Dogs barking. The clip-clop of horses´ hooves on the cement. Horns honking. Children laughing. Fireworks going off for someone´s birthday (and it is always someone´s birthday).
These are the sounds that I have begun to associate with Xenacoj. They are what I wake up to every day as the town comes alive again. And I have come to love these sounds, and this town, more than I ever thought I would.
Central America has never really been a place I saw myself traveling to; my heart has always been more broken for Africa and Asia. So when God called me to this specific route that included Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, I wasn´t sure how it would be for me coming to Central America. I was afraid of apathy, or just hating it here. God obviously had other plans for me, though.
I´m still not sure what all God plans to teach me through these people, but one thing is for certain, the Lord has won my heart for Guatemala and Xenacoj.
There is a peace that surrounds this town that I have felt from the moment we got here. I can feel the presence of the Lord as He smiles down upon His children.
I see God in the smiles of the kids as we serve them breakfast. Their precious little souls so resilient and protected from the hardships of the poverty they face. How beautifully alive they become with just a bit of love and attention from those crazy gringas that dance around and sing and talk in Spanish with funny accents.
I see God in the life of the souls of the widows we visit. The strength that emerges from them is too great to solely be there own. And despite the difficult lives they have led, they are content in simply knowing God is watching over them.
And I see God in our contact, German. A man redeemed from a rough past that has become a great servant for the Lord. He has the biggest heart for his community, not simply for their physical needs, but for their spiritual needs as well.
German has adopted my team as part of his family and treats us as his daughters. And he is such a good father. To his own kids and us. He wants to know our emotional states and invests in our own personal journeys with God.
It may not be an obvious presence, but the Lord is here in Xenacoj. And I am so thankful God brought me here to meet Him and love on His babies.
