We are now finished with Guatemala and will be heading to Nicaragua tomorrow. I feel like my whole month can be summed up in the last few days! On friday I watched a little boy who has become our friend, receive a brand new wheelchair!! It was beautiful definition of God’s wonder and power, and of true love. He brought my team to Guatemala because he loved this boy so much that He allowed us the opportunity to meet him and show him that God wants him to walk! He taught us that God has no limits! We did nothing on our own to provide this boy with the wheelchair. We saw a need, asked someone about the possibility and God did the rest!
On Saturday some of us on the squad decided to make soup for the people in the hospital waiting area. So we cooked two giant pots of soup, praying over it the whole time and singing praise music. We gave the day to God and asked him to do his will. About 20 of us served the soup and bread and soda. Over 200 people received the blessing of soup that day! We offered soup as well as prayer, going around and praying for people. God moved in the hearts, minds, and bellies of those who were at the hospital, either for themselves or loved ones. God used us again to bring his children home.
On Monday we had our last day of ministry. We had our last day to be with the kids in the school we worked at. What did we do? We played soccer all day long. It was so hard at the end of the day to say goodbye. These kids have become really dear to my heart and saying goodbye was gutt-wrenching, especially when little Pancho, the cutest little tyke you’ll ever meet, said “Hasta Manana” which means “See you tomorrow”! Ugh rip my heart out! Dinner was wonderful that night because we had grilled cheese and tomato soup, perfect heartbreaking meal! 🙂
On Tuesday we woke up early and dressed up as clowns, superheroes, and just as silly as we could! We went to the children’s ward in the hospital for the Day of the Children. We got to meet kids with all kind of problems ranging from a broken hand to cancer. We dressed silly, put on a show, played with the kids, and danced around. I got to hold this little baby. She was so precious. She looked to be about 5 months old, but in fact she was 8 months. She had a bandaged wrist, and we were told that she had no parents. It broke my heart. My friend Hannah really took to her so she was holding her the whole time, and I thought she might adopt her! lol But I got to hold her at the end, and she fell asleep on me. It felt wonderful to love on this child who didn’t have anyone to love on her. That evening we had a pizza dinner at this orphanage. The man who runs it is named Shane. He was just so thankful for the work we were doing that he wanted to host us at his home. It was a beautiful gorgeous house! They had probably 20 children who lived there. The kids were awesome, running around, showing us their rooms, and just loving on us. After dinner Shane just shared his story of how he came to be a missionary running an orphanage in Guatemala. It was an amazing story of faith and perseverance that God just brought him through. So encouraging to hear! Then we had our hearts ripped out by the children. They wanted to thank us for everything, so they performed several songs and dances for us. The songs were just beautiful, talking about the love of God and their heart for him. They also sang “Heart of Worship” in spanish. It brought tears to everyone’s eyes. Then they sang “Thank you for giving to the Lord”! It was in english and there was not a dry tear among our squad!
God has truly blessed us this month and shown us just a tiny glimpse of what he is going to do this year and I am just so sad to leave Guatemala, but excited to see what else God will do the next 10 months!
