What We Will Be Doing

While it’s exciting to read about everything we’re going to be doing the two years that we are down there, God has been teaching us quite a bit over the last year or two that we have so much to learn. We will spend the first three months in language school, and that will only be the beginning of what we need to learn and observe culturally. While we desire to see transformation, we know that it cannot come from an American Imperialist attitude, but something that must be born out of and championed by the Guatemalans themselves. We know that when we leave, everything must be self-sustaining, so that will be our charge; to come alongside the Garcias and the people of this village and love them well. If God’s purpose for us is to sow seeds while we’re there and never witness the fruit of that labor then we are prepared to speak light into the darkness.

FOOD KITCHEN
About three years ago, Julio was walking the village one day and came upon three small girls eating a single tortilla. Julio asked the girls if that was all that they had to eat for lunch and they told him that it was, in fact, all they had to eat for the day. Heartbroken, Julio and Lucrecia worked tirelessly with different connections they had to orchestrate a food kitchen that would feed kids on a need-basis three times a week. Knowing the value of not giving handouts, the Garcias require mothers of the children to prepare the kitchen and clean up the dining area. This keeps families accountable and helps them to feel ownership in feeding their children.

We are going to come alongside the Garcias and help with the food kitchen. We will help buy the groceries, prepare and cook the food, and clean up. We look forward to this because it will allow us to spend quality time with the mothers of these children. We want to invest in the adults just as much as the children, and this is a great way to build relationships. We would also love to see the ministry grow in number of children and/or the frequency that they can be fed a nutritious meal.

EDUCATION
Education is such a vital part of these children’s future as job opportunities in La Arenera are few and far between. Many of the kids that we know and love have had to drop out of school to help their parents in local farming or other odd jobs to make ends meet. The Garcia’s recognized that there were many young kids that had tremendous potential, but lacked the money to attend junior high and high school. Through donations of $10-$15 per month, Julio and Lucrecia have provided three young adults and three children under ten the ability to prosper in school. Each one of these children is averaging an A in all of their classes.

Our desire is to see this ministry flourish to provide education and hope to this generation of kids. With an education, these children can provide a brighter future for their families and become transformative within their community. We will help the Garcias and other members of the community chose which children will be apart of the education program. We will also be available to these children for help on homework and tutoring.

AWANAS
We hope and pray to see God move in a mighty way within the hearts and minds of this sweet group of people. Our desire is to see these children become the future leaders of the church and point their children to the Lord every chance they get.

Julio was able to secure Spanish curriculum through the Awanas ministry that so many of us here in the United States grew up on. This consists of a notebook that each child receives that has Bible lessons, homework and memory verses. Twice a week, Julio and Lucrecia meet with the kids to teach them, play games with them and hold them accountable to memorizing their scripture.

In order for the children to benefit from Awanas, a lot of time goes into planning the lessons, preparing the crafts, and creating the skits. We will work alongside Julio and Luci in this. During Awanas we will lead many of the lessons and work with each "cubby" group by helping them with scripture memorization and lessons in their workbook.

DISCIPLESHIP
The Garcias meet with the teenagers once a week to go through a curriculum that is geared towards their age group. In addition, they meet with the teenagers once a week to focus on discipleship. Julio will speak to the young men and the responsibility that they’re called to as men, how to serve the church, how to love one another and how to ultimately follow Jesus. Lucrecia takes the girls and reminds them of how much God loves them, how they are to be women of God and how they can use the gifts that God gave them to serve the Body.

Our goal is to invest a great deal of our time in this group of teenagers. Since we have been going to Guatemala over the last six years, these kids are many of the kids that we started with as five, six and seven year olds. We love these kids dearly. It’s amazing to see how God has equipped Sarah and I with experiences that we know we can share with these young impressionable adults. Struggles with lust, self-image, gossip, idolizing sports, being luke-warm, we know that God has prepared us to speak truth into these situations as we’ve fallen into them many times and only by the grace of God have we experienced victory over them.