Guest Writer: Rachel Austin

Rachel Austin wrote an awesome article about my family and I. I loved it and wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it and pass it on to your friends and family.

Local Teen’s New Life in Guatemala
By Rachel Austin
LEESBURG- Not many people know too much about Guatemala, so here are a few facts to keep you up to speed. Guatemala- population: 14.36 million, mostly a rural environment, located in Central America, 70.6% literacy rate, mostly populated with descendants of the Mayan people, and now the new home of Katey Erickson.

In August the Erickson family from Leesburg moved down to Antigua, a city in Guatemala, to work with an organization known as Servants 4 Him. Although she knew the change would be hard, Katey was actually thrilled when she learned she was moving to Guatemala saying, “I was really excited [to move to Guatemala] because I had taken a mission trip to Guatemala last summer and loved it! And I knew God was calling me to go so I was excited.” The entire Erickson family shares Katey’s same genuine passion for sharing their faith with the Guatemalan people which is why they joined the Servants 4 Him group.

Servants 4 Him is a non-profit mission organization that was started by another couple from Leesburg, Forrest and Carol Kendall. The missionaries teach the Guatemalan people about Jesus while improving the people’s standard of living with bio-sand water filters, improved wood burning stoves, dry composting latrines, and sanitation education. The Ericksons have only been living in Guatemala for about four months but they have already been able to do some mission work with the Servants 4 Him team. “Well right now our main focus is learning the language so that we can communicate with the people in the villages but I have had the opportunity to visit villages and meet and help people, do VBS [vacation bible school] type things with kids, help Carol (one of the missionaries in our organization) with anything she needs help with, and much more. And in the future when we have teams come down I will help them in the village with either building a house, building and delivering water filters or stoves, doing VBS things with the kids, or whatever else is needed in the villages. We always have something to do to help the people down here,” answered Katey when asked what mission work she has been involved in so far.

Learning Spanish has been quite a challenge for all of the Ericksons so far. When asked about learning the language Katey remarked, “My parents have been going to language school everyday for 4 hours. And my siblings and I have tutors that come to our house 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. It’s hard but I am learning a lot and I really like being able to communicate with people”. Although learning the language has been difficult for all of the Erickson family, Spanish is coming fairly naturally for Clay, Katey’s 14 year old brother, saying, “Yeah it’s [Spanish] pretty hard for my family but it’s coming pretty easy for me”. Even though the Erickson’s language skills aren’t quite top notch yet they don’t let the language barrier overcome their passion for the mission work they are doing in Guatemala. After going to a visit a church in TodoNicapan, Emily, Katey’s nine year old sister, said “We got there [TodoNicapan] early to visit a family and the mom was sick and we got to pray for her. It was really cool how even though she didn't understand what we were praying in English she still knew what we meant while we were praying. During the church service I didn't know what they were saying but I knew what they were saying. This might not make sense but if you had my brain you would understand”.

While learning Spanish is consuming a lot of the Erickson’s time they still find time to experience their new home and adapt to the culture. When asked what her favorite experience has been so far Katey replied, “I have had so many amazing experiences that its hard to pick just one. I have gotten the opportunities to hike an active volcano, go to a kite festival, go to a Macedamia nut farm, see ruins, help in poor villages, and much more. But I think my favorite experience so far was going to and helping with a kids camp in complete Spanish. It was an amazing experience. I got to meet some amazing people, practice my Spanish, and just all in all have an amazing time!”

The Erickson family is embracing their new life in Guatemala even with all the cultural differences between Leesburg and Antigua. Clay recalls his strangest experience so far as being an incident with a taxi-cab, “The taxis here are like 3 wheeled motorcycles with a roof that can fit 4 people including the driver. I was riding in one up a hill when we ran out of gas and started rolling backwards and the driver called the other guy I was with and asked him to hold brake while he filled up the gas tank because he didn't have emergency brakes”. Katey has had some strange experiences too, especially in the Mayan villiages. “I think the strangest thing that has happened to me is being asked if I am married in some of the villages. Because in some villages some girls get married as young as 13 so when I tell them that I am 17 then they assume that I am married because to them at that age its just normal to be married. They are kind of surprised when I say I am not” Katey said.

Katey is greatly enjoying her new life in Guatemala and is looking forward to the impact she will make in the lives of the local Guatemalans. Even though Katey misses all her family and friends still living in Leesburg she loves living in Guatemala even more and keeps all of Leesburg updated on her adventures in Guatemala through her pictures that she posts on facebook and her blog-http://theteenmissionary.blogspot.com/.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you Rachel for the awesome article!

-Katey :)