by Kelly Cragg, Team Coordinator
One of my favorite moments as Team Coordinator is standing outside the airport with my little Salud y Paz sign waiting to pick up a team. When I first started, I would awkwardly smile at every person who exited the airport, never knowing if they were part of our team or not. Now I have the pleasure of working with many returning teams, full of familiar faces. I love this moment because as I wait outside the airport, I am always filled with excitement, nervousness, and an eagerness to meet the amazing volunteers I will be spending the week serving alongside. These emotions are very similar to the emotions I felt coming down on my very first mission trip to Guatemala.
My first introduction to Guatemala was through a mission trip in August 2011. The trip wasn’t through Salud y Paz, but we stopped at the Salud y Paz clinic and school in the middle of a corn field for about 10 minutes on our last day, which ended up being life-changing.
I remember turning to my fellow team members on our chicken bus and sharing how I felt a call to stay longer. After returning home, I contacted Salud y Paz and received an offer to come down as a long-term volunteer. Four months later, I took a leap of faith and moved to Guatemala. I didn’t realize then all the adventures and blessings that God had in store for me. God knew that my Guatemala experience would last more than just my eight-day trip, and he created an opportunity for me at Salud y Paz. The day I moved here I remember getting off the plane and walking through the door at the airport feeling the exact same emotions of excitement, nervousness, and eagerness to explore my new world.
Through my position as Team Coordinator, I have the opportunity to serve alongside all of our different teams, which is interesting at times with only a youth ministry background. Even though I don’t have a medical background, I find myself leading teams of doctors and dentists into rural communities and even observing surgeries at our clinic. I also find myself working side-by-side with our construction teams to expand our clinic in Camanchaj. Being a long-term volunteer serving in Guatemala is never something that I dreamed about but is an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime.
Through this adventure God has blessed me with many incredible moments. I have been challenged in more ways than ever expected, but I have also been rewarded in more ways than I can count. After getting married this summer, I’ll be completing my service with Salud y Paz. I am grateful to all the people I’ve come to know through my time here and all the people who have supported me. I hope one day our paths meet again and we have the opportunity to serve God together once more.