The Hidden World Guide to Central America:
Step 1
First, you're going to need to take a leap of faith and fly to Mexico with no contact and no plan. There you will meet an immigration officer who just so happens to be a pastor of a great big church. Wait for the invitation, and off you go to Mundo de Fe Cancun where your host, a complete stranger, will welcome you and your team of 11 to live with him and his family for 2 weeks. In this time you can expect to get very little sleep as taco missions at 1am become much more fun. You can also expect to help paint the church bathrooms and construct a roof over the main hall. Two birthdays, a baptism and a photo shoot on the beach later, your time in Cancun will come to an end.
You are now ready to advance to step 2.
Step 2
Months of learning to listen to God's voice have prepared you for the infamous Luke 10. You will now leave the comfort of your home in Cancun and set out on the task to travel to Guatemala in 10 days with 2-3 other teammates, no money and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Although the outcomes of this experience can not be predicted, the experiences we had can give some sort of guideline of what can be expected
* Each team was checked into a hotel at some stage during their journey (some for more than one night and some into more than one hotel)
* Each team had the privilege of staying in a family's home for two nights or more. This can go one of three ways. You can either spend the entire time chilling on the couch, playing Dance Party on Xbox and eating great food, or you will end up painting an entire house from top to bottom as well as spring cleaning it, or you will end up going to all the tourist attractions in Guatemala City with your host who happens to also be a missionary. Like we said, these are just guidelines.
* One can also expect to sleep in a bus station, jungle (with howler monkeys and apparently Jaguars) or gas station for at least one night.
* And finally, one can expect to meet up safely with the rest of the team in Guatemala.
Step 3
Time to rest up in the peaceful village of San Juan on the banks of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala for 3 days before continuing on your journey. Here, one can enjoy the view of the lake, the colorful markets, great coffee dates to get wifi and a peaceful nights sleep in the Volunteer Firefighter Station which a Luke 10 team managed to organize the day before our expected arrival.
Step 4
And just when you thought the faith journey was over, you get presented with the information that you will now be embarking on a Genesis 12 adventure from Guatemala to Costa Rica. Six days, five countries, new teams and crazy amounts of faith.
Once again, nights spent in hotels, nights spent with families and nights spent in uncomfortable (to say the least) places can be expected. The day before you are to arrive in Costa Rica, your team leader will have organized a host and you will have a ministry point just outside the capital city, San Jose.
Step 5
In Costa Rica, you will have the privilege of doing children's ministry with the Teen Challenge team. This includes morning devotions, building a play ground and giving testimonies in broken Spanish.
After 9 days, you will then continue to Panama with two new team members, Elsabe who is part of the Global leadership team and Ati, who is the brother of one of our teammates, Cherise.
You have now completed Central America, Hidden World style.
You up for the challenge?