Day One of Guatemala
I arrived in Guatemala right before midnight on March 15, 2023 ready to meet our hosts for the trip in person. We had had video calls with them over the previous few months leading up to mission. I was slightly dazed but excited to finally be in the country. Going through customs and sitting at the wrong luggage claim for forty minutes before figuring that out, I saw the excited faces of our hosts (Patti and Luis) jumping and waving their arms to greet me. With luggage in tow, we went outside and the rest of the Guatemalan team were there to greet me running down the road with the American flag waving behind them.
I hopped into the van with the Guatemalan team and headed back to the hotel where we would be staying for the night. My own team from Bethel was delayed 24 hours and would miss the first full day of ministry. Driving through the streets of Guatemala, we arrived at the hotel and I headed to my room to drop off my luggage than headed to the top floor for a very late dinner of chicken, rice, and veggies. I got to know the Guatemala team and practice my Spanish skills. The next morning, I would be heading to a high school (the first planned of the mission) on my own with the Guatemala team since my own team would not arrive until the following evening.
The next morning, March 16, I woke up at 7:00 AM to eat breakfast and get ready for the day ahead. The first high school we were going to was a large assembly of several grades (about 400 students) and the theme we would be talking on was the “Heart of the Father”. We hopped into the van after some much needed coffee and headed to the school. When we got there, the students were so excited to see all of us and the other ministry school that is in Guatemala met up with us. There were about 30 ministry students from Guatemala, myself, and the hosts of our trip present.
Patti (our hostess) started the day with introductions of the entire team, and introduced Gabbi who shared her testimony on the Heart of the Father. Something that stuck out during Gabbi’s testimony to myself was the reality that we sacrifice everything to follow Jesus including our families’ understanding of the call we have received. She followed Jesus because she knew without a doubt that He had called her to pursue a relationship with Him, whatever the cost, and the cost didn’t matter. This impact on the students was evident as we went around to pray with them and share words of knowledge and prophecies with them. To share a word of knowledge or prophetic word with someone means to partner with Jesus and ask what He sees over their life.
Words of knowledge I received for the students when we walked around:
We prayed with the first girl that stuck out to us (I was with my translator). I saw an image of a dancer in full dress twirling with a giant smile on their face. I asked her if she enjoyed to dance which she said she did. The impression of words I heard were that the Lord was inviting her to dance into a new season of life where she would have more freedom. It seemed to resonate to her which was an exciting first start.
The next girl we prayed with I got an image of her sitting at a desk with a book, and notebooks on the desk that had a bunch of writing in them. I asked her if she was a good studier and enjoyed to write. She confirmed so I asked Jesus to explain even more, and I heard Him tell me that there was a moment at this very desk I saw that she had cried out to the Lord in desperation. She confirmed this as well and I told her that He wanted her to know, that He was with her then and He has never left and never will leave her. She began to cry which we comforted her and prayed with her that this reality would be solidified in her heart.
In a different section of students, one of the boys stuck out to us so we walked up to him and asked to pray with him. He seemed on edge and nervous to have his classmates looking at him for being “singled out” by the ministry students here. I immediately saw him with a room of computers and asked if he was interested in that field which he shook his head no. “Okay, Jesus,” I thought, “that’s okay. Maybe it’s something else. What are You telling me in this?” And I heard in my heart that this boy carried strength and courage for those around him that others felt at high-speed like the connection of computers with the Internet. This rang true for the boy when I shared it with him and I had the impression that the Lord would use this to also connect him to Jesus and his future career.
I received a word for Manuel from the Guatemala Team as well when we left the school in the van. I saw royalty over his life and that he had been journeying to understand his identity in this respect with Jesus. I saw a tray of gifts that Jesus was carrying in front of him and that the Father specifically wanted to give Manuel this tray of gifts. It wasn’t until later in the week that Manuel confirmed he saw it happening in his life.
Once we left the high school, we had a few hours before we needed to leave to prepare for the Worship Night that would take place that night. I ate lunch, and took a several hour nap. I worshipped in my room and prayed and pressed in to the Father’s Heart to be ready for the night where we would be leading the community in praise and worship, activation of gifts of the Holy Spirit, and a message (which I wasn’t sure what it would be).
We left to go prepare for the Worship Night at this beautiful building that had huge vaulted ceilings and could easily seat several hundred people. I’m not sure how many people actually came that night as some stayed the whole time, others came in for a time, and many were walking by outside. When I was first walking in to the building to help the Guatemala team get ready, I met Mafer. Her left wrist was hurting and the doctors couldn’t explain why she had the pain she was experiencing. Knowing there is nothing unexplainable with our God, we prayed and all of her pain went away! Thank You, Jesus! She tested it several times with things that normally caused the pain and there was NOTHING. We also prayed for an imbalance in her system, which we are still waiting on results from the doctors.
The Worship Night started and there were about 50-60 people present. Throughout the night there was well over a hundred in attendance either for a time or the whole 4.5 hours. Luis Pedro spoke what the Holy Spirit was placing on his heart after a time of worship stating that he felt there was an invitation to go up to whoever you wanted and ask for a gift of the Holy Spirit and you would receive it. Many walked up to me asking for different things. One woman asked for the gift of prophecy, another person asked for joy and worship, and Bryan asked for the gift of healing from the Guatemala Team. He tested it by praying with a girl who was blind in one eye, and she didn’t receive 100% of her eyesight back but he said she received a partial healing so PRAISE GOD! People were praying with each other left and right asking for gifts and receiving. It was incredible. Our Father loves to show up when we ask for good things.
I received a word for our hostess, Patti, which I spoke to her and she received the joy of the Lord! It was beautiful. She laughed and jumped and danced around. The Holy Spirit was moving. They told me they were ready to transition into more worship so I could give the message when the lead worshipper gave me the signal. Message?! What message? I had no idea what I was supposed to say or any idea what would come out of my mouth. I wanted to say I had no message and to just continue in worship, but I knew this was the first moment of this trip that Holy Spirit was inviting me to be stretched. The worship leader gave a signal and my translator was ready to translate the “message” I was to give.
My mind floated to the image of an alabaster jar, so I immediately thought of the woman who poured out the anointing oil on Jesus’ feet, and used her hair to wash His feet. The other scripture that came to my mind was through the Holy Spirit, we cry Abba! Father! With these two scriptures in mind, I began to speak. I began to speak about getting lower, and lower still that we may cry ABBA - that from our lowest points we are able to gaze up like a child and reach out with arms wide for our Father, who is all loving and all good, to pick us up. Before I knew it, there were people on the ground face down weeping Abba! It was a love cry, a cry of worship and the worship leader knew it was time to press in.
While we entered back into worship, there was a girl who had a boot on her foot that stuck out to me, so I found Mafer I had prayed with earlier to come with me and to pray for this other girl. She shared that the pain in her ankle was an 8 out of 10. We prayed twice and the pain went to 0! She was able to dance before the Lord freely with no pain, giving everything she had as a sacrifice of praise. The night continued on for more than an hour. By the end, we had spent four and a half hours in worship with the Lord. We packed up all of the gear, the art supplies, and headed to the airport to pick up my team!
