Mission Trip to Guatemala

In the summer of 2009, I was part of a mission team that traveled to Guatemala. Before I left, I looked forward to the infinite amount of ways I could serve and care for the deprived people of Guatemala.  I pictured broken down people, uplifted by the Christians God brought them.  It didn’t exactly work out that way.

          When we got to the village we’d be working at, we were greeted by a million happy faces.  Not one person there was sad to see us.  The villagers there were eager to meet us and become our closest friends.  I realized then that my pre-thinking of how they were a deprived people was completely wrong.  I had never in my life seen such a happy person.  It brought tears to some of the team member’s eyes, because we knew that we were the ones that made them so joyous.  You could tell from just looking into their tired eyes, that they were truly grateful you were there.  I didn’t feel worthy of being such a huge role model to these people, and I was so scared of not being what they wanted and expected.

          At the end of the first day of work, we had a church service with the church we were working for, and there I got to see their way of glorifying God.  Whenever there was a song being sung, everyone would join in and sing.  There was even a group of girls in the front row that would dance.  Every time scripture was being read, the whole congregation would stand up.  When praying, all the notables of the church would pray at once, all saying different things, but meaning the same thing at heart.  I thought it was so cool how the Christian gospel could have gotten to far places like Guatemala.

          Towards the end of our trip, we had a “free sale” set up for the villagers.  In the “sale”, there were free clothes and shoes.  The look the villagers got when they were given a free set of clothes was incredible.  Before this, they were forced to either make their own clothes, or travel to a larger city and spend their hard earned quetzals.  It was impossible to count the amount of times we all heard the word “gracious”.

          It was not until getting back from Guatemala that I realized the effect one person can have on others.  When you make a whole team of people, there are so many things you can accomplish.  While in Guatemala, we managed to build half a church building, give away around 50 pairs of clothes, and make hundreds of people joyful beyond our imagination.  When I go back in the summer of 2010, I hope to make these same villagers and myself, grateful beyond all description.