Do you ever have days where you are so up and down you cannot even handle it? God puts you on a high where you never want to come down from and then takes you into a deep low. So that happens all the time on the race. I wanted to give you all a glimpse of what a day could look like.
So most days, we spend our morning feeding the children at the local schools. Two teams take a big pot of food and serve it. Here I am, talking to the kids in line and having no idea what is going on. There is a lull and we realize we do not have enough food for the rest of the kids that are coming. So you would assume that we would just head off and grab some more food to serve. Right?!?! Nope, instead we stand there and pray over the pot with a little bit of food in it. I pray to God about how he is our provider and he made the loaves and fishes feed so many. I asked for the rice to multiply. Now sometimes God has a funny way about him. After about 15 minutes of praying we stop and wait for kids to come. There are no more kids to feed. We have fed them all. So, I looked up into the sky and just laughed. I said to God, “Yeah, I know I should have trusted you.”
So we leave the school on this high, ready to face the rest of the day. After the school, we are off to visit widows in our town. German, our host, sends my group off with this cute little lady. The lady smiles at me as I hug her. We get onto her property and quickly realize she does not speak Spanish. Her sons come up and start to speak for her and answer questions. Quickly I realize her two sons are not ok. They are drunk and high. Did I forget to mention its 9:30 am? For me, that moment was a sobering reality. Life here often looks like that. The women of the house work and provide while the men drink or are on drugs. I walk the streets of my town only to see men passed out on the side of the road.
We leave the house with a hug and a kiss from our little friend. As I walk away my heart hurts. I am shaken up and anyone could see that.
So then we visit another widow’s house and have lunch. Then we are off to the races. I have a new group to work with and we visit a new widow. She is this beautiful, little woman whom I automatically love. She begins to tell her story. She was an orphan and then worked in a maquilladora. We stand there are ask what that is. What is a maquilladora? She begins to describe it and while no one around me understands the word, something goes off in my brain. I know this word. So I ask her again, “You worked in a maquilladora?” and she keeps saying yes. And I looked at my group of 6 and said, “a maquilladora is a sweat shop.” That’s when it all started to make sense. She was telling us about how she would be beaten on the job site and about how she struggled with getting out, but people in Xjeneco helped her. When she is telling us about her life she keeps looking into my eyes. We talk some more and ask her what she does for a living? She shows us the beautiful clothes she makes. She keeps looking at me when she speaks even though I am not the one talking. And for me I knew in that moment I had to talk to her. I would not use my translator and instead I would speak. So here I am standing in a room with a total stranger using my broken Spanish. I am fine with talking to kids in Spanish. They want to laugh with me and help me learn Spanish. An adult is sometimes another story. They usually dismiss you and look for the person who speaks Spanish. But I will not step down in this moment. No instead I am trying to get anything across to her. By the grace of God, she understands. Mind you I wasn’t having a super rich conversation with her but I did invite her over to our house on Saturday and I told her about the doctors that would be coming in a month. She thanked me profusely for the invite. We go to leave and I use my new favorite phrase, “Te cuidate mucho!” Which means, “you take care of yourself!” She hugs me and kisses me as we say goodbye.
As I walk back I realize I am again ready to go. I feel like I could conquer the world. So I decide that maybe just maybe I will try that.
First let me give you a little bit of background. This month has been just full of spiritual warfare. I mean it is insane. Our squad has been sick the whole month, people have headaches but the worst of it comes in our sleep. The nightmares my squad and I have been having are awful. I wake up every morning shaken up. Also every morning no matter what someone is in the sick bed. And yes we do have a special bed for the sick patients.
So after dinner, I head back to our house and into my room. I look to my teammate Claire and tell her, “After I change my pants, I am going to pray over this room.” Her and two other girls look at me and say, “Lets do it!” So we stand on all 4 corners of the room and pray out loud. We are standing there just yelling to God. Asking him to cast out the demons and to send angels to surround our house. I ask God for a good night’s sleep. As we are praying, more and more of our roommates come in and join. By the end of our prayers the entire room is ringed with Racers. We end with singing and dancing around the room and head to bed.
This morning I woke up feeling the most refreshed I had been in a while. I walked down the stairs to the sick bed and saw no one there. So I found the most recently sick person Amanda and asked her how she was. “I am feeling so good. I am not sick at all. I slept the best night of sleep since the race started.” I looked at her and said, “You have to be kidding?!?” I then tell her what happened the night before.
I write just in awe of what The Lord has been doing in my life this month. I write this blog just in awe of Guatemala. I write with just such amazement as I look back on this month. This was one of the hardest months of my life. Yet I would never want it any other way. I have cried tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of anger, tears of laughter and even tears because I accidently poured a little too much hot sauce on my food. God put me in a place this month where I had no one but him to rely on. When I saw sick widows, I had to pray to him because I had nothing else. When I saw dirty malnourished kids, all I could do was pray for them and run around and try to make them laugh. I saw miracles happen this month. I saw my prayers answered TIME AND TIME AGAIN! And I am so glad that he met me in this dark place.
So that’s kind of what a day in my life looks like! Hopefully you have read this far and if so thanks! Thank you to all my readers. Thanks for just being you!
Blessings,
Mols
As for fundraising I am at 88%! Only 12% to go or $1,600. I cannot believe the support I am still receiving! Thank you to all my supporters. I would not be on this journey without you
