Slide after slide, images on a PowerPoint presentation flashed across the screen; reflections of life in Guatemala, some fun and others simply heartbreaking.
Five years after Hurricane Stan leveled Guatemala with 40-foot-high mudslides, burying homes and lives, where more than 1,500 people perished, where survivors still live in poverty, a dozen Charleston Southern University faculty, staff and students stepped off a plane on a mission: to share the love of Christ.
CSU student Amanda Kizee“You see this stuff on TV, but when you drive the bus onto this land and see people living this way, we had to overcome that,” said Charleston Southern senior Amanda Kizee. “We had to get past the tears and the effect it had on us in order to reach in and serve them.”
Kizee was one of 10 students on the spring mission trip to Guatemala. The group recently reunited to share their experiences with the university.
The 10-day journey to Guatemala began with anxiety for the team members, unaware of what they’d see, who they’d encounter or how to communicate.
“I had no idea what to expect,” said senior Ryan Hill. “I was really anxious because I don’t speak Spanish. I know how to say ‘Hello’ and ‘Where’s your bathroom?’ I was so frustrated because I couldn’t just talk to these people.”
That’s until he met Harla, a deaf child from Guatemala.
“Language wasn’t an issue,” said Hill. “We talked completely through body language. That was the coolest thing that God showed me on this trip. She and I had an incredible bond by the third day. It was heartbreaking to leave her.”
Student Michelle Hendrickson spent her final day in Xela kicking and throwing a beach ball with a 5-year-old boy. For nearly 40 minutes, the two never spoke a word, communicating only through body language.
The group visited a number of Mayan villages, painting, teaching, playing with children and worshiping with the local people. The students visited Santiago and taught at a small school called El Buen Pastor. In Cerro de Oro, the group met the Gomez family, 10 people living in a two-bedroom home.
“My wife and I struggle for closet space,” said Hill. “How can I complain about not having enough closet space when they have one change of clothes? They may not have a meal. It made me feel shameful for being so prideful and selfish.”
While worshiping at Mision Bautista, a small church in Cerro de Oro, Kizee recalled feeling God’s presence as Hill began singing. She remembers being “on my knees, in the dirt. It was overwhelming. The presence of God was so real.”
In that moment, in that sanctuary, propped up by pieces of wood, as the rain pounded the aluminum roof and Charleston Southern students dropped to the dirt floor, the Holy Spirit was at work in their hearts. As Hill later explained the experience, “God broke me in that moment.”
Hill serves as youth leader at Hillcrest Baptist Church. He confessed, “I get frustrated when the video I pull up isn’t working. In Guatemala, their church is pieces of aluminum siding propped up by wood.” He realized, “Church isn’t about the media working right, it’s about a body of people worshiping God. As long as you’re doing that, that’s church. It’s worship and it’s that simple.”
After days of work, Kizee had reached the point of exhaustion. Praying for strength, she gathered and worshiped in song with people in the village. A young girl approached her, rubbing her eyes. Kizee reached out and the girl jumped in her arms.
As the little girl fell asleep, Kizee prayed a prayer of thanks to the Lord. “She didn’t know me, but she trusted, and the Lord spoke to my heart: ‘This is how I want you to rest in me, and trust me, that I will care for you,’?” Kizee said.
Hill, a double major in psychology and youth ministry, didn’t truly experience Guatemala until he was home, surrounded by his comforts, chatting with friends on Facebook and preparing for his final semester at CSU. That’s when it hit him.
“I went without the Internet for a whole week [in Guatemala],” he said. “I don’t need this. I can put this in the closet and not miss it. This is God’s way of telling us to cut some stuff out of our lives.”
“I went in not knowing what to expect,” he said. “I left feeling like I was leaving home. I felt like I belonged there. I still didn’t speak the language, and, yes, I was excited to go back home and see my family, but I was also homesick for Guatemala.” – CSU