Every morning my team and I venture on the 15-20 minute walk to our ministry site, Centro de Educación Especial, we are greeted with a joyful “buenos dias” from the staff and students and cheek kisses from the awesome Will Fredo. We then split off and head to our designated classrooms for the day.
I’ve been assigned to help assist in a class of about 7 students (depending on the day) with their teacher Juan. One day while the teacher was off site at a meeting I was asked to teach for the day. Talk about improvising. I read to them from a Spanish book, had them practice pronunciation, and we worked on tracing alphabet. In those moments you really learn that its not about how silly you look or feel but you find the joy in just going for it. Even when you fail these kids still love you. During jardín (garden) class, Juan called my teammate Hannah and I over and handed us garden shears; the next thing you know, we find ourselves in a low squat position “mowing” the grass with them. Forgive me if I’ve ever complained about mowing the grass back in the states. In that moment I was thankful for a positive attitude while Hannah and I laughed through every clip of the scissors.
There have been many moments where I questioned my purpose this month. What was I supposed to do in those moments when a child runs up to you or yanks on your sweatshirt with joy asking you something in another language? What was I to say back to them? How was I supposed to share the love of Jesus when I couldn’t verbalize it? That’s the point of this whole world race thing, right?
Like I mentioned in my last blog, God has been teaching me more and more about nonverbal communication: the power of just being in someone’s presence. The power of touch, laughter and a smile. Though my spanish is limited, the fact that I am trying to speak in their language to communicate with them is a way to show them my desire to love them.
This brings me to the pivotal point of this post.
Meet Joel.
He is one of the students in my class. Almost every time I walk into the classroom he is sitting behind his desk winding his Trompo, “which is spun by winding a length of string around the body, and launching it so that lands spinning on its point.” This kid is full of laughter and is always eager to learn. The day that I taught the class I ran out of ideas so I pulled out a sheet of paper and started drawing for Joel and singing to him. We just sat there in each others presence and enjoyed the moment.
My team and I inquired of the teachers as to why Joel got around mostly in a wheelchair though he can walk and crawl some. Juan told us that due to malnutrition, his muscles are weak. My teammate Beth prayed about how we, as a team, could help to provide Joel with a walker and supply him with the chance to strengthen his muscles.
A week prior, our squad came together and worked on building tricycles for kids in the community that may have some type of physical disability such as a lack of full range of motion in their arms or legs. Beth talked to our host Sally about getting Joel one of the tricycles.
Yesterday upon returning from lunch we happened upon the most beautiful sight: Joel riding the tricycles with the biggest smile on his face with his father right by his side cheering him on. That was the icing on the cake. The days of feeling doubtful about what we were doing or purposeless had to vanish in the presence of such a sight.
Please continue to pray for Joel’s strength and joy
CLICK HERE to see more photos from our time in Guatemala
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