t think of a time in life when words have felt more insufficient. The journey we have been on this week has taken us up the rocky sides of mountains, down dusty beaten paths, and into the homes of strangers who have now become permanent pieces of our broken hearts. We have dragged our feet to lava fields…almost, La Tienda more times than we should probably admit, and to the play yard where we have sealed the bonds of La familia de Cristo that we will carry with us always.
Our feet have been tired, aching, dirty and numb. They have toiled along an arduous path that was laden with the worn out remnants of shoes of the men, women and children who walk this impossible road every day. We have come to understand the blessing that it is to be the feet that carry good news, not because we are good, but because He is good.
We came hoping to be instruments of God, to change hearts and point a broken world to Christ, and instead our hearts have been changed—broken for the forgotten image bearers who live in these hills, amidst Creation. We have been humbled by facing our own poverty of spirit against the backdrop of material poverty robed in immense gratitude. Those who possess little are fully aware of their blessings in a way we could never understand. We have been blessed by their example.
Through it all, God has been faithful and patient, even though it would seem He has skillfully turned the tables on us, showing that his sovereign hand is always at work in all of His people, growing us and drawing us nearer to Him and each other in ways we could never predict or orchestrate. He is the Creator and He loves His creation, despite us being consistent only in falling short.
Our feet have brought us to this divine appointment to open our hearts and lives to a hurting world that is simultaneously bigger and smaller than we could ever imagine. Our feet cannot stop here. They must continue to carry this good news wherever they go.
At the conclusion of this journey, we have come to realize it is not our own tired feet we need to serve, but those who will continue to toil along this path. Today, just as Christ lovingly washed the feet of his disciples, we washed the feet of the teachers and children we will leave behind. We prayed over them and presented them with new shoes for their own weary feet. Like words, this simple gesture feels woefully inadequate, but it connected our hearts in Christ’s love, and the memory of that will remain with us always.
One might ask what difference it makes. How can a week change anything? All I can say, having no way to truly explain…it just does. In fact, it changes everything. Our why is simple—love. We love because He first loved us.
LC Senior Go! 