Ministry in the Schools
Hector and Ruth Aragon are two PAOC global workers stationed in Guatemala. Hector is from Guatemala and was our translator for the duration of our trip. Ruth made breakfast, lunch and dinner for us most days - which is quite the feat. Everything tasted delicious! We all quickly fell in love with these two as they were extremely kind, generous, funny and passionate about Jesus.
ERDO which is the humanitarian agency of the PAOC (Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada), has a program called ChildCARE Plus, and in Guatemala this program is overseen by Hector and Ruth.
While we were in Guatemala, we were doing presentations in multiple schools a day. Each presentation started with the song Te Amo by Israel Houghton and then moved into a memory verse game, a matching game, a powerful skit similar to this - we changed and adapted the skit for kids, and added words in Spanish from the game we played right before. After the skit we moved to an object lesson told through a testimony, and finally we ended with the song How Great is Our God played by Pastor Bobby on guitar, while we did sign language actions.
The presentations went so smoothly each day, as Hector was translating for us the entire time. Hector is so animated and entertaining, so the children hung onto every word that he said.
When we pulled up to each school, at first you wouldn't even know it was a school. We would be on a street and open a door that was just off the street and inside would be this whole other world. It amazed me! A lot of times there was a huge court yard with the classrooms and the rest of the school in buildings all around the yard. Other times you would walk in through the door and be in a small area that was open to the sky, look up, and see multiple balconies that were all different levels of classrooms. None of them looked the same, but they all had hundreds of smiling little faces that wanted to hug us.
Every time we would walk into a new school, whether that was the courtyard, a specific room we were led to, or a different area, there would be children around! I remember at almost every school with children in grade 1-5, they wanted our autographs in their notebooks. This was so adorable but strange for all of us. We weren't anyone special, we aren't famous and we weren't there for that reason. But when we took the time to tell them our names, ask them what theirs was, and write in their notebook, it meant so much to them.
Our presentations were super fun to do with the kids. For Te Amo we would go into the audience and dance with them and twirl them around - sometimes they were super shy and ran away from us while laughing, and sometimes they would absolutely love it and hold our hands the whole time. For the object lesson, we used this experiment to demonstrate how Jesus took away all of our sins and made us clean again. We used iodine to make the 'dirty' water which represented sin, we used regular water to represent us, and we used bleach to represent Jesus. It was so cool to hear their gasps and reactions to when 'Jesus' took away all the 'sin' (the bleach made the iodine totally disappear and the water turn totally clear). At certain schools, if the students were in high school (there were some schools that would have students in Grades 1-6 in the morning and then high school students in the afternoon), we had members of our team share their testimonies instead of playing the game.
The best though was when we got to have time to connect with kids after. Even though we knew little Spanish, we were still able to communicate with each child. All it took was a smile, a high five, a fist bump, or a hug. Hugs were the best!!! After each presentation there were always so many kids that would come up to us as we got off stage and just wanted to hug us. Now just imagine standing there and having a huge group of children all around, and all they want to do is hug you. My heart was exploding and melting all at the same time.
There was one school that we went to that had a whole open court yard and over 600 children. After we did our presentations, we spent so much time there playing with the kids. In Guatemala there is a handshake that is known by everyone - a side high five that slides out and then you fist bump - so once I figured that out, I was in. Especially with all the boys! haha While we were at this school, I went up to this group of boys that were leaning against the wall and I did the handshake with them all, and just kept going up and down the line of them. They were loving it so much, giggling and getting more of their friends to come over to our group. It was so much fun. Then finally I said we should play a game, and the first thing we came up with was tag.
These boys chased me around for over half an hour - I would pretend not to notice this whole huge group of them behind me, and just walk casually. Then, I would turn around quickly with my arms wide and my smile huge and they would all run away, screaming and laughing, in a million different directions. We played this game for so long until we were all really tired, and I showed them how I just needed to sit and rest because I was super hot. Then they offered me water and my heart just melted.
These children have nothing - compared to our culture where we have literally everything and often more than we could ever need. These kids have next to nothing, and still they were so generous and wanted to give me water, water from the well that was only for those children at school. I had my own water bottle, but it just opened my eyes to what it really means to be generous and to give to others.
We got to visit 2-4 schools (or do 2-4 presentations) per day while we were in Guatemala and only one of them was a ChildCARE Plus school. We had such a unique opportunity going into these public schools and sharing with them about Jesus. In Canada, that is literally unheard of, so it still blows my mind that we were able to go and do that.
At the CCP school, all of the children had prepared special dances for us to enjoy! Our whole team was in tears as we watched them all preform - One song was Nothing is Impossible by Planetshakers done totally in English - we all started bawling. The second song was in Spanish, but we all knew this song when we were children and so it just made us cry & smile with pure joy on our faces. Listening to it again makes me cry just like we did the first time we saw it. The kids also did a traditional Guatemalan dance where they each grabbed one of our team members and we were their partner for the dance. We joined hands & then held hands while we went through a tunnel of other partners holding hands. So much fun!!!!
