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Pics from the HS Guatemala Mission Trip

Senior Year

Since I am a senior this is my last high school trip. The last 3 years have been amazing. I can honestly say that I have grown up here. My faith has become so much stronger by coming here. My past trips have been very emotional compared to this trip. Because I have seen all the poverty before I knew how to react. I think that I could handle it better because I'm more mature in my faith and walk with God then years past. This trip more than anything has revealed my own sins to me. Being away from home and away from our busy schedules it gives you time to just think. The only reason we are here is because of what Christ did for us. Since we are so focused on The Lord we can listen better. This trip has taught me how prideful and selfish this world and I are that we live in. I was in a church service earlier this week and a little boy named Christian who lived in the landfill gave me one of his toys. Compared to me he had nothing but he gave away some of the only things he had. I know I will come back but I'm not sure when. God has taught me that he has his hand on this city. As I walked out of the dump yesterday for my last time on my high school trip I received a peace. The Lord has everything controlled and in his hand. My heart will always remain in Guatemala.

Caleb Parrish

The Aids Hospital- Isabella

When you begin your journey to Guatemala you think that you are coming to change the people of the landfills lives, but what you don't realize is that all the children you meet end up changing yours even more. As we were headed to the Aids hospital, I found myself overwhelmed with guilt. I began focusing on what the children of the hospital don't have, rather than what they do. In America, people with HIV/aids are looked at as if there is a cure, but in Guatemala people with HIV/aids are seen as unclean and are considered outcasts. Some of the children you meet there have lost their parents due to HIV/aids and others have been abandoned due to their current condition. But in the midst of all of their struggles, they are completely content and secure with the Lord. I had the pleasure of meeting a beautiful 1 year old girl named Isabella who completely changed my mind and my heart about what I was feeling. Even though she was not HIV positive, she was orphaned due to her parents having had aids. I spent the entire day with her in my arms trying to get her to smile, and by the end of the day seeing her smile at me gave me more satisfaction than I think I could have ever given her. I can not begin to explain the love I have for that child, but even though I know that Isabella doesn't have earthly parents to comfort her everyday, I know that God is watching over her every step of the way and that it is a blessing that she is safe in the aids hospital right now. I know that in the end, God will grant Isabella with the blessing of having two parents who can love her like God loves her. I think that she ended up showing me that your life may not go the way you want it to, but God has a bigger plan for your life and he can reveal himself in many different ways you'd never expect.
-Sydney Creamer

Daniel

This is my fifth time being in Guatemala and it is the only time I've ever been to the malnutrition center. While there, I met a boy named Daniel. He is 6 months old and is malnourished to the point where his family decided they needed to send him some where that he can get the nourishment he needs. When I first saw him, he was asleep in his crib and they told me I had to wait until he was awake to hold him. Once he woke up, I went and stood beside his crib and just started to tickle him. He gave me the biggest grin I have ever seen in a baby. When the nurse told me I could hold him, I picked him up and held him until we had to leave. While I was holding him, he was the happiest baby I had ever met. But when I put him in his cringe cried as loud as he could. It made me think about how Christ loves us. He holds us and never puts us down. And if he did, we would be like Daniel. We would cry as loud as we could because we don't have that comfort we need and want. And once we have that, we can't let go of it. That just shows us how powerful God's love is. He holds us in his arms and comforts us through the good and bad. Just goes to show that you can see God's love through anything you do.

Courtney Staples

Gracie Parker

Friday in Guatemala

Today we went to the malnutrition center. My last time in Guatemala the malnutrition center was my favorite place that we worked at. So, as could be expected I was very excited about going back there. It was great again this time and I had the opportunity to care for a baby girl that was 11 months old and looked about 3 or 4 months old. Because of her malnourishment she was also severely developmentally delayed. Its heartbreaking to see this. I really enjoyed the malnutrition center again but even though that's the thing I was looking forward to most today that's not what I ended up getting the most out of.

I ended up enjoying what we did this evening much more. We went to the landfill and helped with the feeding that Saul's church does every Friday night. I enjoyed this more because earlier in the week as I was praying about what God wanted me to do and as I listened to him he told me the number 13. And at first i was confused by this but later that day i began talking to a girl who was 13 as I spoke with her God told me that these girls needed to hear that they are beautiful and important. Nearly every day since Tuesday I have had the opportunity to speak this truth into a 13 year old girl and I praise God for the way he is working through me. The simple words of telling a middle school girl how beautiful she is can have such an impact. This is something I will most definitely take home with me, middle school aged girls need to know that they are accepted and that they are priceless, and that they have a savior thats sees them as perfect. They need to know the way that God sees them matters so much more than how the world sees them. I'm much more comfortable with young children so this calling was a difficult thing for me to submit to, even though I knew it was what God was asking me to do. Tonight I was able to speak with 2 girls I made a connection with. Juana a girl i met at VBS earlier this week; and Estephaine a girl i met this evening. Tonight I was able to talk with Juana and her sister and tell them they were beautiful and I know that these girls attend church on a regular basis though I do not know the conditions of their hearts. The other girl I was able to speak with, Estephanie, was the sister of another girl i had met earlier. But I really connected with Estephanie and she was telling me how she really wanted to see me again when i was leaving this evening. I hope to see her tomorrow God willing. Both Juana and Estephanie are precious young women and I truly connected with them and was blessed to meet them and have the opportunity to speak the truth of their beauty into them an each of their sisters. God is doing big things in Guatemala please continue in your prayers, they are more powerful than you probably realize. Gloria a Dios!
Gracie Parker-Guatemala-April 5th 2013

The Last Day-Matthew Nelson

Today is our last full day in Guatemala. Today we are going to a new church plant for paster Saul's younger paster that he is been mentoring named . He has quit his job to start this new church . He really feels that God is calling him to start new churches around Guatemala. We are going there to pray over the land and for what God has in store for the new church and . After that we are doing our afternoon groups. My group is doing evangelism. I really hope that God speaks through me today in the words that I say to the people we speak to today.
-Matthew Nelson

Christ's Love For His Children

Part of our mission here in Guatemala was to visit the preschool. We sang songs, fed them a snack, played games with them, helped make crafts, and read stories to them. On the first day, our group had problems with making name tags, so I didn't have a lot of time to love on the kids. The next day, during the songs, a boy named Pablo came up to me wanting to get on top of my shoulders. I lifted him up and I saw the joy expressed in his face. Throughout the day, many children came up to me as I was tickling them and chasing them around. At one point, I had five or six children jumping on me and having so much fun. Each time I saw them in their free time during class, they would hug me, tickle me, and jump on me. These children loved it! I later realized the symbolism of Christ's love. We are his children and he loves us and wants to be with us and love on us. So like I showed these children the love of Christ, Jesus shows us that same love.

-Joshua Alcorn