A short-term ministry trip can be very beneficial to you. When you set out on a short-term ministry experience, you remove yourself from the daily distractions and ‘noise’ we all live with and allow God to teach you.

Here are some of the benefits you will likely experience when answering God’s call to participate in short-term ministry: gain an enlarged vision of the work of the church, sense and appreciate the power of prayer, gain fresh insights into Christian living, experience a deeper devotion and dedication to Christ, receive guidance from God, and come back with a new sense of life stewardship.

Short-term ministry teams are an important part of Agua Viva. These trips provide ministry teams with the opportunity to expand your world view by experiencing a different culture; seek the Lord in a deeper way; use the gifts and talents the Lord has given you by sharing them with others; see how the love of the Lord can shine through children, especially children in need; help provide a better living environment to the children of Guatemala through your work projects; plus a number of other benefits that will only be realized after you have visited the children and people of Guatemala.

• Contact the GCM representative
• Organize your group

• Trip Expenses
• Fund-raising Resources

• Accommodations
• Transportation
• Daily schedules
• Work Projects
• Medical facilities

• Our ‘Home’ life
• Culture
• Daily routine
• Gifts
• Discipline

• Medical Forms
• Team Members roster
• Accountability Guidelines and consent form
• Experience Survey
• Needs List

Getting Started

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To begin the process of sending a ministry team to Agua Viva, please contact John Salisbury, at avmissions@gmail.com. Most of the necessary forms you will need to complete are on our website.

Organize your group

Teams will typically stay at the home for 1 week, arriving on Saturday and departing on Friday. We recommend a group size of 8 to 28. Successful teams delegate responsibilities for different aspects of the trip. Some suggestions for organizing your team are:

1. Needs coordinator - Organizes the supplies your team might be bringing to the home
2. Cleanup coordinator - Organizes the team’s daily responsibilities as they participate in the daily routines at Agua Viva such as clean up crews at mealtimes, tidying up the team’s living quarters, cleaning the team’s bathrooms
3. Activities coordinator - Plan and execute evening and weekend activities for the children such as puppet shows, worship, arts & crafts and games
4. Devotions coordinator - Take the lead on the team’s spiritual needs. Lead the team in daily devotions, study, prayer and reflection
5. Administrative coordinator - Oversee the logistical needs of your team. Exchange US dollars into the local currency, keep track of airline tickets, customs forms, passports, confirm flights etc.
6. Personal needs coordinator - Handle the medical or other personal needs for the group. Keep track of the medical forms and emergency contact information while traveling. Inform the group of the Accountability agreement and appropriate conduct while at the home.

Deeper Roots Publications has some helpful resources for deciding whether you are ready for a short-term ministry experience.

Trip Costs

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Room, board and project fees are payable to:
Guatemala Children’s Missions Inc.
P.O. Box 398
Spicer, MN 56288-0398

The team is responsible for arranging it’s own air travel. You can arrange your travel through a trusted travel agent or independently. We can also recommend the services of World Travel Mates as they are experienced in booking group travel for ministry teams and are familiar with Ministry trips to Agua Viva.

World Travel Mates
Rebekah Reavis
704-341-9247

Fund-raising Resources
Don’t be discouraged by the costs for a short-term ministry trip. There are many resources available to your group and ways to raise money for your team. A helpful manual for raising support for short term missions, entitled "Short Term Support Manual" can be obtained at www.peopleraising.com

What to Expect

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Accommodations
Ministry teams will be housed in our dormitory style apartments. Units typically sleep 8 – 12 people in bunk beds. Bedding is provided, though many teams will bring their own bedding and leave it behind as a donation to the home. Men and women are housed separately. Most units have bathrooms and ‘warm’ showers. If the unit does not, there are other facilities located in the main building.

All of your meals are prepared at the home by our Guatemalan cooks who are very accustomed to cooking for our visitors from the States. Everything is prepared with your health in mind. Fruits, vegetables and beverages are prepared in a manor that is safe for you to eat. You will be able to experience the food of Guatemala and enjoy the same meals that are prepared for the children. While we encourage all of our visitors to eat the meals we prepare, there will be peanut butter as a back-up. Bottled water is readily available at the home. Visitors do not drink the tap water.

DO NOT eat food from the vendors on the streets or items that have not been commercially packaged. On trips outside of Agua Viva, we will take you to restaurants that are known to maintain clean health standards.

Transportation
Arrival: The on-site ministry team coordinator from Agua Viva will pick your team up in a yellow school bus in front of the area where you exit the airport. Look for a sign that says “Agua Viva.” For safety reasons we require that your team arrives at the Guatemala City airport no latter that 4:00 pm on the day of your trip date. Please e-mail your flight schedule to the Agua Viva Team Coordinator once it has been confirmed.

Departure: Agua Viva will provide transportation for your team on your departure date. The team leader should have the correct amount of money for the security departure tax. As you enter the airport you need to proceed to your airlines’ check in counter and fill out the necessary departure forms. The team leader can purchase all of the necessary departure tax stickers at the window on the left as you enter the airport, please tell the person you are buying for a group. The stamps are then put on each person’s boarding tickets.

Daily schedules
A typical schedule at the home will look like this:

6:00 AM	Devotions
7:00	Breakfast
7:00 - 8:00	Clean-up
8:00 - 10:30	Work project
10:30 - 11:00	Snack (school break, tienda is open)
11:00 - 1:00	Work project
1:00 PM	Break for lunch
1:30	Lunch
2:30 - 4:00	Work project
4:00 - 5:00	Sports ‘Campo’ or Activities with 3 - 8 year olds
5:00 - 6:00	Personal time
6:00 PM	Dinner
7:30 - 8:15	Evening Activities

There is ample time for interaction and activities with the children. The afternoon play period, called campo,is a wonderful time to play sports, push a child in a swing, or just hang out with some of the children.

