Guatemala Day 4 - Think Long
We cannot believe that we have been in Guatemala for four days already and today was a blast! We started our day with a delicious breakfast provided by the Guatemalan hotel staff. This breakfast consisted of a cheese omelet, papaya and pineapple, plantains, bread and beans and the best Dare for More Guatemalan coffee. We have found that some of these breakfast items that are uncommon in America are very popular here in Guatemala.

While enjoying our breakfast, Lisa once again challenged us with a new set of words: Think Long. The two previous days gave us Dream Big and Pray Hard. We learned that thinking long may not be just a day, week or a few years, but sometimes decades. She challenged us with this quote: "Prayer is the inheritance we receive and the legacy we leave." So, what are you praying hard about that you may not see in your lifetime? What seed are you planting that future generations are going to benefit from?

When we got on the bus, Lisa had an idea for us all to pick a song that described us. She started us off with Good Day by Forrest Frank. From there we all chose a song and then she played them. It was a great team bonding opportunity for our team.

Today, we had the opportunity to run a volleyball clinic for the local school, Intelligo. This is a bilingual school and by being there, Dare For More has an opportunity to develop deeper relationships with them and share Jesus and the Gospel with them. Once we arrived, we met quickly about what the next couple of hours was going to be like. We started out with an ice breaker game called Around the Wagon. Each student was paired with one of the Houghton Volleyball players. This game was fun, competitive and allowed us to begin connecting with the girls. Then we split them up into two groups and covered passing and serving. We worked with the girls to help them improve on their skill. We then took a small snack break which was definitely a favorite for both the players and our volleyball team. We got to try snacks that are special to Guatemala such as chocolate/strawberry cookies, salsa chips, lime chips (Coach's favorite) and many more. During this time we got to connect with the students and learn about their lives. It was cool to discover that some of the girls had been to the hometown of 2 of our own players. Once snack time was finished, the students and Houghton volleyball players intermixed and played a game of queens. We finished the clinic with a 6v6 game to 15 points. It was awesome to see how competitive they were but also how gracious they were to their teammates win or lose. The team provided encouragement and fun by teaching them our own cheers we do when we are playing back at Houghton.

Before we left, Katelyn Martin shared her story of how God led her to Houghton and the things He is teaching her through volleyball, school, and personal relationships. She quoted several scriptures, but one that stood out was Psalm 73:26 " My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." The story resonated with both the girls of the school and our very own players as we witnessed God's goodness and faithfulness.

After our volleyball clinic, we had the opportunity to learn about another facet of Dare For More's ministry and that is coffee! Dare For More has a care partner in a local business named Chica Bean. We ate a tasty lunch and heard the origin story of how Chica Bean coffee came to be. We learned how coffee is grown, harvested, processed, and packaged. This is helping so many women in Guatemala by giving them jobs and a way to support their families. We went into their roasting room and watched as a batch of what looked like small green beans, turn into the coffee beans we are accustomed to using in the US. There are many different ways that beans are roasted that produce different tasting profiles of coffee. We then participated in a competitive game where we needed to smell different smells and identify what we smelled. It was definitely harder than we expected, but a fun experience. Finally, we rounded out our time there with a coffee tasting. We were each given 2 cups of coffee and what to determine which type of roast was which. We learned that a coffee "cupper" is a professional coffee taste profiler - by the end of the day we got our honorary stamp of becoming a coffee cupper. We were grateful to receive a bag of Dare For More coffee at the end of our experience. We learned that this partnership is vital to the mission of Dare For More.

We then loaded back on the bus and headed back to Antigua where we were able to do some shopping in the open air markets, do some sightseeing in the park and local streets. We explored different stress that were filled with all sorts of foods, treats, coffee, clothing and souvenirs. We enjoyed seeing the beauty of the intricately detailed homemade products made by the people in Guatemala. They are vibrant, colors and so different from the things that we see at home. This made us all excited to explore and buy a little more than we had anticipated and even though all of us, especially Coach, spent a lot of money, we were happy to be able to support so many people and come away with a few reminders of our time here.

Lastly, we made our way to a beautiful restaurant for dinner. The food was amazing. One of the girls decided to go out of her food comfort zone and ordered squid. Many teammates decided to join in on the taste test and they were surprised by the flavor and said they would try it again. A favorite dessert we had was gelato. When we got back to the hotel we discussed the plan for tomorrow and headed to bed to rest up for another full day!

Continue to pray for our team as we wrap up our time in Guatemala. Pray the God would open our eyes, ears, and hearts to what He wants to show us.

-written by Praylan Perkins, Sierra Zinger, and Arianna Farrell