Journey to Guatemala

Dear Readers,

I went to Guatemala on a mission trip in June twenty sixteen for two weeks. This was my first mission trip and I was traveling with my youth group called Calvary Church Los Gatos. Going to Guatemala changed my life, and I am very blessed that I got the opportunity to go.

Here is a summary/diary of my trip:

On June 12th my journey to Guatemala starts. This involves a six-hour layover in LAX airport which got delayed an hour. Also, some of us pulling an all-nighter on the plane which I was one of them. During our six hour layover, we played games, talked, walked around, ate, told jokes, and sang. We all grew closer during the six hours and that was just the beginning of the two weeks we would be together.

We landed on June 13th in Guatemala City at 6:50 am (Central Time Zone). We were picked up from the airport by Phil and Victoria, who work with Beyond Partnership. This organization is the reason my church and other churches get to go and serve in Guatemala and other places. After we were picked up, we went to go grab breakfast at a restaurant. We were all really tired because we had all been up for over twenty-four hours with very little sleep. Soon after we finished eating we drove to our hotel. When we arrived at our hotel we were paired up with roommates and then we located our rooms.  We were told to go put our stuff in our rooms and then meet in the courtyard for a team meeting. When we arrived in the courtyard we had our first meeting. We were told what we were doing for the day and what to bring. The plan for the day included going to lunch, working, dinner, and then church with the local pastor. We also needed to change into our church clothes after work. Each day we would have similar meetings which let us know what we were going to do for the day. Our work involved tying rebar, making/mixing cement, and pouring cement into columns. The work site was a ways away so after the meeting we left the hotel. We all drove to the site where we ate breakfast and lunch everyday. The meals were made by Victoria’s mother Rosa with some help by other ladies of the community. After lunch we went to the work site and worked for about four hours doing the concrete work. We then went back to the hotel to change into church clothes. After everyone was changed we went back to the work site which is the church and our service was on the first floor. We were working on adding the third floor for the church. When we arrived we had dinner after which we moved the tables to get ready for the church. The church service started and there was a lot of singing. During the church service, most of us were falling asleep because we have been up for about 48 hours with very little sleep. When the church service was over we all got in the car to drive back to the hotel. We all went to our rooms to take showers and go to bed.  

The next morning which was June 14th we had to meet in the courtyard fully dressed and ready to go for the for the day. The morning meeting at 7:30 am was in the courtyard. So my roommates and I decided to get up at 6:45 am to get ready.

Once everyone was in the courtyard we talked about the history in Guatemala and what we were doing that day. After the meeting, we had 10 min before we had to leave for the site. We all got in the car and drove to the site and ate breakfast. We had fried or scrambled eggs, fruit, and orange juice. After we ate we went to the work site and worked for about three hours and then went back to the first floor to have lunch. After we finished lunch we would go back to the work site to work for 4 more hours. That is what every day was like.

Every team member got to work with the kids at VBS or Vacation Bible School. The people that we worked with in Guatemala are so happy even when they have very little money. The kids were always happy and thankful for us coming to Guatemala. Now that I’m back from Guatemala people ask me wasn’t there a language barrier? My answer to them is we had a translator but we also communicated through our body language. We all tried to speak some Spanish to the Guatemalans whenever possible.

There is so much more I could write about Guatemala. I want to thank everyone who helped support me for giving me a once in a lifetime experience. Actually, maybe it will be a twice in a lifetime experience. I would love to go back next year to Guatemala to serve again.

Love and thanks,

Mickey Wetherby