Beauty for Ashes: Guatemala Women's Mission Trip

Guatemala is called the Land of Eternal Spring, and when you see the lakes and volcanoes you understand why. Its 18.2 million people mostly practice a form of Catholicism, often blended with ancient tribal religions. The country has carried a heavy orphan burden too; the orphan population was estimated at 370,000 in 2007, when the country had about 15 million people, and orphanages grew crowded after international adoptions closed that year.

The women in the barrios near Antigua come from many faiths and tribes, and they rarely have a place to say out loud what has happened to them. On a women's mission trip to Guatemala your team gives them that place. You host Beauty for Ashes retreats, speak about worth, identity, healing, and forgiveness through your own storytelling, and watch women begin to believe their story matters, as the program has done with more than 5,000 women in 60 countries since 2014.

In February we run a mother-daughter trip, where mothers and their adult daughters serve side by side with local ministry leaders. Serving together tends to open conversations at home that have waited years. Whichever date you pick, come with humility and a servant's heart, because daily plans move with the need.

You will stay at the Adventures Guatemala Base, about 20 minutes from Antigua, with a trained Beauty for Ashes leader on the team the entire week. Three live virtual training sessions before you go introduce your leader and teammates and lay out the retreat sessions. Adventures in Missions has been sending teams since 1989, and Guatemala is one of the places we know best.