Free · Certificate included
Preparing for a Mission Trip to Guatemala
Arrive as a guest who did the homework — the culture, the language and the harm to avoid.
Reviewed monthly · last reviewed October 2026
What you’ll learn
- Explain who you are visiting — Guatemala’s regions, languages and the Maya majority in the highlands
- Greet, thank and apologize in Spanish, and use a handful of K’iche’ courtesies
- Follow local norms for dress, greetings, time and hospitality without being told
- Apply the photography and child-safeguarding rules that protect the community and your team
- Recognize the short-term practices that do harm, and choose the ones that help
- Prepare for water, altitude, food and road travel before you go
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
Why preparation is the work
What goes wrong when teams arrive unprepared, and the posture that prevents it.
6 min Quiz - 2
Who you are visiting
Guatemala’s regions, the Maya majority in the highlands, and the history still in the room.
7 min Quiz - 3
Spanish that earns trust
The twenty-odd phrases worth memorizing, plus the K’iche’ words that change a room.
8 min Quiz Written + interactive - 4
Respect in practice
Greetings, dress, hospitality, time — and the photography rules that protect everyone.
7 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Do no harm
The short-term practices that quietly cause damage, and what to do instead.
8 min Quiz Written + interactive - 6
Staying well and getting around
Water, food, altitude and road travel — the practical things that end trips early.
6 min Quiz - 7
Before you fly
The team checklist, including the screening step most groups forget.
3 min Written + interactive
Sources & further reading
- U.S. Department of State — Guatemala International Travel Information
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC Travelers’ Health: Guatemala
- UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights — Guatemala: Memory of Silence (CEH) report summary
- UNICEF — Children in Alternative Care (2024) — global data on institutional care
- Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala — Guatemala’s recognised Maya languages
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