This Selfish Trip - Reflections from Pahuit
Kenny Alvarez attended his first Guatemala mission trip in March with The Brook Church working in the village of Pahuit. This is a reflection he wrote about his experience:
It’s hard to make this trip without feeling selfish. As Christians, we are compelled to help, and when the opportunity came up I decided I wanted to go to Pahuit, my first thought was: How can I serve? I imagined building, repairing, or buying something for the community. As a man, it’s easy to believe that the only way to help is by creating something tangible and lasting for the Pahuiteco people.
However, I quickly realized the importance of simply being present. They understand that you have left your family for this time to serve them. Their unconditional love and affection are not hidden behind handshakes or polite words, but revealed in children rushing to hug you, play with you, and talk with you; in strangers opening their homes and inviting you to sit with them; or in camping in a house so that the fellowship we share is felt by the family through our presence in their home.
Life is not easy for this community. They endure poor living conditions, little to no access to medical care, and a limited education system. Yet they also face struggles familiar to us at home: broken families, boys growing up without fathers or paternal role models, forced to work too young to provide for their families, or drifting into lives without Christ. You also find loneliness; abandoned mothers living by themselves through their sheer physical strength and faith in God that better days will come, understanding that they may lack tangible wealth but rich in faith like few of us could ever have.
It’s important not to misunderstand the purpose of our mission. We do not go to Pahuit to make them like us. Our goal is to honor and preserve their rich Mayan culture. As fellow believers in Christ, we come to embody the support that God provides—both in times of need and in those moments when we don’t even realize how much we long for that connection, I leave humbled by how much I received—their love, openness, and the way God worked in our fellowship. What I hoped to give, I found returned in many times over. And now, I cannot wait to return with my family, eager to see what God will continue to do through us and through them.
