On Tuesday and Friday mornings, up until our scheduled ministry time at 2:00, my team has ATL (check back on my last post if you want to know more about what that is). We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what we want these mornings to look like. This thing is, when we are asking the Lord for direction, we really can’t ever know what it’s going to look like. Sometimes this is hard, because, as humans, we like to have a plan for how our day is going to go. But God doesn’t work that way. He takes our man-made plans and tangles them all up so that his perfect heavenly plan can unfold. Last week Friday my team got to experience this.
We were standing on the curb, waiting for our bus to ministry, when a man walked up and began talking to us. At first, it was hard to understand what he was saying. He kept talking about another group of white people that would stand at this bus stop. We were confused because we knew that no one else in our squad had this bus stop, so we weren’t sure who he was referring to. As he continued talking, we realized that he wanted us to come to his house because someone there was sick. For some reason, he knew that we were people who wanted to pray for the sick.
We all looked at one another with slightly shocked expressions. On this particular Friday we had set out with the intent of continuing on to the village we do ministry with and finding people to pray for there. But God was already brining us people to spend time in fellowship with before we even got to our village!
We decided to follow the man as he led us a few steps down the street and up into a room where women worked at making and selling tortillas. Walking through the smoke filled room, we entered a dimly lit bedroom where a woman was laying on a bed. At first it seemed like she was really really sick, and that she couldn’t move much at all. But then she sat up and got really excited to see us. She pulled out a little polaroid picture of her with a group of girls we realized were from the last gap year squad that stayed here in Guatemala. This was the group that the man was talking about. He wanted to know if we knew them, and we explained how we are a part of the same organization.
We spent a lot of time in their house that day, talking and praying and reading scripture. Neither the man, Guadeloupe, or his wife, Maria Elena, could read. So when we read scripture to them, they would repeat it after us. We got the chance to pray over the ulcers on Maria Elena’s legs, and for the pain Guadeloupe was experiencing in his stomach and leg. Maria Elena also prayed over my squad leader Aly, because she had just hit her head really hard on the bus. And guys, healing happened that day! Aly’s pain went away and so did Guadeloupe’s! We laughed with joy and continued to pray with this amazing family. Their faith inspired us and encouraged us. And in typical Guatemalan fashion, we were served tortillas and lemonade before we left.
Also while we were there, Maria Elena explained how they haven’t been able to go to church in a while because of how difficult it is for her to walk. Immediately, people on my team volunteered to bring church to her the next Sunday. And that’s what we did. We got to their house, played some worship songs in Spanish off of a phone, read scripture, and prayed together. Than she served us a meal, complete with fresh bread – Guadeloupe is a baker. We all wanted to see him make the bread, so we made plans to come back on Tuesday.
Since then, we’ve visited Maria Elena and Guadeloupe a few more times, and have decided that they are our Guatemalan grandparents. We call them Abuelo and Abuela. They call us their nietas. We buy their bread. We pray with them. We spend time with their other grandchildren. We eat meals together. We get sassed by Abuela, she’s one hilarious woman and loves to joke around with us. We say hi every day when we get off the bus. We read them scriptures while we wait for our bus. They wait and watch with us until we are safely on the bus and on our way. God gave us a family here in Guatemala, and it’s all because we decided to be interruptible.
If I’ve learned one thing while on the race, it’s how much beauty there is in the unexpected. Every day I wake up and have honestly no idea what might happen. Every day I wake up and get excited for the new things I’m going to see and learn. And every day I wake up and have the best day yet!
