a very common question that has been asked of me, before the race and even after launching, is “which country are you most excited about?”
i don’t have an immediate answer because i’m excited about multiple countries. i usually answer saying that i’m excited about every country for a different reason.
i’m excited for cambodia and vietnam because i’ve never been to asia. i’m excited for albania, serbia, and romania because i don’t have a lot of knowledge on eastern europe or their history. obviously i’m excited about uganda because i love it there. i’m also excited about ethiopia and rwanda because africa has my heart.
but what about central america?
for some reason i’ve never really had a heart for central america. i’m not sure what it is. maybe because that’s where people usually vacation? or because we have a stereotype for latin americans that live in america? i really am not too sure. it was just never a passion of mine.
then i spent a month in belize.
i saw the heart of the people. i realized that the townspeople are for us as foreigners in their town and country. they fight for us. they want the best for us. the congregation at the church that my team became involved with in san ignacio was absolutely amazing. they treated us like family. they loved us without even knowing us, and some without being able to communicate a single word to us besides “God bless you”.
isn’t this the way the Father knows us? he extends great grace and love to each of us just as we think that he doesn’t even know how because how could he know us? when in reality he just wants to love us. love is love, and love is universal. if you know the Father, you know love.
another way to really form a perspective on a culture is to just watch them when they praise the Lord. getting to experience praise and worship in another language, knowing full well that the Lord is receiving and accepting every single person’s words and praise even if you have no earthly idea what they are saying, laughing at, or saying amen to….the Father knows! how amazing is that? trust me when i say that central americans know how to praise our Father – wowzer.
all this is really to say that there’s always a new perspective to gain on a country, a region, a people group, and even a single person.
i decided to view these people as the Lord views them. he loves them with everything in Him, therefore how could i not do the same?
they loved me with the Father’s love and grace, and i extended that back to them.
believe me when i say that central america is rocking my world. the people, the views, the love – it’s all hitting me hard where i least expected it.
my team and i are now in honduras and we are continuing to serve and love the people here. be watching for an update on the ministry we are with this month, called Hope at Hand. this is a home for mentally disable adults. we hang out with the residents as well as doing chores around the grounds that need to be done.
it is all-squad month, which means all 36 of us racers are living under one roof, sharing 3 showers, cooking and cleaning together, and it is just WONDERFUL!
stay tuned for updates, hopefully sooner than it took me to post this update.
much love, thinking of you all every day!
xoxo, mags
