What will you do? (Team 2)

What will YOU do?

Another day of service, another day of exploration and reaching out into the community. We are growing so much closer as a group as well as with the San Lucas community.

After another delicious breakfast, the group was split up into two different work sites. Kishan, Grace, and Father Micheal were delighted to go back to the same wood house building project as the previous day, getting to further their relationship with Rene. Resilient in pouring concrete and shoveling throughout the morning, the group enjoyed a gracious snack and orange soda from the family. The moment with the family touched our hearts. We held a special moment with the community when Father Michael was asked to bless the new house we were working on by the family and we gathered to do the blessing ceremony. The rest of the group drove deep into the mountains, enjoying the incredible Guatemalan landscape from the bed of a pickup truck to serve at a block house. As they mixed and laid down cement, they were constantly distracted by the adorable and friendly little girls that lived in the home. We played catch and tag initiated through hand gestures because of the language barrier, but just as we learned yesterday, our smile resounded through the language barriers and our other nonverbal communications landed us in an understanding of what was needed.

After lunch, a very friendly long term volunteer named Cecilia took us on a mission to find the best ice cream in San Lucas, Brownimos. We got to experience the hustle bustle of the market, especially busy due to the Latin American holiday, Carnival. During this day, people run around cracking confetti filled eggs on strangers’ heads, and our group was no exception from this tradition. The competition in Jon and Kishan truly came out during the fun and games of Carnival. Then, we got back to the mission just in time to hear the history of San Lucas through the amazing story telling skills of Andres. He informed us about the way the Spanish took over the Mayans, the civil war, and the way Father Greg changed their lives.

To continue learning about the mission and how it came to be, we watched a video about the story of Father Greg. We better learned his impact, his visionary lifestyle, and the state he found and left the community in. After, we got into vans and headed up the mountains to experience something truly fulfilling. From the great height, we watched the sunset behind the distant mountains across the beautiful lake Atitlan.

The beauty of the country truly astonishes us as we go through day by day. Our groups are invested into the community and feeling the love of the Mayan culture oozing into us. As we’re moving towards the rest of the week, we look forward to continuing to develop our relationships. What we will do this week is continue our service, our passion for learning, and living the mission of San Lucas.