[written starting 9.15.12]
I just finished Week 1 of my Race. This is crazy. I don’t even know where to begin.
I constantly find myself thinking, Has it really only been one week?? Of ministry, of living with my squad, of God’s crazy work?!
I can hardly believe I’m actually here, in Guatemala, doing what I love and learning from the best Teacher and Father and Friend EVER.
A week ago was our first travel experience, which went quite smoothly! We flew from Chicago to Guatemala City with a layover in Dallas, and we spent a night in Guatemala City with Marco, one of our ministry contacts whose family was so gracious and wonderful. We began Sunday morning with worship and prayer on the sunny, breezy rooftop (my first rooftop worship experience!). It was so glorious, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start my first morning in our first country. I was reminded that our God is a HUGE God- a God of the city, of this nation, of our world, and of the unseen.
After rooftop worship and a delicious Guatemalan breakfast, we were supposed to leave at 10am on a chicken bus (an old yellow school bus painted in bright colors that you see everywhere as a common mode of transportation). But we waited for a few hours before we were finally able to head out for the bumpy, cramped 3.5-hour ride. We went up a winding path through the mountains for what felt like most of the trip. I was tired but fought my drowsiness as I held on to the seat in front of me, switching every 10 seconds between sliiide left and sliiide right. It was a workout in itself, especially for my squadmates standing in the aisle! But we arrived by around 4pm- praise God for what will probably have been one of the safest and shortest travel day trips of our Race! We were greeted by a downpour typical of the current rainy season here in Santa Cruz del Quiché. As soon as we dragged our packs inside for shelter, it stopped raining and we had to take advantage of the sunshine to pitch our tents out on the field.
So here’s the scoop on our squad living situation. We’re here at the base of AIA (Agape in Action), an awesome organization that seeks to ‘bring the love of Christ to those in need through medical care and evangelism.’ They’ve graciously agreed to partner with us and host our entire squad for this first month in Guatemala. Typically, squads don’t live together in each country, especially not the first month. But Seth Barnes, founder of AIM and our squad coach, decided to try experiment with us. I feel honored to be a part of his guinea pig squad, and I love what we’ve been doing here. It’s hard to believe that what we’ve done has not been the World Race norm, but I feel spoiled and blessed for it. It’s so clear that the Lord handpicked and divinely appointed every single L Squad member and leader: those who applied late and had no choice but Route 4, those who chose it from the start, and those who switched over from a different squad. Each and every one of us was meant to be here, and I love how God orchestrated it!
Last week, we had morning and evening sessions of worship, prayer, and sharing as a squad. And wow, did the Lord move… so much deep-rooted junk just started to come out. But it didn’t stop there. It didn’t stop with reopening old wounds and airing our dirty laundry. We followed up by circling around squadmates in prayer, drenching them with the truth and life of Jesus while declaring war against the enemy. It’s seriously disgusting how cunning Satan is, how many lies he has planted in us that we don’t even realize are from him. But the freedom that begins in brokenness and release is beautifully refreshing. It’s not some immediate quick fix; we’d never grow if that were the case. And each person’s process looks vastly different, but it’s awesome to even take a step into that holy freedom. I’m so encouraged by my squadmates’ courage to persevere in all they’ve been through and to share it. But more than that, I’m simply amazed at God’s undeniable, sovereign hand in saving each precious life. I felt my faith grow just listening to these tragic but ultimately triumphant stories. The other night, we literally burned pieces of paper on which we’d written lies we’d spoken over ourselves and things we’d release to the Lord. Again, we shared our hearts, confessing what we’d release and responding by declaring life and truth over ourselves to directly address those issues. So empowering and celebratory!
