Guatemala
- Population: 13.8 Million
- Religion: 40% Protestant
- Known For: Marimbas, Lake Atitlán, 22+ languages
- LAM presence since: 1921
The Latin America Mission community in Guatemala is engaged in church planting, evangelism and outreach to at-risk children. LAM began serving in Guatemala in 1921, the start of large-scale evangelism campaigns there that would continue for decades and bring tens of thousands of people to a personal relationship with Christ.
Guatemala was the heart of the Mayan civilization during the first millennium A.D. In more recent history, it experienced a variety of military and civilian governments, as well as a 36-year guerrilla war that left more than 100,000 people dead and created as many as a million refugees. In 1996, the government signed a peace agreement formally ending the conflict.
Guatemala suffers from extremely high poverty — nearly 15 percent of guatemalans live in extreme poverty, and the country has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in the world. Much of the country's economy is dependent on remittances sent back to Guatemala from expatriate workers in the United States.
Guatemala is a very diverse country, with over 22 languages spoken, Spanish being the most prevalent. It boasts lake Atitlán, a distinctive and extremely deep lake ringed by Mayan villages. The Guatemalan government does not keep religion statistics, but some estimates put the Protestant population in Guatemala as high as 40 percent. Roman Catholicism and indigenous beliefs are also widespread.
