Te Esperamos a Nuestra VBS
We woke up at 6:30 for breakfast and the walk up to the school for 7:30 morning devotions. Today we went to the high school, grades 7-12 where we sang Spanish songs while dancing with the kids. After closing in prayer and we were organized into groups. Some painted walls, others did tech work, or arts and crafts and others attended and helped in English classes. At our morning break, we listened to the testimony of Rosio, a former student who now works as a teacher at the school. She spoke about how we should not forget the zest we had for the Lord as we grow in our faith journey. She reminded us to constantly seek the Lord and the Holy Spirit as this first “zest” can die down when experiencing church and Jesus on a regular basis.
After this the groups went back to their assigned tasks except for the group who had been painting walls. Mr. Albano, Lily, JoJo, Nate, and Ethan headed on what is called a hamper run. We were able to visit a home and take a basket of goods for them. We listened as they shared their story with us. They learned how to depend on the lord even in the toughest of situations. It was beautiful to see how they are so grateful and value everything so much even with so little. After praying with them, we headed back to the casa for lunch at 1pm.
During lunch the GSO team leaders came to eat with us and to share their plans for the VBS. After lunch we broke off into three groups to walk around the community. We knocked on doors and handed out flyers for the VBS. We were taught a phrase to say to the children after handing them the flyers. “Te esperamos a nuestra VBS” which translates to “We hope to see you at our VBS”. While I (Nate) was handing out flyers I got to meet 2 small kids who were very excited to get the flyers from us, and I hope to see them come out tomorrow for our first day of VBS!
The GSO leaders invited us back to the salon where we will meet with the kids tomorrow. They shared their vision for the week of VBS and prayed over us, followed by us praying over them as VBS leaders. This very powerful moment was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was awesome to see everyone praying for each other. Even though we couldn’t understand the words being prayed because of the language barrier we were still able to feel the power of prayer.
To wrap up an eventful day, after supper, we all got into 2 buses to go play futbol (soccer). We arrived around 7:00 PM. Together with many of our new GSO friends, we were divided into teams of 6 to 8 people, a mix of locals and MCA players. There were a ton of games and a lot of hard work from the players. Many players played exceptionally, like when Vincent hit the ball off his head into the net, and Ethan’s determination to rush the other side. Mr. Albano was brilliant and focused on guarding the net. There was a lot of grit from everyone – Molly, Josiah, Max, Joey, Tyler, Nathan and more. A lot of the Guatemalan kids who joined us spoke English very well and we enjoyed some casual conversations. Near the end of the night, the leaders decided to do a Canada vs Guatemala game. Although we outnumbered them, they were very skilled. The game was tied most of the time, but we were able to rush them and take a win for Canada. Overall, the soccer was amazing and the game was full of passion. We really enjoyed playing and the community we built with our GSO partners.
– Nate, Tyler and Lily
