Westminster High School Team

This past month has included two WIND teams, last minute wedding planning, a wedding, a family trip to Cotzal, a brief honeymoon, and then we moved the whole family to a new house! Now we are finally settling in and getting organized and finally I have time to take a few breaths and write. This week I plan to write each day to catch you up on all that happened in the month of July.  At the beginning of the month, while Maria was preparing for our wedding, I helped to guide the Westminster High School team.

It was the largest team WIND had ever brought down, with 25 people, 18 of which were high school students. We had some apprehensions about the size of the team, but we saw God really work in the lives of the students while they served in Cotzal. A couple of them spoke about feeling God calling them to be missionaries. Others were clearly touched by the people of Cotzal and more specifically the children at Colegio HOREB. In the mornings we taught at the school, starting each day performing a skit and lesson for the whole school about the story of Joseph. We broke into smaller groups after that, teaching Geography, English, Health, Science, and Art, while reinforcing the message we learned in the big group time.

In the afternoons we installed stoves in homes. The kids worked hard, stepping right in and serving in whatever way they could. By the end of the week, we met our goal of installing 21 stoves to families who were cooking over open fires inside their homes. These stoves are such a blessing because they take much less wood and instead of the family inhaling all the smoke, it now safely leaves the homes.

On the last day, we took all the children to the park where a good time was had by all!

Personally, it was a time of growth as I was utilized more as a translator with our main translator out sick for a part of the time. For two days I translated the lesson to the school and it surprised me how the words would come to me in the moment. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but the children understood the message that was trying to be conveyed. God was surely helping me. 

That was a stressful time with the wedding details and future living situation still uncertain. We are happy to have that time behind us as we settle into our new life together. I hope to write about the wedding tomorrow.  :)