somewhere in between chimalchimalchiiiiimal and parramosparramosparramos

D A Y I N T H E L I F E
(guatemala)

monday, january 21st, 2019.

this morning i woke up at 6:45am to get ready for breakfast, which is at 7am. believe it or not, i used to get up everyday at 5:30am when i had a bottom bunk bed, but now that i’m on the top bunk, i try to wait as long as possible before getting out of bed…. sometimes even 6:59am due to falling back asleep hahaha. shout out to sophie for being the most patient bunk bed partner ever. 

after trying not to faceplant from getting out of my bunk that i am EXTREMELY grateful for, i head over to the kitchen to eat breakfast. sometimes breakfast is as traditional as platanos, frijoles, tortilla chips, y crema, & sometimes it’s pancakes with watermelon and sweet bananas. today was pancakes!

at breakfast, i sit with my friends and talk until i absolutely have to start getting ready because that means i have to put on “adult pants” aka jeans. i’m thankful for clothes, & i’m extra thankful for the sweatpants i sleep in.

today our wonderful squad mentor, kate goeler, got to come with us to ministry! she’s not always on the field, but i’m extra thankful for when she is!

right now i am currently on a chicken bus (a decked out school bus that is named because people carry live chickens in them; it’s the best mode of transportation hahaha). i am on my way to ministry at bola de oro (ball of gold) & today is english day!

this is our classroom: the porch of josephina, our ministry host’s, house. josephina and her daughter, wendy, lovingly and diligently pursue relationships with the neighborhood kids each and every day! this isn’t the kid’s official school either, it’s just an optional opportunity to learn. wendy and jose do such an amazing job that the kids keep coming back which is really incredible. they both have hearts that shine so bright for Jesus.

here are some of the kids! these kids are as wild as all get out. they LOVE to make fun of our spanglish and are so kind in helping teach us to get better at actual spanish. 
today the kids are learning about the days of the week! mack, ella, & gracie teach monday classes with so much passion and charisma. their passion for teaching english exemplifies the body of Christ so well. i’m not passionate or necessarily wonderful at teaching english, but where i lack they abundantly overflow, & i love that about the Church body.

while i’m not great at teaching english, i LOVE teaching art on tuesdays! for those of you who have known me for any length of time, you probably know i really enjoy arts + crafts, singing, painting, and anything creative! this is exactly what i teach on tuesdays and it’s a BLESSING. it’s really cool how the Lord uses us so individually here at this ministry. here’s what we did last tuesday! 

after the morning class, we do house visits! house visits are where we walk around the village to build friendships with our neighbors and see if they need any help around the house or prayer for anything. doing house visits have stretched my faith so much. sometimes it can be uncomfortable to step out in faith and ask to pray for people, but i’ve learned that i grow the most in uncomfortability & see the Lord shine through it. it’s really beautiful.

today we visited the cotzajai family! they were incredibly sweet and gave us peaches for the road.

after house visits, we eat lunch which is normally something with bread, fruit, & chips, and  then the afternoon class starts! 

after afternoon class, we head home around 3:00 and get home around 4:15 ish. 
monday is chore day, so today we’re in charge of cleaning the pilas and toilets (a pila is essentially a big sink for hand washing our clothes) . do i enjoy this? not particularly. am i eternally grateful for this wonderful and beautiful toilet? absolutely. did i just call a toilet beautiful? also yes. you never know what you have until you just have a hole in the ground.

after chores are done, i go running until dinner which is around 5:30. i’ve recently discovered i really really love running. i highly value alone time, and this is about as close as i get on a daily basis.

dinner tonight was potato soup. woohoo! our cooks Sandra and Teressa are wonderful. the day always ends with a beautiful sunset too.

after dinner we have team time & tonight was all squad worship. i love worshiping with the squad.

after worship we can hang out together. normally we sing, journal, and just talk about anything and everything until 10, & then bedtime comes.

and that’s a day in my life here in guatemala!

thank you for reading this, and thank you so much for all your prayer over the past month. i love life here in guatemala, and i’m so blessed to be here.

love,
kori