Ministry in the Dump

Greetings everyone, it’s Arianna Kohler here with an update on today in sunny Guatemala.  Today we went to the Guatemala City Dump. We joined up with Potter’s house and their missions team there. There’s so much to say about our time there so forgive me if I ramble on and on.

The first thing we did was go on house visits in the community. We were divided into three groups and each group went to three houses. I can speak for everyone when I say the visits were very emotionally draining. My group went to two houses whose people depended on the trash for an income. Both support their families off of the bottles and paper and other items they collect. We did not have as much of an emotional time as the others but our eyes were opened and our hearts changed by how little they have and how happy they are for what they do have. Katie Fisher was able to share her testimony and Carolyn Werkheiser had a strong connection with the one lady she met on the visits.

After handing out “staple bags” with essentials and a hygiene bag we prepared for VBS. We were responsible for 30 kids who were all fairly young. My group was in charge of teaching them the lesson. So we decided on the story of Zacchaeus with the idea that Jesus loves everyone no matter what they do. Our focus verse was Luke 19:10. We decided the best way to teach the story was a mini skit. Angel was the sycamore tree, Crystal was Zacchaeus and I played Jesus. Their craft was drawing a picture of Zacchaeus in the tree. Some kids drew amazing pictures. We finished off our time with the kids by singing songs and playing duck duck goose.

I went into today with no clue what to expect. I am sitting outside right now realizing I could never have expected this. The week was planned out in a way that each day prepared us for the next, but even with the preparation no one was ready to experience God and be changed by the people. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Arianna Kohler