Arriving in Guatemala
we wake at 4am to be ready at the hotel lobby at 4:50am. it's still black outside and i've only slept about three hours. at the airport and i fall asleep on the floor outside our gate until we board. it takes us just three hours to get to Guatemala from Atlanta. i'm sleeping most of the way. we land in Guatemala and i am a child again when i get my very passport stamped for the first time.
we carry all of our belongings heavy on our tired bodies. for me its my 38 pound pack on my back + my 15 pound backpack on my front + my 5(ish) pound camera on my side. i feel the weight crush my bones and i'm aching to take them off. clearly i am completely and utterly out of shape. we walk outside the airport and i see a family that looks like a page from a history book. they are native Mayans wearing authentic native clothing brightly colored with heavy woven fabrics. they sit on the pavement selling cheap goods and food. we stand a while for our rides to take us four hours to our ministry site. one van stuffs all 45 of our giant packs in it. the other two carry all 45 of us. we pile in the van and travel through Guatemala City. It looks like the little Mexican towns i see in California. bright colored buildings, dark skinned people colored by the sun.
it's a long ride and i'm wide eyed in awe at the other world outside the window. i still can't believe I'm in Guatemala! our driver speaks Spanish to my squad mate the entire trip and i fade in and out of sleep, glad to wake up hazy in another country i've never seen. the traffic in Guatemala is unlike the states. instead of dodging squirrels in the road, you dodge skinny dogs trotting the roads and women with babies wrapped on their backs. Guatemala is beautiful. the landscape is rich with lush green mountains and the air is wet. i see a flow of water coming from rocks on a hill. old men and women stand all along the road with children and babies. they ride in the backs of trucks with no seat belts, and stuff more people than possible into vans and cars.
it starts to rain. it starts to get heavy.
we are about a half hour away from our destination when traffic comes to a complete stop. it is 6:00pm and the world is already a cloudy dark blue. our driver is told that a part of the road broke or fell off. the earth had taken a big sip of rain and is muddy. a few squad mates jump off the van and take a look at the fallen road. we are later told that there was an accident and that it will be several hours till we move again.
i stay in the van for a while, then finally leave to catch some air. the rain falls on my skin as i head toward the broken road. i stop when i start to hear a beautiful sound. a woman is worshipping from a building on my right. the air is blue but a yellow light sings from the open door. i go inside. there is worship going on in spanish but it is a song i recognize very well. "i am yours" by misty edwards. many of my squad mates are worshipping in the plastic seats of this run-down building. i look to my left and see one of my squad mates crouched down speaking spanish to native children. they immediately melt my heart. their smiles are wide and their eyes glisten with joy. i follow them into a back room painted neon green, where there are more little ones eagerly waiting. a couple of my squad mates and i speak to them, asking them questions in the little spanish that we know. they smile at us and answer our questions in perfect spanish. we play games with them until we are told that the vans are ready to move again. i hug them each, telling them in spanish that they are precious.
i go back in the van am told that 5 people were killed in the accident. it was a family trying to dig out a found refrigerator. they fell on a mudslide due to the heavy rain. my team stays in the van and prays for them for a long time. we sing hymns with just voices. we are told it will still take a long time before traffic moves again. I go back into the church to spend more time with the children.
we end up stalled in the same spot for about three hours, and we were about 30 minutes away from our final destination. i know that if i were in the states and i got stalled in traffic for that long, i would have absolutely hated it. i am tired. i've been awake for over 14 hours and traveling all day. we were so close to being done traveling and able to rest.
none of us complain or even feel like complaining. of all places to be stuck at for three hours, we end up stalled a few feet away from a church that is praising God in the midst of a storm (literally) and tragedy. we are able to minister where we are. it is perfectly planned.
had each piece to the story of our day not happened the way it did, i would have never gotten to meet these amazing children and had them melt my heart. we wouldn't have gotten to spend time with them and show them that they are loved and important.
i've always believed that everything happens for a reason. this night was a clear illustration of that and how God's timing is perfect. though we mourned for our brothers and sisters who were lost in the accident, we rejoice that we were able to be there at the time their souls left the earth so we could lift them up in prayer. we are thankful that we were spared from harm and that we were able to worship and minister where we were.
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Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds (James 1:2)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