Evenings provide teams the opportunity to engage the children in activities they have planned in advance. Arts and crafts, skits, worship music and games are examples of activities teams can provide. As these activities take the place of the children’s evening devotionals, please try to make this a time of Christian fellowship. Children’s ages at Agua Viva range from age 2 to 18. In order for you to be more effective, it might be beneficial if the activities could be designed for dividing the children into age-appropriate groups.

During the week you will have at least one trip outside of the home to experience Guatemala and see how the Guatemalan people live, work and play.

Work projects
One of the ways ministry teams bless us is by funding and providing the labor for various projects at the home. A good portion of your per person fee to Guatemala Children’s Missions will go to purchase the supplies needed for your team’s particular work project. Ministry teams have done everything from installing our septic fields to building our playground. They may mix and pour cement, paint walls, or fix bicycles. We have a never-ending need for the gifts and talents you bring to our home and there is always something for everyone to do regardless of age or skills. Please let us know the makeup of your team so we can plan a work project and schedule that best fits you.

Medical facilities
There are qualified medical doctors and a hospital within 15 minutes of Agua Viva that can provide medical care for minor emergencies. Major emergencies will be taken to a well-equipped and staffed private hospital in Guatemala City within a 2-½ hour drive. The most common medical problem we have is dehydration due to the elevation and the mild climate. It is important that you drink plenty of water throughout the day. Purified bottled water is provided in each room. It is recommended that you bring your own water bottle, that can be refilled, to have with you while you are working during the day.

The Home

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Our ‘Home-Life’
Agua Viva is home for some 85 children whom the Lord has delivered from unsafe and unhealthy circumstances. The staff of Agua Viva has the responsibilities of a parent to these children. The home provides physical care in the way of shelter, food, clothing, health and education; and spiritual care by providing the children the opportunity to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and teach them in His ways.

Like a parent, we are to bring these children up in the ways of the Lord. Staff and visitors who come in contact with the children also have an influence in their lives. Our goal is to raise children who are independent thinkers and who become responsible adults. Most of the time, the children come to Agua Viva from very non-structured, non-nurturing living environments. These children need to adjust to a daily schedule that is necessary when caring for a large family such as Agua Viva. Over time, we have come to understand the unique needs of our children and how to best create a loving and structured environment they will thrive in. Agua Viva has put into place some parameters and rules that we feel will help us to raise up responsible Christian adults with good self-esteem, confidence, respect for others, and dominion over themselves.

How do we do this? We provide the children with opportunities to take responsibility for their actions and provide for themselves over time. As the child matures he or she is given more responsibility through paid jobs at Agua Viva, managing their own time, taking care of their own clothes, money, and living areas.

Culture
We want to ask that when you are visiting the children at Agua Viva that you help us to provide consistency in the training that is needed to prepare the children for their future life in Guatemala. We, as Americans, are visitors to the country of Guatemala and we need to respect the culture and the views of the Christian church in Guatemala. Visitors should be mindful of their Christian witness to the people of this culture. This is especially true when it comes to how we dress and act. Clothing must not draw attention to your physical body. Language and actions should be pleasing to Jesus. Remember, there will be over 85 sets of eyes observing your Christian witness.

Daily Routine
The children wake up early, have devotions and eat their breakfast. By 7:00 AM they have started their school day. At 10:30 AM, they will have a recess and will visit the onsite ‘tienda’ (store) for snacks and drinks. At the end of recess they are back in class until 1:00PM. Lunch is their large meal for the day. After lunch, the children have homework, chores or other activities tied to the daily routine. We ask that you please respect the time schedules that have been outlined.

Gifts
We would prefer that gifts be given to the office to be distributed to the children at the proper times. If you have a particular child to whom you want to give a gift, you can put his or her name on the gift and that gift will be presented at an appropriate time (birthday, Christmas). If you are a sponsor of a child, you may bring a small gift for your sponsoring child and a time can be arranged through the director for you to have a one-on-one time to talk and to give the gift. All other gifts should be handled through the Director of the home. Our children, like all children, desire love. The time you spend in sharing the love of Christ with them is an eternal gift, so please shower them with the love of Christ.

Discipline
It is important to give the Guatemalan staff the confidence to care for and train the children within their own culture, so we ask that you respect their responsibilities in handling the children within the rules that have been put into place. There are times, as with your own children, when a child needs to be disciplined. Discipline is accomplished by removal of a child’s privilege to participate in an activity, like 'time out'. Please do not be alarmed if you do not see a particular child at some time. Please direct all questions about the children and Agua Viva to the director of the home, this will help eliminate any misunderstanding about the way we handle things at Agua Viva.

Forms

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Medical Forms The medical form can be substituted for your team form if you are using one. This should be kept with the team leader should there be an emergency.

Team Members roster Four weeks prior of your trip date, please email the Agua Viva Team Coordinator the Team Member List and flight schedule so that we are fully prepared for your team.

Accountability Guidelines Please have each team member complete, read and sign the Accountability Guidelines prior to your departure. The forms should be given to the Director of Agua Viva on your arrival at the home.

Experience Survey We would appreciate getting your feedback about your experience at the conclusion of your week so that we can improve future team’s experiences.

Needs List Most of our short-term ministry teams will fill one of their two allocated checked bags with items that are in constant need at the home. We have compiled the list to help you pack for your trip. Agua Viva depends heavily on the items that teams bring to the home each year to help sustain it.