Guatemalan Journey: My Time with the Westside Team

On March 17, I was exdited to welcome the FMX (Family Mission eXperience) Team from my home church, Westside in Omaha. While they would only be with me a little more than 24 hours, we were determined to pack all we could into that one day.

The team had been working with Bethel Ministries International, building houses, distributing food, and putting on a wheelchair distribution.

While they would not be able to actively participate in our work here because it was the weekend, I did get to introduce them to some of my colleagues from Santa Maria de Jesus. Judy Kerschner, the founder of New Life with Education, and Jennifer Gleismann, our Speech Therapist, were able to join us for dinner on Saturday night, as was Brian Taylor, who is assisting me in the classroom there.

Mari prepared a wonderful “typical” meal for us, and after we had had our full of Guatemalan fare, Judy showed us a video about Nueva Vida, and shared her story with the team. Not quite the same as visiting the school, but at least the group has some idea what we are doing there. Hopefully, if the group returns next year, they will be able to meet our special kids first hand.

Sunday morning we attended church at Iglesia del Camino and then headed over for an early lunch at Café Sky. Or I should say, tried to head over. Each Sunday during Lent there are processions here in Antigua, and this Sunday happened to be one of the biggest. So, part way to the restaurant, we decided we might as well just stop and watch the goings-on, since the streets were pretty much impassable. The team really were good sports about this, and I think even enjoyed some of the “local culture and color.”

(Which is good, since we got caught in another part of the procession, in a different part of the city, on the way home.)

Once we finally made it to the restaurant, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the city,

as well as one of the best meals I’ve eaten in a long time. . .(no offense, Mari, but this was over-the-top).

Now that the procession had passed, we were easily able to make our way to Hermano Pedro, where we spent the afternoon playing with the kids. I think some of the team members enjoyed themselves as much as the kids did!