DAILY DISPATCH
Youth Guatemala Impact Trip 2025
Domingo, 22 de Junio
¡Hola from Guatemala!
We have landed safely and have had a wonderful time in Guatemala City the past two days. After a smooth flight, we met with our interpreters and facilitators from CEDEPCA: Andrea, Nikté, Luis, and Brayan. After landing, we had a wonderful lunch at a bakery near the airport, then got checked in at our Hotel, Casa Salome. We then had dinner at a nearby restaurant, then gathered at the hotel for an orientation and devotional before heading to bed.
This morning, we were awoken by the sound of booming fireworks coming from the nearby Catholic church’s celebration of Corpus Cristi. As the fireworks continued to blare, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel before driving over to “Jesus es el Camino,” the Pentecostal Church where we worshipped this morning. The service was filled with upbeat music, clapping, joy, passion, and an extremely friendly congregation. After worship, our group split up into two smaller groups, visited the houses of two local families who are connected with the church, and learned about some of the different challenges they face.
Back at the church, we joined some of the youth to fuel up for our soccer-filled afternoon with a pizza lunch. Arriving at the soccer fields, we met youth groups from two other churches and spent our afternoon playing against the other groups in a soccer tournament. Due to our large group, FPC split up into 3 teams. After many hard-fought games, we are proud to say that our team consisting of Brayan, Ben Council, Hunter, Charlotte, Robbie/Rhodes, George, and James came out on top!
To cap off an afternoon filled with fun and fellowship, we joined the Guatemalan youth for dinner at Pollo Campero, then headed back to our hotel for a debrief, devotional, music, small groups, and friendship bracelet making! ¡Hasta mañana!
Atentamente, Ben Council y James Hodges
DAILY DISPATCH
Youth Guatemala Impact Trip 2025
Lunes, 23 de Junio
Hola!
Today we had an earlier morning! After a fun breakfast we left and went to our first stop, Casa del Migrante, and learned about migrant groups and the hardships that come with being a migrant. When there, we helped clean up the building to help them have a better living experience. After that, we visited our partner’s, CEDEPCA, headquarters. We had snacks and lunch and played a scavenger hunt around CEDPCA’s offices to learn about the many services that they offer and their many partnerships. We learned more about the history of Guatemala and how they experienced lots of oppression. We also learned about current the religious and political climates in Guatemala.
After a great morning, we spent the afternoon touring the Mayan ruins of Kaminaljuyu. We learned about the history of the Mayan people. They used obsidian for weapons and built everything out pumice and clay. One fun fact is that over the years, they would build new buildings on top of their old building to be closer to God!
Tonight for dinner we ate at The Jazz Café, but sadly they did not play any live music. The food was delicious and was a cool vibe. Many card games have been played today over meals, on bus rides, and during our free time. We are grateful for the many stories and experiences of the people in Guatemala City, and we look forward to helping build parts of the school over the next few days as we travel to Lake Atitlán.
Buenas noches, Henry and Reid
DAILY DISPATCH
Youth Guatemala Impact Trip 2025
Hello from Lily and Beatrice!
Martes, 24 de Junio
We are extremely tired after losing trivia, but on a better note we had a great day driving to Lake Atitlan. One highlight of the journey was boating across the lake and arriving at our castlelooking hotel safely. Once we arrived at the hotel, we went shopping on the main street and had a great time!! Yay!! We are so close to the volcano it might get us, but at least it’s pretty. Jk it’s dormant now. Nobody drowned in the lake, but we will let you guess about who cut their foot and swallowed some lake water. After two intense games of pool volleyball, we are sad to report that we lost due to our teammates not us. We are fantastic (Wilson has video proof). Our amazing dinner was accompanied by liquidized watermelon and a brief power outage. Beatrice also learned a very cool magic trick. Just so everyone knows, our talent show on Thursday will be an amazing performance of Hamilton featuring us, Addison, and James. If the person who writes this on the day of the talent show does not mention us, know that they are sad because they lost. We were going to add more, but we are exhausted, so good night from Guatemala!
DAILY DISPATCH
Youth Guatemala Impact Trip 2025
Miércoles, 25 de Junio
Dear amazing parents!
How are you? Today was extremely busy. We first went to a Peace Park and learned from a firsthand account about a masquer where many people lost their lives during a protest in the Guatemalan Civil War. Those included teenagers and children as young as 5 years old. There were paintings on the wall that explained the back story. The man explained how he was 11 years old and he was almost trampled while his best friend Pedro was severely injured and in the hospital. We went through all the headstones and read the messages. Next, we walked to the school where we worked from 9 to 5! When arriving we met the principle and she explained the classes, importance of education in Guatemala, and the ranges of kids. We then cleaned out a large compost pile, built a shed and garden, and moved stones and logs to help make way for the construction of new classrooms We had a delicious meal with our duos dynamícos and met a sweet dog that was named Rosita. Although the kids were gone on school break, we also made friendship bracelets that we gave to a teacher who would eventually pass them on to the children. Getting on to the more exciting details, we discovered a tree house and separated worms from dirt!!!! We also discovered that Rosita enjoyed soccer. Surrounding the area we were working in there were many gardens, classrooms, and cows. One negative to our work was that we encountered many ants, mosquitoes, and various bugs (AKA scorpions)! To help with our bites one man used a machete (we did nothing dangerous) to cut us aloe vera which proved to heal our bites quickly. Yay!!! After we came back from the school we were allowed free time which some ppl spent at the lake or pool! It was cold but perfect for pictures (thank you Wilson). We are extremely tired tonight but happy after working hard and knowing our accomplishments So excited for the rest of the trip! Also we miss you all!
- Victoria and Caroline
