We entered our last week in Pamézabal with mixed emotions: we couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone, we were sad about the people we knew we wouldn’t see for some time, and concerned about how we were going to organise ourselves with so much planned.

We started back at construction on Monday morning with a new motivation – to see how much we could get done in the next five days. We were happy spending the day flicking cement on the walls and seeing them get done. One of the elders, Edwin, came by with his wife and offered us snacks which we took as a welcome break. Later that day we began rehearsals for a play of David and Goliath to be performed on Sunday at our last church service.

Tuesday started much the same, however we got some sad news as a team that our previous construction supervisor and member of the church, Miguel, had passed away. Charlotte, Emily, Ella H and Charlie attended a funeral service for him that evening. We were shocked and sad and are praying for his family, and thanking God for Miguel’s life and that he is reconciled to Him.

We also had our English class that afternoon, which sadly none of the kids turned up to (presumably because of the news), but we had fun as a team testing our Spanish knowledge by writing out and drawing all of the body parts on a big poster.

On Wednesday we played football after construction with the guys that we were working with. Everyone got involved (including Ella S as star videographer) and Emily came close to scoring a goal for Scotland (she’s still not over it).

On Friday we had our last day of construction, and a couple of us started moving on to plastering the ceiling in a fully-cemented room. Shortly after we started we were given another job, so perhaps our enthusiasm didn’t translate to our technique. We redeemed ourselves by inviting our construction builders for lunch and ate delicious chicken stew and rice prepared by our wonderful host Sara. We introduced them to bagpipes (an essential lesson) and Hannah and Ben played a little guitar for them too. It was great to share food with them, and even though we haven’t known them very long we really enjoyed working with them.

We left to go to our sports afternoon armed with sweets and cards for the kids. We played football, French cricket, the fruit game, and even squeezed in a round of cops and robbers before we came back.

Later that evening, Edwin, his wife, and their 13 month-old daughter Brianna came round for dinner. We discussed life in Guatemala compared to the UK, the meaning of our names and some of Edwin’s background over chicken burgers and chips.

On Saturday we got up and were ready to go to San Juan again by the lake, this time with our host family as a last outing together. When we arrived we went straight to a big viewpoint and climbed to the top. Sweaty and red-faced, we were greeted by the sweet sound of the xylophone and swathes of people trying to take pictures of the view. It was an incredible time – we danced to the music and took lots of group photos. That evening we practiced our David and Goliath drama, shared toasties, finished writing cards and got some rest, in disbelief that it was our last day the next morning.

On Sunday we woke up ready to clean and pack everything up. After breakfast we headed straight to the church for a final rehearsal, and then got cracking with packing up all of our stuff. We’d had lunch (a makeshift meal of tostadas with the last of our veg) by the time Sara came with arms full of traditional Guatemalan dress which all of us girls were going to wear to church. With ease she picked out a top for each of us that seemed to suit us perfectly, and she then had to help us get dressed by wrapping around fabric for a skirt and securing it with a belt until we were struggling for breath. We were so excited to be wearing it and made sure to take pictures even though church was about to start. During this time Maddie arrived, and Sara managed to find her an outfit to put on too.

At church we had a guest pastor give an entertaining preach, and the church went downstairs during the service to officially open and commemorate two rooms that we helped to finish. One of the rooms was a kitchen where we could see food being prepared for after the service. After many songs and announcements, it was time for us to perform David and Goliath (which they loved) and sing some worship songs in Spanish. We learnt a new one, “Mighty to Save”, and then did the song that we learned in our first week, “Open the Eyes of My Heart”. Carrie was able to thank the church from us all in Spanish. We felt very grateful for their amazing welcome, hospitality, and joyfulness throughout our stay here and for the opportunity to serve them.

The pastor invited each of us up and they surprised us with beautiful Guatemalan bags! Including one for Maddie too. After church we headed downstairs to eat chicken, rice, and frijoles alongside some incredible spicy veg and sweet coffee. We made the mistake of publicly getting a group photo with some of our friends from church and what felt like an hour later we’d taken a hundred more and couldn’t feel our faces from smiling.

That evening we played football for the last time, and won! We headed back home for simple spaghetti and were able to give Sara and her family some gifts and cards from all of us. It was a special time of getting to try and communicate to them our deep gratitude and the impact she has had on us. Her daughter, Jennifer, slept in the girls room that night. We woke up in the morning and after a final breakfast of pancakes cooked by Sara, got ready to finish the last of our cleaning jobs and fit in a snack run. The pastor arrived and then some of the elders and local women, ready to say goodbye to us. As we hauled all of our luggage to the minibus we realised most of it was going to have to be strapped to the roof! We had some tearful farewells and got in the bus headed for Monterrico for our rest week.

We can’t put into words how the past two months have been. We’ve experienced and learned so much, from others and from God, and are so grateful to have been a part of that church and community.

Answers to prayer/things we’ve been grateful for:

• the chance to have a good time of goodbyes with people
• working together in our last weekend to get things done and be hospitable
• the generosity and care of our host family

Prayer requests:

• that we would enjoy a nice relaxing rest week and have the chance to process the last project
• that God would be preparing us for the next project
• that we would take away the lessons and memories that God wants us to
• to continue to work well together as a team and become stronger, building trust with each other

Thank you for everyone’s prayers and support!

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

(Written by Emily)

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