At the beginning of each team time (occurs once a day) my team and I always check in with each other using the high, low, buffalo method. We all share something good, bad and random from our day. It’s so awesome to do, even days that we are together all day because it helps to better understand one another! It is also a great dinner table conversation starter, we do this in my house but just call it “good and bad”. As I was trying to figure out what to share about life here in Guatamala this structure came to mind. So here we go, high low buffalo of Guat this far.
Highs:
MINISTRY: I’ve been loving teaching English in schools and getting to know the people and families in Los Encinos. (This Village that we are working in has about 50 families, so it is super tiny. Since it is so small, there tends to be a lot of gossip and disunity, so we are praying that God uses us to bring unity in the Spirit and joy to this town that the Lord created.) Only two teams have been to Los Encinos before, so a lot of our ministry has been ATL (Ask The Lord). From simply praying and moving in obedience to the Holy Spirit, Jesus has opened doors to awesome relationships, a possible VBS program every Friday afternoon, a cooking lesson with women in the village once a week, and worshiping God in the soccer field. My team and I are so excited for the revival that is coming in this town, and whether we see it or not, we are just here planting seeds, praying to God that one is planted on fertile soil.
MY SPANISH IS COMING BACK: I took spanish all through high school, and was originally excited to be coming to a spanish speaking country on my race, but as the time came closer and closer, I became more and more nervous doubting all my ability to even form a sentence in Spanish. It has been so awesome since being here in Guatemala to experience the Lord bringing spanish back to my mind and gaining more confidence. It has been so cool to see him use the brain he has blessed me with to further his kingdom through building relationships with locals, all in spanish! He even worked through me in translating for a women’s retreat! Praise Jesus because I certainly didn’t do it on my own. All glory to the Father!!
LIVING IN PARADISE: the Adventures In Missions base here in Guatamala is so nice! There are hot showers and comfy beds, and an open green grass area to throw footballs and kick a soccer ball around! We eat very well here and there is even clean water from the faucet! We have little crates that are the closest thing we have had to a dresser the whole race. We live 10 minutes from Parramos, a nice town, and 45 from Antigua which is a city! Every team shares a room and each team has their own bathroom connected to their bedroom! I love sharing a room with my sisters because they are my best friends and it is just so fun love in the same room!! This base is such a gift and will help us to better ease back into living with so many blessings when we head home to the U.S.!
Lows:
FEELING EXHAUSTED: both physically and mentally.
~Physically: I can’t quite put my finger on it, but i have been so tired recently, I get a very decent amount of sleep at night and sometimes nap in the afternoons and I’m still so tired all the time. I really hate that I don’t have a ton of energy and am hoping to soon pin point what it could be, possibly the intensity of the sun or my body adjusting to our new schedule (it is much more full than in India.)
~Mentally: In my head I want to get to know the people of Guatamala because I love relationships; hearing people’s stories, and loving on other people! However, since leaving India, I’ve been struggling to have the desire to form new deep relationships because my heart still hurts leaving me best friends there. I’ve been realizing that it’s not bad that those friendships hurt to say “see ya later” to because that means that we were did truly connect, i just have to remember to give myself grace in that. Life doesn’t have to be “go go go” rest and healing is important too. But I so badly dislike that I don’t have a huge passion to form relationships here.
Buffalo:
TORTILLAS: We make tortillas everyday at ministry with a woman named, Rosa. We are pretty much the worst at it, but still try every single day. She always laughs at us, but we go in everyday without fail to go to attempt to get better!
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY : Julie and I are training for a half marathon. Yay…? Jules and I also throw a football around every night. I’m really bad, but am trying to improve over these next two months. Lastly, one of my toe nails is about to fall off from running in India, so that’s fun! (Don’t worry Mama Slager, I’m wrapping it everyday though.)
So yeah! That’s a little piece of my life here in Guat! I’m so sorry I haven’t been posting more, there is no wifi at the base so it has been a bit more challenging to update you all and attempt to stay updated with your guy’s lives. I have yet to find wifi good enough to upload vlogs form the second part of India, and our first month in Guat (including PVT and my birthday), but hopefully those will be coming soon! Now that our team’s “no pictures for the first two weeks of ministry, so we can actually form relationships” thing is over, I am hoping to be updating you all more on life here!
