By: Brian Coleman, Jr.

My Mission Trip to Guatemala

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The time for my Mission Trip to Guatemala came around at a time that I didn’t even feel like going, but after my mother signed me up, and we had raised a majority of the money, I realized that it was too late to turn back. I also realized that God truly had a plan for me, even it’s in areas of my life that I was not expecting.

While spending time in Guatemala, I learned from so many experiences in such a short period of time. One that stuck out to me was an instance where, after a full day of work, our whole group sat down to eat dinner, and during our wait, a burner that was keeping a dish of food warm exploded and caught one of the volunteer’s head on fire! A majority of people got up to, and tried to put the fire out and to contain it from spreading.

We were moved form our main dining area to a floor below to calm down and make sure everyone was safe. We said a prayer for the person who was injured during that conflict. After we received the all clear, we headed two floors up to the top to eat and finish up our night.

When we all had finished up and headed back to our hotel, we spoke on the situation and talked about how it made us feel. A group member spoke up and said that she was filled with remorse, but was thankful that the situation happened to us. Many agreed, and said that it opened their eyes to the fact that we are NEVER guaranteed to make it to the next day. And with every day that we do, we should thank God in any way that you can. The impact of that situation also had us thinking about a lot of things we did on the brighter side. We all learned as a group that everyone isn’t guaranteed their next day, and that every second should be valuable to us, because it can be taken away at any minute.

Guatemala made me feel at peace, even though a lot of things weren’t as I had seemed. Each experience gave me a reason to believe that there was something more for all of big cities. Even if it’s just missionary work, such as building a house(s), or help rebuild a school, every single ounce of help can make a huge difference, and make an impact on the lives of so many.

Also we were able to spend time with so many people who played such key roles at moments when we didn’t know we needed anyone. We all knew at the end of our trip that we had made a difference, and that it didn’t matter what size it was, but the fact that we stepped out and did what we were needed to do.​​​​​​

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