Hello!!

So sorry for going off the grid for a while! A LOT has happened so sit back and let me tell you! Our week in San Cris was a roller coaster ride to say the least. A few days after we settled into the YWAM base, everyone on our team got hit with a horrible parasite one by one. That was definitely a major setback on us, since it stopped us from doing ministry, but it was also a blessing in disguise, since we all got to bond through it! After a few days though, we all got better and before we knew it, it was time to head to Guatemala for debrief! We got to stay in a beautiful hostile right on Lake Atitlan. Our debrief consisted of paddle boarding, playing card games, and overall bonding with everybody before moving on to the next part of our trip. We also did take some time to have one-on-ones with our leaders and each other, just to talk about what January and February looked like to us, the good and the bad, and to talk about what the Lord has been doing in our lives.

Then it was time to go to Antigua, Guatemala. We all prepared ourselves for the three hour bus ride ahead of us, especially in the heat. The day before we all left for Antigua, our leaders told us that we would be living in two separate houses, one with a girls team and a guys team, the other with two girls teams. I was split into the house with the guys, and at the time, I was not happy about it at all. Most of the girls I have gotten so close to were in the other house, and I didn't like the idea of living with seven guys for the next two months. Most of us were pretty sad about the idea of being split up, but there was still a chance for all of us to see each other at the same time; the houses were about a 20 min walk apart. So it definitely took some time to get used to everything, but Antigua was amazing to say the least. The city itself is absolutely gorgeous, similar to San Cris, but even better honestly. there were coffee shops around every corner, and the city is literally surrounded by multiple volcanoes. One of them was active, so at night we got to see it spew lava, which was so awesome.

The ministry there was personally my favorite. We got to partner with two different ministry teams, YWAM and One Way Community. On Mondays and Fridays, we would take the bus up to One Way and do house visits. Typically what that looked like was we would go with their team up to these super remote homes that were in poverty, and they would give us a backstory of who they were. Most of them struggled with something major, wether a woman with young kids was battling with an alcoholic husband who was never present, or a young girl was was grieving for the recent loss of her mother. It was hard to see all of these people deal with so much, but where we came in was when we had the opportunity to share a little testimony or an encouraging word that would hopefully inspire them. We would also pray for them and it was so easy to see that the Lord was working on their hearts. It was so eye-opening to see that these people who lived in poverty and struggled with something even more were still so joyful at heart, and always cared about others so deeply.

One day a week we would do evangelism in the Square. We would meet up with some of the YWAM team, most who spoke Spanish to be the translators. We would walk around the park and see if the Lord was highlighting any one to us. We would usually introduce ourselves and they would share what they have been going through, which gave us the opportunity to pray for them and just reflect the light of Christ on others.

Our ministry time in Antigua was so fruitful and the Lord taught me so many things. One of them was to learn to just trust Him, and that the act of trusting Him is enough. I didn't realize it back then, but after talking with my mentor and after a lot of prayer, I didn't actually truly trust God. Throughout my time there, He has shown Himself faithful to me in so many ways. I mean, even living with these people, I have been praying for a community like this for three years. It took a while, but God still showed up and answered my prayer more than I could have imagined. Doing all of this ministry also really made me realize that I have been living in a bubble, and that there was so much more to life than that. Before this trip, I struggled a lot with surrendering every aspect of my life to the Lord, and during this whole trip He has shown me how much good and how much fruit comes out of just laying everything at His feet.

I think it's safe to say that going on this mission trip has been one of the best things I have ever done in my life. God has shown up in countless ways and I even got the chance to give my all to Jesus by getting re-baptized in El Salvador. One big takeaway from this trip are that the Lord will show up, He will provide, we just have to put all of our trust in Him and lean on Him for strength. Another one is that sometimes we don't need a clear yes or no from Him, sometimes He gives us the option to choose; He'll be in either one, we just have to believe that He will show up (trust me He will).

Thank you so so much to everyone who have been following me along on this journey, and for all of your prayers. Below is a link to a google doc of some pictures from the trip!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/112-O6wVKr_HWj3V89xjhaSK10XQ8ItRoqzLDX39xNP4/edit?usp=sharing