The same day we visited the CCP school, we also got to visit a trade school (William Cornelius) that Hector & Ruth helped facilitate the building of. They had a dream for young people that graduated high school in Guatemala, to have the chance to learn a trade so that they could use their skills to get a job to support their future families. This school took 10 years to build and over 75 work teams from Canada. The facility is absolutely beautiful and it was such a cool space to do our presentation in! The teenagers and young adults at this school are also sponsored by Canadians to go to this school.
After we went to the last school and did our very last presentation, Hector introduced us to a gentleman named Jorge. Jorge wanted to bless our team with these handmade bracelets because he was so grateful for Canadians like us. His son is being sponsored by someone in Canada to go to the William Cornelius trade school. This dad was so thankful for how God had blessed him, that he wanted to give back the little that he had, to us. It was powerful, this image of giving that we were shown through this man. He had nothing, he could not even send his own son to school, but God provided for him & his son through a sponsorship, and all he wanted to do was give back anything he could. He gave all he had, these bracelets that he normally would sell for a little bit of money. He didn't want any money for them, he just wanted to give them to us because he was so thankful for Canadians.
Working in the schools and spending time with all those children was an experience I will never forget and that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
This post has taken me weeks to write, and there's still so much more. Be on the look out for the next post which will be Ministry in Guatemala Part 2.
In omnia paratus
There was one school that we went to that had a whole open court yard and over 600 children. After we did our presentations, we spent so much time there playing with the kids. In Guatemala there is a handshake that is known by everyone - a side high five that slides out and then you fist bump - so once I figured that out, I was in. Especially with all the boys! haha While we were at this school, I went up to this group of boys that were leaning against the wall and I did the handshake with them all, and just kept going up and down the line of them. They were loving it so much, giggling and getting more of their friends to come over to our group. It was so much fun. Then finally I said we should play a game, and the first thing we came up with was tag.
These boys chased me around for over half an hour - I would pretend not to notice this whole huge group of them behind me, and just walk casually. Then, I would turn around quickly with my arms wide and my smile huge and they would all run away, screaming and laughing, in a million different directions. We played this game for so long until we were all really tired, and I showed them how I just needed to sit and rest because I was super hot. Then they offered me water and my heart just melted.
These children have nothing - compared to our culture where we have literally everything and often more than we could ever need. These kids have next to nothing, and still they were so generous and wanted to give me water, water from the well that was only for those children at school. I had my own water bottle, but it just opened my eyes to what it really means to be generous and to give to others.
We got to visit 2-4 schools (or do 2-4 presentations) per day while we were in Guatemala and only one of them was a ChildCARE Plus school. We had such a unique opportunity going into these public schools and sharing with them about Jesus. In Canada, that is literally unheard of, so it still blows my mind that we were able to go and do that.
At the CCP school, all of the children had prepared special dances for us to enjoy! Our whole team was in tears as we watched them all preform - One song was Nothing is Impossible by Planetshakers done totally in English - we all started bawling. The second song was in Spanish, but we all knew this song when we were children and so it just made us cry & smile with pure joy on our faces. Listening to it again makes me cry just like we did the first time we saw it. The kids also did a traditional Guatemalan dance where they each grabbed one of our team members and we were their partner for the dance. We joined hands & then held hands while we went through a tunnel of other partners holding hands. So much fun!!!!
The same day we visited the CCP school, we also got to visit a trade school (William Cornelius) that Hector & Ruth helped facilitate the building of. They had a dream for young people that graduated high school in Guatemala, to have the chance to learn a trade so that they could use their skills to get a job to support their future families. This school took 10 years to build and over 75 work teams from Canada. The facility is absolutely beautiful and it was such a cool space to do our presentation in! The teenagers and young adults at this school are also sponsored by Canadians to go to this school.
After we went to the last school and did our very last presentation, Hector introduced us to a gentleman named Jorge. Jorge wanted to bless our team with these handmade bracelets because he was so grateful for Canadians like us. His son is being sponsored by someone in Canada to go to the William Cornelius trade school. This dad was so thankful for how God had blessed him, that he wanted to give back the little that he had, to us. It was powerful, this image of giving that we were shown through this man. He had nothing, he could not even send his own son to school, but God provided for him & his son through a sponsorship, and all he wanted to do was give back anything he could. He gave all he had, these bracelets that he normally would sell for a little bit of money. He didn't want any money for them, he just wanted to give them to us because he was so thankful for Canadians.
Working in the schools and spending time with all those children was an experience I will never forget and that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
This post has taken me weeks to write, and there's still so much more. Be on the look out for the next post which will be Ministry in Guatemala Part 2.
In omnia paratus
Oh Jess! What a fantastic experience. I love the pics, and you were right to encourage me to see them on a big screen! The kids are just so precious. I love the one of you dancing in a circle with them. Love in action!
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