Reflection On A Mission Trip To Guatemala

In the summer of 2015 I went on a mission trip to Guatemala with my youth group. Our group of thirty people spent a week putting on Vacation Bible School for 1,000 schoolboys whose ages ranged from three to seventeen years old. We shared the love of God and people by singing, dancing, playing games, and reading stories. I was just hoping to make a small difference in the world.

These boys can be recruited for the local gangs starting as early as ages eight or nine. Many do not have a good home life, so the familial bonds of gangs look appealing. By the age of nineteen about half of the boys we saw will be dead; they do not have a long life expectancy because of the intense poverty they live in, and the fact that gang initiation involves shooting a friend only adds to the death toll. I entered the kids’ school for the first time with this background in mind.

The school was set up into two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so that the boys could also hold down a job for the half of the day when they do not have school.

One might think the life that these little Guatemalans lead would wear down on them and cause them to have a pessimistic outlook. However, as we walked through the doors and into the courtyard, all of the students crowded the windows of their classrooms and started banging on the windows and shouting, “¡Gringos! ¡Gringos! ¡Gringos!” The complete and utter joy they showed upon our arrival was the most emotionally overwhelming experience I have ever been

through.
I have never seen a happiness as pure as I saw in these boys. They had so little, but they were willing to give you everything. One day during recess the children raced out of their classes and ran to the trash cans. We all looked on in confusion as they began digging through them and pulling out two-liter bottles. They then smashed the bottles flat and used them as makeshift sleds to slide down a concrete hill. It was so simple, yet it showed how the kids were able to make the best of what they had.
On our last day there, we went on home visits to deliver food and testimony to families. They live in an area called “the ravine.” The houses are made up of cardboard, sheet metal, and concrete and they are all congested along a steep incline down a mountain. I have been inside closets bigger than the houses we visited, but none of the families were upset at their living conditions. The dirt floors and tiny living spaces for the seven or eight family members were luxuries to the occupants. Every person we spoke to was so thankful for our work and just shone with positivity.
My perspective was completely changed through my interactions with the boys. Their excitement to see us every day revealed just how starved they were of love and affection. The poverty they live in is crippling and so astounding to see. It is hard to believe that people live like that. I went to Guatemala thinking I would make a difference- start changing the world. I do not know whether or not I made a difference in the lives of these chicos/ninos, but I know they made a difference in mine.