Our hosts served us SO well in Guatemala. The ladies who cooked for us were up at 5AM every morning to make us food and they were cooking for 25 people.
In the final few days I asked Sandra, the woman in charge of the meals, what kind of snack or small gift she likes to thank her and the others for all of their hard work. She mentioned a few different things but didn’t seem super excited about it. Then she joked that we could paint her house! What better way to serve the people who’d served us all month than to DO something for them? Only catch, we had 2 days left in Chimal.
Day One: Jenna and I went in the morning and covered a decent part of the walls in the living room. The afternoon group had started a different part of the house instead of finishing our room.
Day Two: I put out a sign up sheet but no one else was going with me for the morning shift. AND no one signed up for the afternoon. I didn’t really want to go because I still had afternoon ministry and I felt defeated by the fact that there was NO way I’d be able to finish the house before we left. The Holy Spirit told me I had to go. I was the one who had strong relationships with these women, I was the one who was supposed to be there even if no one else was going with me.
So I chose to go. I’ll admit, not with a bad attitude but not with a good one either. I was just going because I was supposed to.
I walked in the door and holy cow it was so encouraging
1. A man that I’d seen on the way to ministry all month, felt like I was supposed to talk to him and didn’t ALL MONTH opened the door. Turns out it was Sandra’s dad. Got to talk to him.
2. First thing I noticed walking in: the previous night, they had finished the rooms that we started. Like completely done, looking awesome.
3. I got to spend the WHOLE time painting talking to Sandra’s daughter. Like a couple of hours of Spanish convo. And it was awesome.
The Lord taught me a lot that day painting alone in Chimal.
There are people here who are continuing the work that we’ve started. Even though we left Chimal, we left it with people who are equipped to water the seeds that have been planted.
We left the city, people, homes and ministries better than we found them.
We were a catalyst
We started, others came along and finished/will finish what we began.
The Lord’s not done in Chimaltenango, He’s going to continue to do awesome things there and I’m glad I could be a small part of the story.
Dad I’m fine (:
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