What in the world are we doing here in Guatemala?

No...seriously what are we doing here in Guatemala?  We have asked ourselves this question more than a few times…but here we are.

We are being stretched each day to get outside of our comfort zone, but we are trusting in God to show us His purpose and rely on Him to overcome our fears.  Here is what a typical week looks like for the Zilkie Family.  

Monday:

We have started our Mondays with a walk of the village (It's all village, but just outside of the Fe Viva complex).  As a family,  accompanied by Sonia (a clinical psychology student and staff member at Fe Viva), we walk around and meet families in the communities, we pray for their needs for their health.  The families have been so welcoming and it has been very eye-opening to see the living conditions and true poverty of many of the families in the immediate area adjacent to Fe Viva.  This has been our favourite thing by far...connecting with people, meeting new people, praying for their needs, giving a word of encouragement, seeing their family dynamics, seeing their hospitality and their willingness to stop whatever they are doing and just stop and talk with us.  *(Now after having been here for a while, we see the people that we have met,  in the community and we can continue to connect with them outside of their homes).

Here are some photos of a few of our village walks meeting families.

Community walks meeting families

w/ Sonia

Our entire family has been teaching an ESL-style course. All of us have been involved.  We break into small groups with Micah, Amara, Erin and Jay all leading a group of 5-6 kids and working on different basic English sayings. Our focus has been practising speaking with proper pronunciation.  The current ESL teacher is a temporary replacement and knows very little English.  She replaced the previous ESL teacher who left over a year ago.    It has been very difficult to get a long-term ESL teacher. *We are not teachers…and teaching English to people who don't speak any English is very difficult.   (Up until this point we had Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Val helping us with this but they are gone on Feb 20th).

Jay taught a 45-minute lecture course on starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur.  It is a high school and college level course that is supposed to be bilingual.  There is a business program and an accounting program.  However, the English level is equivalent to about grades 1-2 and they dont have the basic levels to have a conversation so there was a translator to help with the presentation.

Tuesday:

We teach an ESL Class on Tuesday, so we have to prepare what we are going to teach and get our materials printed and ready to go.  We are teaching the same cohort of students so we are getting to know them.

They have a women's bible study for some local women so Erin has been going to that and building some friendships with some of the ladies who are young moms.

Wednesday:

Teaching another ESL Class.

There is a discipleship class on Wednesday evening led by Nelson for some community members from 6-8pm.

Teaching English in small groups and practising speaking, the whole family was involved!

Thursday:

We are teaching an ESL class every other Thursday.  

Friday:

Erin and Jay are teaching volleyball.  As part of their physical education curriculum, they are required to learn volleyball.  So they asked us to lead the volleyball classes.  We have had an absolutely great time running these.  From the absolute basics of bumping and setting to starting to play games.  The ages range from 14-18.  Since this is really their first time they are at about a grade 5-8 level without any real understanding of the basic rules and fundamentals,  like 3 hits.  This has been an absolute joy and a ton of laughs doing this.  Micah has been a great helper with skills and a great assistant.  The PE teacher doesn't speak any English so we have had a translator for most of the classes and we have basically led them all as she observes the skills we are teaching. (Keep in mind most people look 1-3 years younger than kids from Canada).

Each Friday night is a prayer time with some community people.  We get together and chat and then pray over each other's needs.  It has been very rewarding to learn about the community of people around us and their needs and then to be able to pray for them.

Saturday:

Every Saturday is a youth group from 6-8:30pm.  We have been leading this each week and will continue to do so.  The kids range from 8-15 years old.  We have done worship songs, played games, and had a talk each week (translated).  The games have been very fun for the kids, like limbo, musical chairs, sumo wrestling, crab walks, and wheelbarrow races.  At the end of the night, we hand out a little treat, and we actually walk all the kids back to their houses.  Since there are no street lights, we are literally walking in dark areas and taking these kids back to their homes.  It is pretty cool actually.

We had the privilege of installing a smokeless stove which took up most of the day (see smokeless stove blog)

Sunday:

We have been going to the Church connected to Fe Viva each Sunday.  We go for pre-service prayer at 9.   Erin has led the Sunday School (no surprise), with various programs, games and other fun things that she does.  It is outside so it's a bit different but very interesting and Sonia the children's pastor is able to assist us with the translating.

Erin teaching Sunday School (outside)

*We have been helping to plan a large community event for about 200 kids.  Our family has gone all over the area and gone into people's homes to invite them to the event.  We are preparing a drama, games, toys, food and more.  

Spare Time:

Most of our spare time is spent with our kids, playing at the park, but really there is no spare time as washing clothes and hanging them on the line several times a day, and cooking and cleaning up from meals, and attending meetings, and cleaning up our accommodations etc. leaves little time to spare!!!

We were able to go to a waterslide one afternoon for Izaiah bday which was a blast.

We went to Antigua on our 1st full day off which was also a lot of fun.  

Jay spends every moment not doing these things working so he is managing a lot, but thus far has not been disruptive to his business, and we are all thankful for their support...its been a huge blessing!

Other Notable Items aka Fun Facts:

There are no hot showers

It is 33-37 degrees every day.  Which sounds wonderful except the humidity is outrageous, we are not near an ocean and we are 200m above sea level.  Its very hot.  We have A/C in the bedrooms but can only use it at night.

There was a planned power outage for an entire day that affected a huge area, and it was 37 degrees that day so we weren't able to use any fans in the house.

Driving, walking, or anything on the road is slightly terrifying. Scooters are full to the brim with people, no helmets.  The most we have seen is 5 people on a scooter - going way too fast all over the road (no headlights at night).

Today we walked around the village and as we walked we ran into people & neighbours we now know by name and it's a wonderful experience to be a part of their world!