This has been one of the hardest months for me, but it is also one of my favorites. Oh Guatemala, what did you do to my heart? This was the hardest month to say goodbye.
Where to begin? We did a lot this past month and I have so many stories. With that said I will start with the book. One of our ‘jobs’ this month was to write a book and our host Dave will publish it for us. So as a team of 8, we each took a chapter and wrote some of the stories, our experiences and what we learned. So whatever isn’t in this blog will be in the book which will be available to purchase on Amazon in the next couple of weeks. The money for the book goes toward feeding the widows and orphans in Xenacoj. Never did I ever imagine that I would be a published author! 🙂
Meet German and his wife Suzie. They serve with so much joy and love! Suzie makes 3 meals a day for 30+ people and German is very passionate about the widows and kids. He shows so much love to us and to everyone he comes into contact with.
Widows– We would go visit the widows almost every afternoon. We would bring a bag of corn or rice or beans. We would visit for a bit with our host German translating for us and then we would pray for them and sometimes sing them a song. In the Mayan culture if your husband dies or leaves, the wife is not allowed to re-marry. Sometimes the husband will go to America for a job and send money home to his wife and kids, but eventually meets a woman and forgets about his family back home. Just being able to live out James 1:27 is a huge blessing and it encourages the widows so much! One widow we visited was so happy to see us because her husband had died the month before and her family and friends said that they would visit her. We were the first visitors she had since her husband died. Another widow we visited didn’t have a bed. She slept on the hard cement floor every night. We were able to raise enough money (through our team and Gap year teams) to buy her a bed and the day before we left we were able to deliver it and oh, she was so happy! It was such a joy to give in that way!
School feeding program– Almost every morning we would pack the van up and head up the mountain to the village of Ayapan. Being able to enter this village is a big deal. Just this past May, German took a World Race team up there and they were the first outsiders in over 2 years. Over 2 years ago some government contractor/outsiders went there to buy land and the villagers burned them alive. German and the first team there were able to talk to the mayor and got permission to come back and do the feeding program at the school. So we would go into the class rooms with a big bowl of rice and beans and serve the kids. Then we would hang out and play with them. It was a blast. One time we taught English but it was difficult because Spanish is their second language. So English had to be translated into Spanish and Spanish translated into Kaqchiquel. One of the girls there name was Jennifer and as soon as she found out that we had the same name she sought be out during recess and shared her snack with me. And every time we went back she would always find me.
Wycliffe Bible– We had the beautiful opportunity to partner with Wycliffe Bible in handing out bibles in the Kaqchiquel language for the first time ever! People would sometimes ask German if our God is real why don’t they have a bible in their language. Well, now they can read about how real and amazing our God is in their own language!! There were over a hundred people from the US and Guatemala City that came to hand out bibles. We all split into groups of four or five and went door to door. Someone in our group would explain what we were doing and then hand them a bible. One door we knocked on was opened by an older gentleman. I could see that there was a battle going on in his heart as he listened to what we were doing. Then as I handed him the bible I saw something in his eyes. What I saw was “I don’t deserve a bible. I messed up too many times, there is no hope for me.” I pray that as God’s Word is “living and active” that he would read it and believe that there is hope for him. I pray that he would come to believe that God loves him no matter what his past looks like.
Haven Hope– For our last few days in Xenacoj we partnered with Hope Haven. They make wheelchairs of all different kinds and ship them internationally to adults and children in need of a wheelchair for less than half the cost of a chair of the same type in the US. It was great working with the people there. We pretty much worked on putting together some of the smaller parts of the chair like screwing the brakes onto the frame.
Gap Year– Gap Year is a World Race squad. They are a younger group (18-22 yrs old) and they go to 3 countries in 9 months, spending 3 months in each country. We had 3 teams join GO! Ministries a week after we got there. And I will admit that I was really overwhelmed when they arrived. It was month one and day one for them and they were full of excitement and our group of 8 just turned into a group of 30. I didn’t know how to hang out with them at first and our host wanted us to help them through the first month. To be honest, they poured into me more than I did them. As it was month 9 for us, we are tired physically, emotionally and spiritually. But the joy, life and energy Gap year brought us was much needed and a huge blessing! I had been feeling lonely and forgotten by God, I was in a hard patch spiritually, I was tired of not hearing and tired of living out of pack and just simply tired. Gap year reminded me that God can and will use my story to encourage others no matter how much time has passed. Truth and life was spoken into me by the Gappers. They accepted me as I was and reminded me to have fun. To make the most of every minute. Yes, this is month 9 and yes we are tired, but that doesn’t mean stop pushing through. That doesn’t mean just coast through these last 2 months. No, I’m gonna give these last 2 months all I got. I’m gonna arrive home exhausted but satisfied that I made the most of every minute on this journey God has called me to. And by the grace of God, I will finish strong and confident. So if any Gappers are reading this I want to thank you for showing me to keep going strong. Thank you for loving us Fusion people so well. You guys are the best and I miss you all!
So that was pretty much our month. Like I said, there is more stories in our book “Blaze forth with Hope.”
We had a team change at the end of August. Now we are a team Blaze. <3 I am still a team leader and this month has added a lot of challenges. But you grow through those, don’t you?
This next month we will be in Belize!! My team will be working with Faith Baptist Church! We will be getting involved in the community and minor construction projects. World Race has never been to Belize before so not sure what we will be doing in details. We will be in San Pedro which is on the island of Amergris Caye. So we are pretty excited to be in such a beautiful location. San Pedro is a tourist town, but we will be working and living behind the scenes from all of that. We will be in the ‘reality’ side of town where the locals live.
Please be in prayer for me and team Blaze. Pray that we would be a light and encouragement to the community. Pray that we would let God use us and that we would share the joy and hope in Christ with boldness. Pray also for physical health. A lot of us got sick a few times time past month.
Thank you all so much for reading and for your prayers! This journey has been beautiful!
