I have safely made it here to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala! This is where I will be living all month long and doing some awesome minsitry like helping youth, playing with children in the orphanage, packing lunches to hand out and more! It was a long journey here, in more ways than one. It was a beautiful drive and I just feel so blessed to be able to do something like this.
Life here is very different. Water and energy are so expensive here. I am having a bit of some culture shock, but my team is being super supportive, which helps.
When we had training in Antigua, Allison spoke of a wonderful story of Samuel. His mom would bring him a giant coat each year. At first he would laugh and say mom! That is just way too big! But the mom was smart. She knew that soon that coat would be way too small for him. This year, I felt like God gave me a very big coat. At first I hated it. I tried to take it off. I tried to wrestle and move around in it. But now I am starting to see that the coat that God gave me will fit me. I will get used to living out of a backpack, takign short showers, not having certain comforts of home, not having my friends and family here with me. I have God with me and that is all I need. God is preparing me to fit into this coat that He is so excited for me to finally fit into. I had to get rid of the other, too small one. I thought it was fine, but now I can see that the old coat just was not working for me anymore. I am built for more. What God has in store next? Who knows. But I am ready. Somehow.
HERE I AM! HERE I STAND! I AM READY!!
TO MY GIRL SCOUTS: The water here is not clean at all, so I have to drink and brush my teeth with purified water. Even the filtered water that some people drink is not safe enough for us spoiled americans. I have to take the shortest showers ever here, because I do not want to burden the organization with a huge water bill. Also, int he main city of Puerto Barrios, there are open sewers in the streets so i have to wear closed toed shoes when I walk around there so I do not get any diseases! Hope you girls are doing great! I love and miss you all!
