Mixco Matthew's Teaching Adventure

Hey there everyone, it's so good to be writing to y'all again!! School is done, life is weirdly slow (more on that later), and my schedule has never   been this open!  The end of the year at Christian Academy of Guatemala is always a solemn occasion, as we say goodbye to the teachers and graduating seniors who contributed to making CAG the amazing home that it has been for me. In particular, our valedictorian (we'll call her Eleanor)--who gave me the idea to re-found Debate Club, leading two students to awards back in February--will be matriculating at my own alma mater, Georgia Tech, this fall!! While Tech is admittedly not a Christian school, that does not mean God is not alive and working on that campus. As many of you may know, I was heavily involved in a campus ministry called Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF) during all four of my years at Tech. That place was more of a second home for me than any school or church I had been to previously. Whether it is at CCF or else...

Well, here we are again!! I apologize for not posting on social media last month. April, as it turned out, was an incredibly busy month--well beyond what I had initially been planning. As a result, I'm writing this a few days earlier than usual to make up for it.  Anyway, why was April so busy, you ask?? Well, for one thing, Prom was this month. That was actually fun and relaxing, but watching students stress out about it (no matter how often you remind them that nothing about it really matters) is definitely not fun. Mercifully, it is all behind us now, and we got plenty of good laughs (not to mention mountains of free leftovers for us teachers) out of the evening!  Additionally, we had the team from Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) visit our school for accreditation last week. After passing through our classrooms, hosting focus groups, and individually interviewing our administration, the team (composed of visiting administrators from peer institutions) ...

Since this is a faith-based blog, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that today is Easter. It is because He rose that I live freely and can share this Gospel message far and wide. Happy Easter, everyone! He is risen indeed!! Well, March was another positive month--God is just so good. I'm writing this paragraph from the Atlanta airport--the world's busiest and one I know well--after saying goodbye to my family after an amazing Holy Week spent in Savannah (where my parents currently live) and St. Louis (where my sister and brother-in-law live). It was a great time, filled with life-giving conversations about my future in Guatemala, God's blessings in each of our lives thus far, and of course, amazing food and coffee!!   My family and I celebrate after solving an escape room near St. Louis. L to R: me, Brendan (BIL), Maddie (sister), Jen (mom), Jeff (dad) As for my life at Christian Academy of Guatemala, that continues to go well, too. I had parent-teacher conferences ...

Hi there, everyone!!  It's so good to be back--your prayers are felt now more than ever!! For instance, right after publishing last week's blog post, I went on that retreat with the high schoolers that I asked you to pray about. But here's the thing--it almost didn't happen.  Yes, the devil does have a tendency to get pretty crafty, doesn't he? In my case, it was an attempted blackmail from a parent based on nothing but bad vibes. Suffice to say, my bosses had none of it, and I decided to go anyway. And it was a hit!! While my sophomores only finished third in our many competitions, I still got to witness great worship, facilitate refreshing spiritual chats, and laugh at teenage antics. A little slice of heaven opened up to me that day, and I am forever thankful for it.  But the blessings just kept coming. Even after moving down here by myself, I've apparently already made enough of an impact on my students that I got several Valentine's gifts! I included a ...

Hi there everybody!!  Los eché de menos --I really missed y'all! Anyway, here's a quick update on what I've been up to so far.  Christmas, first of all, was great. It was full of time with family, celebrations of Jesus's life and all the blessings He brought in 2025, plenty of gifts (including a few that I brought back from Guate), and a spur-of-the-moment trip to Disney World for the new year! Yet in the middle of all that joy, I still felt a great longing--to go back and pour my heart once again into these wonderful students.      A selfie I took of me and my family on Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom   I don't think I shared this before, but I actually took the test to become a Foreign Service Officer while I was down here. On October 20, I seized the opportunity of the school being closed to finally take my FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) after more than a year of waiting. With no update on my score (they were not released this cycle, for whatever re...

Another month goes by with the Lord's mercies being new every morning!! Not long after I last published this blog, we went and served with the Salvation Army in the city of Tecpán, approximately 40-50 miles west of the school (though with the state Guatemala's highways are in, it felt a good bit further). We put on a show for the kids based on this Korean sketch , prayed over anxious family members in a hospital waiting room, and organized a crafting session for local women.  Yet what gratified me the most was not any individual thing we did. Rather, it was the initiative the students showed. Whether it was native Guatemalans or recently arrived Koreans, everyone identified their role and rose to the occasion. Even having served on mission teams as such myself and being around some enthusiastic peers, I had never seen anything like what those kids showed me. It was a determination to love the Lord by serving others--and more importantly, to do the not-so-fun work (like painting...