Chiquimula, Guatemala - Andrew Taylor

I went on a 10-day mission trip with my school to our sponsor/sister school in Chiquimula, Guatemala.  Some of the people in my group had gone down last year as well, but it was my first short term mission trip. We arrived in Guatemala City, and headed out to Chiquimula the next morning. There we painted the school, played with the kids, did skits, taught them bible stories , songs and English. We also went to two orphanages and sang and played with the kids there as well. We also had the privilege of going to a village for refugees in southern Guatamala, where we helped distribute food, give clothing, shoes and medicine. It was a lot of fun, and a great learning experience.

 One of the greatest challenges was doing what we were doing, knowing that in only a few days we would be going back home, and that all the great people we met were going to stay in Guatemala, where we probably wouldn’t be able to see them for a while. One of the most powerful moments was working with the school’s grade 12 equivalent class. One of our group had just shared their testimony, and you could tell the spirit was moving in many of the students. We prayed with them, and were getting ready to pack up, when all of a sudden two of the students asked if they could borrow one of our guitars. We agreed, and they started to sing a song that we had just sang to them, only in Spanish. All of a sudden everyone joined in singing, in both English and Spanish, and after the song was done, they asked if they could pray for us. We had gone down to minister to them, but they had taught us just as much, and showed us that God truly is the international God.