This is a glimpse into her life from a conversation that was had over coffee in the beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala. A sweet time. Enjoy!
Lynneal,
A woman who I got the honor of meeting when I first arrived in Guatemala, and who has touched my heart in so many ways. She has lived in Guatemala since last May, and works with One Way community, the ministry I have been partnering with for the last 3 months. She is known by Guatemalans as Lupita, why might you ask? that’s her name in spanish! She was raised in Colorado, and has 3 sisters. She grew up going to church and knowing the Lord through her mother, and accepted Christ at a young age. She began to make her faith her own when she was in middle school, and joined a small group which proved to be very transformative for her. This was a huge part of her life where she got discipled and was able to ask questions and receive wisdom from others. At a super young age, she started to understand that Jesus was the only thing that would satisfy, and her relationship with Him became very important. As we were talking about this, she mentioned how thankful she was that the Lord had given her an understanding of this while she was so young. Fast forward a few years when she was in her 20’s, her sister asked her to move to Santa Barbara with her. After some debating, she moved in with her sister and 5 other girls. This was a sweet time because she was able to grow in her community, and the Lord taught her a lot about what it looks like to live for Him. She had been faithful to grow in her relationship with the Lord by making it a priority ever since being in middle school. As I asked her about her journey with the Father she mentioned that she is still seeing God’s love in different ways. “I keep seeing the gap becoming bigger and bigger, but the love is bigger and bigger too. Even when our motives are a little bit off, only through the Lord can we be totally purified.”
After college, the Lord sparked passion for ministry within her. She was given so many opportunities like interning at a summer camp, volunteering with YWAM South Africa, and partnering with a ministry in New York. She learned a lot about her heart for ministry and how the Lord could use it in so many ways. A few of her takeaways from these ministry opportunities were that “things aren’t going to always come natural for us, we do have to put in the work and you don’t have to grow up in the same environment to love people.”
She first came to Guatemala to partner with a bike ministry, which is her transportation of choice. She rides her bike everywhere! One day she was asked to help translate at an event with some other people. One of the people there to help translate was someone from the One Way team. After he told her about One Way, she checked it out and started to serve with them and now is apart of the team. She got involved with AIM through a friend, and now she helps out with activations, partners with teams for ministry, and joins us at the AIM base for teachings. Through AIM, she has been able to get to a spiritual place that she has never been at before. Recently, Lynneal told me that she has been seeing so much grace within the church. There were questions she had about the church, but the Lord has shown her His grace through Adventures in Missions.
WOW.
She has been so present in our lives, and I mean this with great seriousness when I say…every time I see her it is a joy! I love the joy this woman carries, which is evidently from the Lord. Getting to serve alongside of her, and hear her heart daily has been a blessing! I am so thankful for this friendship! I have had the honor of meeting her and knowing her these three months, and have learned so much from her. Thank you Lynneal for being so kind to allow me to share
