The Hands of Jesus.
What do they look like? Who do they touch? How do they feel?
These are questions I have been asking myself, as I seek to be the Manos de Jesus.
I imagine that the hands of Jesus are dirty, rough, hard hands because they are worn with hard work. There is dirt under his nails. There are small scrapes and little cuts. He doesn’t think twice about going in a place where there is danger if it means rescuing someone. He isn’t worried about the germs he might get when he stretches out his hands to another. He just reaches out with love. His hands are worn and calloused.
Dirty hands from planting.
After planting trees at Manos de Jesus.
The past few weeks I have been able to be the hands of Jesus in new and exciting ways.
My squad has been staying in Santa Cruz del Quiche at the Agape in Action ministry. We have all our tents outside and have been able to really come together as a squad this month. During the day teams have been going to different ministry sites throughout the area. My team Sweet Aroma and team Alethia have been traveling back and forth to a community called Patzibal in Chi Chi. Last week we stayed up there in the mountains for 4 days, cooking our own meals, worshiping at night by the fire and painting the clinic. We have also been teaching English in a school there. We have been building relationships with the community up there. Mostly the kids! Whether its kicking a football back and forth with them, trying to communicate with the small amount of Spanish I know or sharing a s'more with them around our fires at night!
Last week we worked at a different ministry called Manos de Jesus. We planted 100 macadamia trees on the steep hill side behind their buildings. Thankfully the rain held off until we were finished. We had a wonderful lunch provided by them. After lunch we were invited to sit by the fireplace, sip coffee and listen to the founder, Ron Morin, share his testimony., Later that day we went to a church way up in the mountains, by way of 4 wheel drive pickups through rough muddy roads. Manos de Jesus feeds many malnourished children in a number of communities. We sat with the kids in a service, then they were served a hot meal. After they had their fill, we played with the children who were just full of joy to see us and climbed all over us!
Kids at the feeding in the mountains.
Kids from the school where we've been teaching.
Lake Atitilan.
This past weekend we had a fun retreat in Lake Atitlan. It was the most beautiful place I have ever been. We got to just take 2 days off and relax and do something exciting. Whether it was cliff jumping, zip lining, climbing a volcano or just spending alone time with Jesus, everyone chose whatever they wanted to do. I climbed Volcan San Pedro! It was absolutely incredible. It took 3 hard hours to get up, and 2 hard hours down! We spent about 45 minutes at the top marveling at the sights and refueling for the way down. We were at around 9,000 feet at the very top! I truly saw God's glory in a new way that day.
I know I have probably missed some things, but I am going to try much harder to get more blogs out. I apologize for that and just want to say how thankful I am for your support and following me on this journey. I couldn’t help but think this weekend as I sat and looked at the most picturesque place I have ever been, why me? Why do I get to do this? Its not because I deserve it or that I did something to gain it. I am overwhelmed at the fact that Its because He loves me. Its so much more than the beautiful scenery, but it certainly does something to you. However, what He is doing in my heart is so much more amazing!
This is our last week in Guatemala, we are finishing up painting at the clinic in Patzibal and teaching our last lessons in the school. The last couple of days we will be in Antigua for a debrief of the month. The next month all the teams will slpit up and spend the month with just their teams in different parts of Honduras and El Salvador. My team is going to spend the month in Roatan, Honduras with FriendShips. The ministry I had worked with before! This will be such a blessing for me to introduce two of my ministries to each other.
Every day has just been so full; full of life, full of excitement, full of God moving in different ways. I am just overwhelmed each day in new ways. God is so faithful.
The hands of Jesus are reaching out to you today, it dosen't matter what you have done or been through. He extends grace and love through the ultimate sacrifce He paid for your sins. His hands are blood stained with a hole right through them. Whatever you are going through today I pray that you take His hand and let Him walk with you..
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37
