A Day on the Life of a Random Missionary

A typical day in my life? Well truth be told is no day is typical. Everyday is new and never fails to surprise me. But sure, I can try to share what my day might look like.

Everyday I wake up somewhere in between the early hours of 8 and 9:30am (quite amazing after working at camp and getting to sleep in exactly 0 days for forever). I roll out of my sleeping bag just enough to read my Bible and eat some breakfast before leaving for ministry at 10. I saw 10 but around here usually means 10:30 or 10:40, which is pretty typical of the Guatemalan culture. On Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we get whisked away to the village of Santa Marta in the jankest little vans you have ever seen. And everyday we wonder if those little vans will make it up the next hill; they always do so we know that God has ordained our work.
When we arrive at the village we split up into teams. The kitchen team, the visiting team, and the setup team. All team do pretty much exactly what they sound like they would do. The kitchen team takes the food we bought that morning to a little house and they chop and stir and peel until a giant good smelling meal is ready for about 60+ kids.
The visiting teams takes bags of food and goods to a couple new homes very week and chats with them and tries to make them feel loved.
Lastly the setup team sets up tables and chairs and starts greeting children.
Slowly as all this is happening the niños y niñas start gathering.
After we wash all the kids hands and serve them food and a beverage me and half my team set with them and try our best to understand what they are saying to us. I usually follow up a question with “sí” and hope that that was the right answer.
On Thursday we follow up with a English lesson which entails me using google translate and saying “Muy bueno” whenever they say something in English. After that we head to the fútbol field and play some games before heading home.
That is only half the week! On Wednesday we do a ministry for the homeless. On these days we split up in teams as usual but one team will split up and walk around the neighborhood looking for people. We mostly find men who are drunk on the side of the road who need a good meal. We also invite women and their children if they seem in need.
So there is a secret about this ministry (it’s called Mesa del Reino) the food is just an excuse. It’s the foot in the door. The real reason we want them to come is so we can tell them about Jesus. Real sneaky huh? Someone recently reminded me of the Bible verses that talking about being fishers of men (Matthew 4:18-22). And he asked “what is your bait?” Meaning what is the thing you draw people in to try and share Jesus with them. Well ours is food! So after we gather people we will worship or pray for them or have someone share a testimony. And then we will give them food (finally). Some people hear us and some people only get food but the seeds are planted as they say. All we can do is hope and pray that it is Gods will those seeds become something good.
Well that covers 4 days of the week you are probably wondering about the other 3. Well on Sundays and Tuesdays we always make plans to do something. That something is always different, whether it is going to church or going to a lake, or to set in a cafe and write blogs all day. On those days we try to be flexible and intentional in everything we do. If we meet someone along the way in need (which we almost always do) we try to help by buying them food or talking with them. Some amazing things have come out of these days and we have met some truly interesting people. We have both helped someone for a little while and also made long term connections.
The most recent examples of this:
Yesterday we met a street preacher in Chimaltinango and invited him and his sister to get coffee with us. We told him about Mesa del Reino and he told us that a big part of his life story had to do with drugs and alcohol and how he overcame those struggles. We invited him to come share today to all the men who were struggling with that and he did. He even said he would come next week. My hope is that hearing his story would be impactful on the men struggling with addiction and motivate them to find things to help them stop.
So we made a connection that hopefully, Lord willing, will become a long term connection for Reindom.
Wow that was a lot. My days are so filled! And that’s not even mentioning how I try to have team feedback time, workout, and have hangout time with the team every night.
Wait! I forgot one day! Friday. Well all I have to say about Friday is…. Hebrews 4:9-10.