Ok so this blog and the next I originally wrote as one blog. Yes, one blog. When I finished I realized that no one’s going to sit and read for like 20 minutes, so I decided to break it into two and give a day or two between their releases so y’all aren’t overwhelmed. It also broke up the content a little bit better so yeah. I just wanted to tell a couple more stories from the last couple weeks in Guatemala, and then next time get into the more personal questions about how Guatemala challenged or changed me – stuff like that. Off we go!
It Only Takes One
This is a pretty random little story, but a cool one that I feel like I’m going to remember for a long time. There’s a little backstory to this that makes it a bit more meaningful to me, but telling that would add a lot of words and I think minimal impact, so I’ll get to it.
Basically, early on in our time, I met this 6-year-old boy named Nelson. He was one of the kids of the family we built the house for in Palima. One day I was playing with him and I taught him how to thumb war. Then I went three weeks without going back to Palima and never saw him. But I went back to stop by his house one day, and I didn’t know if he would recognize me or not, but I walk under their little deck, and he runs up to me and grabs my hand and tries to start thumb warring. That was one of the sweetest moments for me just to be remembered like that. It also put into perspective for me, if he gets this excited and loves the simple game of warring thumbs, maybe… just maybe… hopefully, he’ll take the Gospel the same way
Mormons
Yes, they have Mormons in other countries.
There’s this Mormon church in Parramos (one of the higher cities close to base) that I ended up having a lot of fun at. The first time I showed up was at the end of an activation day and we were just wandering around. We saw this sweet church with an open gate and were like, “why not?” We poke around for a little bit, eventually end up in the sanctuary, completely empty, I play their piano, it was great.
Second time we walk by and try to get in, the doors are locked. Bummer.
Third time we show up, the gates are open, but there’s this lady seemingly guarding the entrance. I go up and ask her if we can go in, and she is all about it. She takes us in, takes us into this classroom, and there’s a class going on. There’s probably 8 Guatemalans sitting in chairs, and then a teacher up at the front. It’s English class.
They’re the nicest people, the staff all speak English cause, as we find out later, all four of them are on their two year mission. Then they ask us if we want to teach the class, and we’re like, naw, so we just sit down in the chairs and relearn our numbers.
Final Highlights
Towards the end, OneWay (our ministry) had a lot of events with the entirety of both villages we were working in. One time we packed backpacks for both villages full of school supplies, and then had all the kids come and hang out and we got to give them to them. One time OneWay partnered with this other organization and this Guatemalan Olympic boxer came with his crew and ran a boxing sesh with the entire town of San Lorenzo. We also had village-wide Christmas parties with San Lorenzo and Palima, sponsored by Pollo Compero (like Guatemalan KFC) who donated 5000 free meals to the country. All great times and great opportunities to meet people.
The Final Adios
Of course we also continued with soccer ministry and tutoring through the end, and then the last few days there we demoed and then started rebuilding the house that this family has let OneWay use for the last six years. What was really cool is that we got to work with all the older soccer boys the last two days putting up walls and hammering in siding. I had had a lot of fun with these boys over the course of the time there, but never felt like I was able to get super close to them because they didn’t speak English, my Spanish has a limit, and we were always training. But even just being there (almost) every day and training them, and then having them help me build this house… I honestly didn’t think it would be that hard to leave, but we were trading bro hugs that last day after work and I was tearing up. I didn’t even realize how much I’d truly come to love them. Some pictures below…
It was a big time bittersweet moment for me, as I came to realize the love between us and the reality of leaving. I’m excited for what’s ahead of those guys though, and maybe… just maybe… hopefully, I’ll get to see them again someday.
In Christ,
Jackson
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