Mission Guatemala

Ready to travel?
You will be given an immigration form on the plane. Please mark the TOURIST box and use the "Iglesia del Nazareno" (Church of the Nazarene) for the destination address. You will be met by the Work and Witness Coordinators just outside the front door of the airport.  As you check in as a team for departure to the field it is a good idea to have all luggage, including carry-ons, tagged with colored tape (e.g. red duct tape) for easy identification. It will be much easier to pick out your team's luggage during transfers and pick-ups.

What should I bring?
Personal Effects:

• Work clothes that you don't mind ruining or leaving behind and sturdy work shoes.
• Outfit for Sunday church (dress or skirt for ladies)
• Comfortable clothes for evenings/ tourist days, Comfortable walking shoes.
• Shower shoes
• Bug spray, all necessary Toiletries, Toilet paper, Kleenex, Earplugs
• Swimsuit, Sunscreen, Hat, Sunglasses, Rain gear (late May – October),
• At least one fleece, sweatshirt or jacket for cooler locations/evenings
• Batteries and extra memory cards for your camera
• Flashlight (and extra batteries)
• Alarm Clock
• Extra pair of prescription eyeglasses/contacts
• Personal water bottle; Powdered Gatorade-is very important to prevent dehydration
• Women's personal hygiene items
• Washcloth (they are not available here in lodgings) and Towel
• All needed medications: We recommend that each team bring their own first-aid kit, and appoint someone as “team nurse.”
• Dramamine, Imodium, and prescription Lomotil and an antibiotic to bring just in case are sometimes recommended by your doctor.
• Dramamine if you are prone to motion sickness (Guatemala is a mountainous country and we travel on some very curvy roads – we don’t want you to miss the beautiful scenery)

For the Worksite:

• Work Clothes: long pants or jeans – no shorts or capris due to safety and cultural reasons
• Work Shoes: different from leisure shoes, as work shoes may get wet/muddy - no flip-flops or sandals on the worksites.
• Sturdy work gloves
• Sunscreen!! You will be at higher elevations and closer to the equator, so even if you don’t usually wear sunscreen you will need some here.
• Tools that may be helpful, depending on the project, are metric tape measure, pliers/wire cutters (lineman and slip-joint), screwdrivers, wrenches (7/16 “, 9/16” and ¾”), and cordless drills and bits. The Work and Witness coordinator will contact you concerning any specialty tool needs.

What I should not bring with me?

• Please do not wear your good jewelry on the Work and Witness trip.
• Do not bring any clothing that has an American flag, or questionable wording or symbols on it.
• The electrical current is the same as the US, and you do not need adaptors. Generators will be used, at the work site, in areas where electricity is not available.

Laundry
There are laundry facilities at the Seminary/Convention Center in Guatemala City. There is one washer; one dryer, so large amounts take a long time. We recommend only washing the bare necessities to get through the trip.

 

 

How do I contact home?
Phone cards purchased in the US will NOT work in Guatemala, and 800 numbers are NOT free here. Please appoint one person from your team to send a blanket e-mail to one person back home. Make sure that the person back home has everyone's e-mail address or other contact info so that they can forward the message to each team member's family. Please do not plan on daily internet access or regular phone calls home.

What should we expect to eat?
Teams will have access to a full kitchen with refrigerator/freezer, a stove/oven, dishes, utensils, and cookware if you want to cook your own food. You can bring food from home or grocery stores are also available and prices are comparable to the US, but not everything is available here. Please have the kitchen leader contact the missionary and share planned menus. Another option would be to pay the cafeteria for meals. Please inform the missionary of your food preparation plans.

What will the project site be like?
Construction Site
We are currently building prefab metal trusses and metal columns in our “Chapel Factory” here on the Seminary grounds in Guatemala City. Part of your mission experience will be working in the Chapel Factory! These prefab structures are transported to the different work sites for assembly by Work and Witness Teams. Providing the steel structure and corrugated galvanized metal roof gives the local people help with the most expensive and hard to acquire part of a building. You may also have the opportunity to complete the building by installing the walls and floor.

Ministry for children and/or adults
Please plan a VBS-type activity for the children of the village or town where you are raising the pre-fab(s). Here are some suggestions: Plan for about 1 ½ -2 hrs, which can include music, a Bible story, followed by a related coloring sheet. Small baggies (or pre-boxed) with 5-6 crayons make great gifts to leave with the children. A craft of some kind is great, such as the colored- beaded evangelism bracelets, or any such craft. Try to keep it simple and keep gluing to a minimum. Small gifts such as balls, cars, small stuffed animals, etc, and candy to pass out is always an exciting part of your visit, too.

Kids everywhere love puppets, but beware that you could very possibly be presenting outside, in a field or empty lot, so you must bring all staging, etc. Also, it needs to be in Spanish (although many village children will speak one of the 21 different Mayan languages) and to have been practiced before arrival.
Plan to have as many as 200 children per day at each site.

How is our team expected to conduct ourselves?
We ask that each team member act in such a way that they are an example of Christ.
We ask that all members respect the culture by refraining from the following:

• Wearing earrings in areas other than your ears and men wearing earrings.
• Tattoos need to be covered if possible.
• Dancing
• Drinking alcohol
• Using illegal drugs
• Smoking
• Foul language
• Complaining

Very Important Information about Clothing:

• All skirts and dresses need to be very modest.
• Please do not wear see-through clothing.
• Shorts may be worn on the Seminary grounds during leisure time, or during sightseeing trips.
• Ladies can work in pants and will need a dress or skirt for church services.
• Swimsuits need to be modest, one-piece for the ladies.
• Tank tops, spaghetti straps, and anything that shows the belly should not be worn.
• Sleeveless is acceptable, as long as it is NOT a low-neckline tank top. For example, sleeveless w/ a collar is fine.