A great mentor and friend went home to be with his Father tonight.
He impacted every person around him and will continue to do so.
I’m gonna miss you, man.
See you soon.
Within this video lies footage of me singing a Mexican folk song in front of a restaurant full of people in Guatemala.
It starts around 4mins in.
But watch the whole thing.
Day seven.
Well, the trip is officially over. I am typing this whilst sitting in my own bed.
Yeah, I just said “whilst.”
Yesterday was crazy. We left the hotel at 7am and landed in DFDub at 11pm.
I’m excited to be home but I definitely miss Guatemala and my trip family.
The thing that I miss most after trips like this in general is the sense of community. Any time I’m in my room or anything like that there are always a bunch of cool people around. We’re always laughing and making jokes. I miss it.
All I can do is look forward to the next trip.
I do know that God did some super awesome stuff this week. I think the main point that He drove into each one of us is that He is the Father. Not just a father, but the Father. I know that I definitely felt His love in a way that I haven’t before. I can’t wait to see what He shows me next.
At the top is a playlist of all the videos from this week.
Enjoy.
Well, that’s all for now.
Adios.
Day six!
I know, I know, photo slideshows are the worst. My camera was dead so it was all I could do.
But you’ll get over it.
To start off day six I and the other three high school dudes dug a trench for Charlie and Pat at their retreat center.
Being the incredibly muscular man that I am, it was no big deal. But the other guys kind of struggled.
And by “struggled” I mean they made me look like a 3 year old with a plastic shovel.
After all the digging was complete we went with Charlie to a really poor area with candy and various toys to give out to the kids.
We also had the opportunity to pray for a family that just lost their 7 year old daughter a few months ago. The mom was really touched by it.
Then we all went to dinner, back to the hotel, had family time, and then packed for our 7am departure for home.
Day five!
Sorry for the delay…again. I didn’t have time to edit this until we were sitting in the airport waiting to fly home.
To preface this video I should tell you that we had just spent about 3 hours painting another police station. Hence Janae’s orange mustache.
After we finished painting we all walked down the street to a school where they teach special needs kids. We all brought them candy, Beanie Babies, and bracelets and we just loved on them. It was probably the most fun I had the entire trip.
Once we left the school we all went back to the police station and played soccer with the police officers.
As you have probably already guessed, I’m an incredible athlete.
When the police were done kicking our butts in soccer we headed back to the hotel for food and family time.
That night’s family time was definitely my favorite.
We sang a couple of worship songs and then, for 3 hours, we just encouraged each other. When someone felt like they had a prophetic word for another person they just spoke it. It was absolutely phenomenal. I’m so blown away that God allows us to speak His heart into the hearts of others.
Team 2, about half of the group, left the next morning so we all went to each person on the trip and hugged them.
It really felt like we were a huge family.
I mean HUGE.
Day four!
Sorry for the delay. The interwebs here did not want me to upload the video.
As you can see in the video, we went to a school and hung out with a bunch of freaking awesome kids.
It was a ton of fun and by the end of it not one person in our group wanted to leave.
After we went to the school we went to a house owned by a missionary couple from Texas, Pat and Charlie.
We ate lunch and then they shared their testimony. In the middle of Charlie’s testimony he mention that he had a terrible relationship with his father. Then, after he was finished with his testimony, Pastor Ben asked if he would pray for a couple kids in our group whose fathers aren’t around. He went up to each of them, and rather than just praying a simple blessing, he pulled each one of them into his arms and hugged them just like a father would.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
It was absolutely incredible.
Yesterday we painted some more and got to hang out with some special needs kids.
I’ll put the video up…as soon as I edit it.
Tata for now!
…”tata for now?” Who says that?s
Day three!
Hello again!
Yesterday I didn’t have any time to upload this video, so, obviously, I’m doing it now.
It was mainly a fun, team-building type day. As you can see, there wasn’t really any outreach type things happening.
But we did have a butt ton of fun.
I took quite a bit of video today and I’m gonna try to have that up in a bit.
If not…you’ll get over it.
Day two!
Today was crazy.
We painted the police station all day. It was a lot of work and it took a lot of time, but it was also a lot of fun.
By the end of the day everyone was caked in dried paint.
After we went back to the hotel and showered up, we went to a really nice restaurant, complete with a mariachi trio.
Once the group had finished a few songs one of the leaders said I should play “Cielito Lindo,” a traditional Mexican folk song that I’ve been known to sing…goofily.
Is “goofily” a word? If not, I really don’t care.
So, I then proceeded to sing and play guitar in front of the restaurant.
You’ll see a video as soon as I can get my hands on it.
Then we finished off the night with family time. Like I said before, it’s my favorite time of the trip.
Tonight we went around and pointed out people in the group that we saw that stood out to us in their actions. It was a really cool time of encouragement and just loving on each other.
In short, today ruled.
Tomorrow we’re going to some lake or something to do team building stuff.
I’m obviously in the know of what’s going on at all times.
I need to get up in 6 hours, so I’m gonna go to bed.
That’ll do, pig.
Day one!
The plane landed at the airport around 9. After we checked into the hotel we went to an authentic Guatemalan restaurant…McDonald’s. Then we all came back to the hotel and had “family time.”
Family time is when the whole group comes together at the end of the day and just talks. It’s awesome. It might be my favorite part of the entire trip. It’s so great to be able to come together as one and be able to speak life into other people.
I freaking love it.
We haven’t even began to do any missions work yet and I’m already getting super excited for what God is doing.
Tomorrow we’re going to a police station at 9 to do some painting. We’ll be there all day painting and doing other work-type projects. It’s going to be a really cool time of serving the community.
Not to mention we will be painting, which is messy.
And everyone knows that little boys love getting messy.
And everyone knows that I’m a little boy.
Well, I’m going to sleep now.
Hasta manana (pronounced like “banana,” just with an “m”).
Nuff said.
