Coming to the end of our second week in Guatemala City, we are feeling a lot more settled and are making connections with both the kids and the Guatemalan team.

Each week we split up into three groups: one group joining the street team in La Terminal, one going to Gerona, and one staying at the centre in La Terminal.

This week Emily, Charlie P, Ben, and Charlotte were on the street team, visiting different families and helping the children with their homework, as well as playing with them. On Monday they were shown the street team office, which is just round the corner from the main centre, and where all the admin gets done. There are a couple of rooms here to house families if needed. For most of the week, the Step team had the fun task of playing with the kids (including colouring, and games like Uno and Connect Four) while the Puerta team talked to the parents.

The Gerona team (Carrie, Theo, Charlie F and Ella S) only travel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and this week helped with a big sort out of the centre there. We mainly sorted out cupboards – moving food and admin items around. The outside area by the side of the house was cleared as well, to make more room for activities and they are getting a new toilet, toilet door, and roof. Alongside all that, we helped the kids with homework (a lot of maths!) and played sports with them. On Tuesday Theo and Carrie also went to drop some things off at the local school, while on Thursday afternoon the kids had a devotion and a Bible story read to them, but we particularly enjoyed joining in with all the songs!

Hannah was on the La Terminal team this week, helping with the cooking which she loved. She got to go to the cook’s house close to the centre, and enjoyed chatting to her (even if it was helped by Google Translate!). On Thursday she helped teach guitar to the kids, which was great fun.

On Friday we went to help at the local food bank. Puerta has a connection with them, and Jomara (the head of Puerta) sends volunteers to help each month. We spent the morning putting rice into bags, putting soap into bags, and washing bags! Afterwards, we were invited to lunch at Deborah’s house (one of the church leaders). She cooked us some amazing food and even gave us smoothies.

On the health front, Ella H had been struggling with stomach pains all week and, after a visit to the medic, it was confirmed that she has Zika. Please pray that she recovers soon – it’s very painful and means she has had to stay at the church rather than working for over a week (a feat not even the most introverted of us could do). On a more positive note, Charlie F’s foot continues to heal well. Please pray that this continues.

We’ve been given two rest days (Wednesday and Saturday) because the days are very full on.

On Saturday we went to the monthly Latin Link prayer meeting, held at the home of one of the members just outside the city. They have a big garden (with actual grass and trees!) which we all thoroughly enjoyed as we’ve been either cooped up inside or on concrete streets since we arrived here. It was nice to meet up with the team again, and a couple of people from Puerta came as well to talk about the project.

As we’ve settled into the church now, we’re trying to get more involved in what they do. A few of us joined the childrens’ groups this week, in the hope of leading them soon, and we attended the weekly prayer meeting on Thursday. Although this turned out to be more of a full service (complete with a talk), we all enjoyed the space to just pray with the opportunity of silence (which is hard to find here!).

It’s been a good week as we explore the different aspects of work here, and start building connectons. We all feel a lot more settled and are excited for the next few weeks.

Answers to prayer/things we’re grateful for:

• Everyone’s kindness, particularly those in the church congregation.
• That our Spanish is improving!

Prayer requests:

• Energy and good health – both physical and mental.
• Healing for both Ella H and Charlie F.
• That we would continue to make connections and remember all the kids’ names!

Thank you for everyone’s prayer and support!

Emily, Theo, Carrie, Hannah, Ben, Ella H, Ella S, Charlie F, Charlie P, Charlotte

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