First and for most I want to acknowledge the love and support you guys continue to give me even though I have not kept my word by keeping you more up to date. This is to everyone, especially my Hillcrest family; you have done so much for me this past year. I am so sorry and ask for grace. I love you and truly desire to have you along for this journey in the next 10 months.
With that said… I was in Guatemala AKA Guat! It was a hard, but amazing first country to start in. We were in Quiche, Guatemala which is located in the mountains about 3 hours away from Guat city. We felt like giants because the Native Mayan people that live in Quiche are extremely short. Being in a more concentrated area of indigenous people, we had a more difficult language barrier because they spoke the Native Mayan dialect (Quiche) that sounds nothing like Spanish!
We did what the World Race calls an all squad month, so all 50 of us where in one location. Our host organization was Agape In Action but we worked with different ministries. We ate, slept, worshipped, and did anything else you can think of together. We lived on a compound that shared land with the local hospital and put tents up in the backyard. As great as it was being with everyone it got draining living in a small village of gringos (white people).
My team’s specific ministry was a senior center called Mis Años Dorados (My Golden Years). The center is a place where elderly can come and be cared for instead of being sedentary at home where their family, if they have any, can’t really care for them because of work. We did a variety of things; helping them prepare meals for the abuelitos (old people), daily cleaning, and odd jobs like painting the roof or doors. Our favorite part was being able to hang out with them.
We quickly learned that the abuelitos really just wanted to have people to talk to. They craved community, and we were all blown away but how old they looked but how young at heart they all were. It was something really beautiful that touched my team’s heart.
As blessed as we felt that we were working with some awesome people. We all struggled with feeling like we weren’t making an impact. I mean, we could barely speak their language because most of them spoke Quiche and the Spanish we knew wasn’t enough to have conversations deeper than “how are you today?”. We at least felt like we were doing something useful when we cleaned or did a project but then there were some days where we really had nothing to do so we would sit with them and try and talk but it was difficult.
Then God shocked us all, on our last day as we were saying goodbye we experienced something unexpected. It was so evident by looking at their faces and seeing the thankfulness they expressed, that just our willingness to spend time with them meant the world. Then seeing the sadness that they felt was like we were family that was leaving them. There was this man, Omar, who served well and had such a joyous heart. When I hugged him goodbye he couldn’t hold back the tears and I was taken back because seeing this man cry was something I didn’t think I would ever see. And I just thought, “Someone crying about me leaving after just meeting 3 weeks ago, why?”
Then it hit me, as people, we see impact as this major change or this life altering event that we worked really hard for. Then seeing their faces, feeling their embrace, and knowing what they were feeling because we were feeling it too. I realized God simply says to love. It isn’t this big secret. It isn’t this massive thing that we make it to be. It is simply sitting with someone and smiling. It is having a willingness to do the small things no matter how mundane they can feel, because God is in the mundane.
And that is what this past month was all about. It was being completely broken of everything that I expected the race to be. It was about putting me at ground zero, taking all the theology out of Christianity and realizing that God is all about simplicity. He wants your heart and if you can give Him that then you have given Him everything. And He will use that in ways you would never have thought.
So now I am in Granada, Nicaragua and continuing this pursuit for the heart of God.
Prayer request:
-Trusting that I am right where God wants me to be.
-That I can find my Identity in God and nothing else.
-That I will believe my story matters and the God wants to use me.
-My team will continue to have a willingness to be intentional about growing with one another.
-That I will be more disciplined in my blogging and loving you all well by keeping you more updated.
-My teammate Michael Sullivan lost a friend a few days ago so prayers for him and his friends family.
-That I’ll be quick and patient to listen to God and slow to speak at Him.
