Sorry I know this is way over due. But my first month in Guatemala was so incredible that I needed 20 some odd days to comprehend it and put it into words, haha or at least that’s my excuse!
Last month in Guatemala God showed me so much about His love and that it didn’t matter what language or age barrier lay between the willing and the people whom He is calling us to. No matter how hard I listened or tried to understand Spanish it wasn’t going to happen, I can’t even remember my Spanish teacher’s name much less what she tried to teach me… I had this fear that I wouldn’t be able to make an impact on people’s lives because I couldn’t communicate with them. But, God didn’t need to come down and give me the ability to speak and understand Spanish to share His love.
Instead He put an 8-year-old orphaned boy named James in my life for the month I was there. This friendship didn’t just happen I had to win him over with my soccer skills… lets just say that my love for the game is not reflected in my abilities so I was grateful that James was still young and easily impressed by the “American with crazy hair.” I scored the game-winning goal against a group of 12 year old and under Guatemalans and you would have thought I had won the Finals of the World Cup. The kids went crazy they loved and I did too, I was a crowd favorite before lunchtime on the first day!
Over the next few days I got to spend more time with my new friend. Using the broken Spanish that I learned from playing the FIFA soccer video game with the Spanish commentators (the game is just way more interesting with a feisty Spanish commentator incase you were wondering) I asked James who his favorite team and player were. With the quick response of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid being his favorites I thought it would be appropriate to call him Ronaldo Pequeno, little Ronaldo, he loved it so much that without skipping a beat he decided to call me Puyol Grande, Big Puyol, after the Barcelona player Carles Puyol. Once you see his picture you will immediately get the joke. Haha.
So as the days flew by Ronaldo Pequeno and I began to spend more time together. Nothing made me happier than to hear him shout my new nickname from across the room followed by running into my arms for a hug, a lovely beard scratch and the rustling of my hair. It didn’t take long for God to show me how easy it was to love someone you could hardly communicate with. James was happy with just sitting next to or on me and holding my hand. He began to teach me some Spanish so we could talk; I think I learned more from him than I did in school. And on the last night I got to see James we sat together at church and shared his beaten up little Bible. When the time came to say goodbye I wrapped this little boy up in the biggest hug I could possibly give without having the Guatemalan child services called on me. I’m not sure what flew into my eyes after that but I’m sticking to a bug flew in it! Haha. So there I was almost 23 yrs old and crying about leaving my friend and then he gave me a real reason to cry as he wiped my tears and his, and said “I love you Puyol Grande.” I told him “ I love you too Ronaldo Pequeno, I’ll see you later.” I was heart broken when the time came to leave.
It wasn’t until late that night while I was lying in my hammock that God showed me how I had gotten to know James better than I do most people back home and we could hardly even communicate with each other. I fell asleep that night comforted by the fact that the next 10 months I would have this opportunity again to meet someone and really connect with them regardless of weather or not we could talk to each other. Without even realizing it God had removed that fear that I had and replaced it with an undeniable confidence that if I trusted in Him that He would find a way to use me in people’s lives around the world.
