Hi friends!!
Fun fact of the day: Intentional conversations with strangers on a chicken bus are very rewarding.
My squad has been in Guatemala for four days now, and I feel like I’m home. My heart is so at peace being here. Over the past four days, we’ve began to set the culture and lifestyle we want for our squad, and I’m so excited to continue to learn from one another. These new friends of mine are so rad. We’ve washed our laundry in a pila, and learned to shake the bugs out of our clothes when we take them off the line.
A group of us have begun daily beach body work outs (thanks Ethan), and whoever chooses not to participate gets the lovely pleasure of waking up to grunting men at 6 am. We’ve had freestyle songs, afternoons of hammocking, stunning cloudy sunsets, played soccer with some local boys, and danced in lightning storms. We’ve also begun morning devotionals and team time, where we just sit and talk with our team. Yesterday and today have been off days, so we’ve taken the chicken bus (no, there aren’t chickens on them yet) to the local town of Parramos to experience la dia de independencia, and today to Antigua to explore.
I’m currently at Cafe Union in Antigua, Guatemala, getting my weekly wifi. I’ve weirdly already adjusted to life here. Antigua is shockingly similar to Santa Cruz, and walking around here today, I’m not completely convinced that I’m not in Santa Cruz. Cafe Union has kombucha, cold brew, organic green smoothies, and a plant filled courtyard (see pictures below).
As a team we’ve decided to pursue gratitude and intentionality with one another, and we’ve set a rule for daily sweeping (7 girls shed a lot of hair onto a tile floor).This intentionality we’re pursuing is something so gratifying and uncomfortable at the same time. Today I met a beautiful abuelita named Maria. Maria is a native of Antigua, Guatemala. We were squished together on the thirty minute chicken bus ride to a church in Antigua from our base, which is really just an American school bus painted crazy colors and packed to the brim with people. We were sitting in silence, and I realized that silence is not why I am here, so I asked her how she was doing. Her face lit up, as she told me about her favorite places in Antigua, her hijo y hija, her nietos she was just visiting, and pointed out el volcan de Agua as it appeared from the mist outside the bus window. This sweet woman was so willing to listen through my broken Spanish, slow down for me to understand, and was thrilled to get to ask me about where I’m from in the U.S. This blessing was so small, but so significant for me this morning, and really only one of many things I’m so thankful for since arriving.
While I’ve easily found three things every day to be thankful for, here are the four biggest blessings from the past four days:
- Our base has HOT showers, FLUSH toilets, a huge soccer field and fire pit, a pony, and beds with beautiful handwoven blankets- the world race is spoiling us rotten from the start 🙂
- My teammates Camille and Haven cooked us a bomb dinner last night! On weekends we’re on our own for meals, and after getting some groceries, they made us papas fritas, pollo, y brocoli.
- I’ve found myself reading some Psalms these past few days, even though I always thought they were too sing-songy cheesy. Suddenly I’m growing to love them so much, specifically Psalm 78 and Psalm 136. Psalm 78 has captured my heart right now, as I read about God’s people running, and Him providing. This Psalm has reflected so much of my relationship with Jesus, and it’s such reassurance to read how God has provided and He will again and again and again, even when we lie and run and fail. We had a sermon one of the first days we were here, and heard about how we are not who we were yesterday or last week, and we are not going to be the same tomorrow. Every single day we get to wake up and make a choice and decide to live above our emotions, and say yes to new understanding and growth, even when we’re annoyed or tired.
- Knowing enough Spanish to help out my teammates, get to talk with our wonderful cooks, Sandra and Teresa, and get around Guatemala with Emily! Shoutout to Señorita McCabe for teaching me conversational Spanish!!
We start ministry tomorrow, and I don’t know what ours is yet, so please be praying for that! Also, please send me messages via email or Facebook! I’ll get wifi next weekend and would love to hear from any of you. Seriously go read Psalm 78 if you are doubting or curious about God’s goodness.
Lots of love!
