Home in Guatemala!

Wrapping up week one of being in GUATEMALA! Life has been full of so many thoughts, emotions, and memories. The first few days of being here were far from what I expected because my body was still fighting through some kind of sickness I got during training camp. Ten days later and I am finally well again, praise God!

When my squad got to Guatemala we went to the Adventures in Missions base for a night and got into our teams the following day to travel to our new homes. My team settled into our host home in a village called San Antonio Aguas Calientes. This will be where we do ministry with a local organization called Hope. It will include house visits with local families, English classes, VBS, Bible studies, music ministry, women’s ministry, and sports ministry. We will also be partnering with a ministry called Worship Room in Antigua a few days each week. There we will participate in the prayer room multiple days a week as well as worship nights. All of this happens in a beautiful local coffee shop called Serve Hope.

Here’s a few snapshots from week one. We are slowly getting into routine here with a new culture.

This is my team! I will be with these five girls for about the next five to six weeks in Guatemala. (Will post an intro blog in the next couple days as I promised in my last blog.) In this picture we are standing under a sign that says “Bayit pan & cafe”. This is the name of a local coffee shop and cafe a few blocks away from our host home. Fun story, our team name is “Shalom Bayit” which translates to “Home of Peace” in Hebrew, so seeing this our first day walking through the village was such a cool God moment! We must be at home!


Quiet time! A part of life, not just on the mission field, is spending time with Jesus. Each morning we are blessed with such beautiful views of the mountains and volcanoes while we do our Bible devotional time on the top floor of our host home! Right now I am reading through 1 Corinthians and studying Psalm 103. This time is so crucial so I am soaking in every moment I get to grow in my Bible knowledge and personal relationship with the Lord.


Here’s the view from the top floor of our host home! So beautiful!



This first pic is of Rachel and I on our first chicken bus ride! A chicken bus is one of the main forms of transportation here. Basically it’s a school bus that has been painted all different colors and transports people from villages and towns. We take a chicken bus each time we travel from San Antonio Aguas Calientes to Antigua and back. They are very lively, the rows of seats are usually filled with multiple people and sometimes are so crowded that people stand in between them. Antigua is about 20-30 minutes from where we live but depending how many stops and people are on the bus it can sometimes take an hour or longer to travel a short distance.



Food! Comida! Wow. We have been so blessed and spoiled by the food served to us. It tastes incredible. Our host mom, is a fantastic cook! We love getting to try local Guatemalan meals! We are going to learn how to make a few different things from her and I think our first lesson will be how to cook corn tortillas! Above are a couple of the dishes we have been served so far, so yummy! I’m not a big coffee drinker, so every meal our host momma brings me a mug with warm water so I can make tea. She seriously has the biggest heart and is so intentional about knowing us and serving us well. Such a blessing!



Here are some pictures from Serve Hope, the coffee shop we do ministry at in Antigua! The first is of the bottom level of the coffee shop where you can play ping pong and sit at a few tables. There is also an upstairs outdoor seating area. The second picture is of the prayer room. Every day Monday-Friday they have a prayer meeting in the morning with a specific topic to pray for. It has been a blessing to spend time intentionally praying together.

Sports ministry! One of the days each week we will have sports ministry in both the morning and afternoon playing soccer. This weeks meeting began with stretches and warmup, we then sat down for a Bible devotional, and then finished with some drills and played a soccer game. It was a good time but I was no soccer athlete haha! Maybe in the next six weeks I will learn how to better kick the ball.



On September 22 I got to celebrate my “Victory Day” with an Oreo Frappuccino and a Nutella Croissant at Bayit! This is a day I remember not to stay graved in the past but to be reminded of the freedom I walk in through victory in Jesus. (September 22, 2020 was a day I was going to end my life but graciously and thankfully God said it was not my time.) So this date is my Victory Day, a day of joy knowing the hardship and pain the Lord brought me out of! Praise God I still have breath in my lungs to pour out His praise!



That’s a wrap for this week! I unfortunately had to miss a few things as I was still recovering from being sick but I was able to see a doctor here and got some medication. I feel pretty good now!! Praise God for strength! I am so excited for this coming week!

Praise & Prayer

(How to thank God and pray for my team)

Praise God for:
-healing over the sickness I fought for 10 days and free medications
-a great host family in San Antonio Aguas Calientes! Our host mom and dad have the biggest servant hearts
-safety in travels (we walk through town frequently and travel by bus)
-healthy local ministries that we get to come alongside and serve with joyfully

Prayers for:
-healthy bodies in my teammates (lots of them are struggling with stomach issues right now) pray that our bodies adjust well to what we consume and that my stomach stays well
-language (I’m having a hard time learning Spanish and get discouraged easily when I can’t communicate. Pray that I would learn and remember phrases quickly to be more effective in forming relationships)
-100% reliance on the Lord (right now my flesh wants to do things “Ashley way”) so pray that I would learn to surrender in all areas of my life to walk according to the Lords character and purpose for my life
-Jeffery, he is our ministry host and will be leaving this coming week to travel overseas for two months as a missionary

Thanks again for joining me on this journey! God is good. Welcome to Guatemala! 🫶🏻