Cedarville GO Trip Highlight: Guatemala AMG

By Julia Swain

Over spring break, a team of thirteen Cedarville students traveled to Guatemala to serve with Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG), a missions organization dedicated to advancing the Gospel across the globe. 

This team was composed entirely of first-time team members, including student team leader Chloe Harbecke, a senior Mathematics student. The team had a unique opportunity to grow together and bond over shared worries and excitement about the trip. 

“We were relying on each other for support and asking each other for prayer and help, and those moments are the ones that actually bring friendship and deeper relationships,” Harbecke said. 

Harbecke found out about the trip when looking for a trip that was focused on children’s ministry. 

“I went last spring break [to Mexico] and it was an awesome experience and I wanted to do another one,” Harbecke said. “I always enjoyed the ones that are involved with kids ministry, and so it was just looking at the trips doing kids ministry and deciding on Guatemala.”

As the student team leader, Harbecke was in charge of communicating expectations from Global Outreach, answering team members’ questions, and setting up meetings. 

While in Guatemala, the team spent most of their week at a camp working with kids of all ages –a highlight for a lot of team members. 

“I would say that a main highlight was honestly the kids and getting to be with them all week and build those connections,” Harbecke said.

This opportunity helped the team to form strong bonds with the kids at the camp, leading to deeper relationships by the end of the week. 

“That is the heart behind why we were going, and I think it was super cool to see that come to fruition through the week of spending time with them and talking to them and them getting comfortable with us,” Harbecke said. 

One of the main challenges on the trip was the language barrier, since the majority of the team had little to no experience speaking Spanish. 

“A couple of people on the team took Spanish in high school and knew bits and pieces of Spanish, but that was a challenge,” Harbecke said. “We had a translator that was awesome but there’s only one of him, thirteen of us, and a lot of kids.” 

Yet, Harbecke and her team reflected on the Lord’s providence in their struggles. 

“There were so many things that we wanted to say and share with them, but not all of it was going to translate,” Harbecke said. “But it was cool to see the Lord work through that and show us that we didn’t need to know the exact words, and they could see the point of what we were saying and they could see our love.” 

The team faced challenges with travel and health, but the Lord consistently provided in Guatemala, giving them everything they needed to make it through the week. 

“Seeing him give us the energy and strength to do camp all day,” Harbecke said. “And then seeing im provide again and again and seeing my team see that and see, ‘okay the Lord is getting us through this.’” 

Harbecke also shared that she loved watching the team come together and work as a unified group. 

“It was really cool to see everyone use such different talents and abilities and seeing that he put this team together for a specific purpose in order that we could support and balance each other out and then use our gifts,” Harbecke said. “Just in the simple ways that we’ve had different experiences but we can all pull together and contribute.”

Harbecke reflected on how the team could see the Lord at work in a very specific way. 

Wednesday night, the pastor that had been speaking with the group presented the Gospel to the camp at a bonfire. 

“We got to see them get emotional and pray with either us or their counselors, and though we couldn’t understand everything, the Holy Spirit was moving and we could just lay a hand on someone and pray over them or encourage them,” Harbecke said. 

Harbecke also got to see her own awe of the Lord grow throughout the week in a few different ways. 

“My faith also grew in expanding my vision of the global church and seeing how faithful the believers are there that are doing the Lord’s work so faithfully day in and day out, and just serving so joyfully and sacrificially,” Harbecke said. “That was really cool to know that God’s people are throughout the world doing that right now.” 

The team also bonded together as a group and was able to have fun together and enjoy serving together. 

“Also, our group was just fun,” Harbecke said. “We kind of knew each other before, we had meetings, did icebreakers, but it’s really just different when you get out of the states and actually on the trip.” 

Harbecke and her team understood that while they were the ones serving in Guatemala, it is the Lord that does the work in the hearts of who they are serving. 

“The Lord is moving even when we’re not the ones presenting the Gospel, and we can just be there to support and encourage,” Harbecke said. “So it was really cool to see the Lord use his word through the pastors there and then see the kids respond to that and see them grow.” 

Julia Swain is a junior journalism student and the off-campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys concerts, coffee, and watching and analyzing any Cleveland sports team.