This journey.
This World Race thing.
I’m already 1/9th of the way done.
It’s crazy to look back on these past five weeks and already have done so much.
Though some days I go to sleep having felt useless and unneeded, other nights I go to sleep with a grin because I know I’m here serving the kingdom with anything and everything.
In the past two weeks my team (Kingdom Seekers) as well as another team, (Daughters of Zion) have been living in the same house with Ellen, a young woman who is here teaching English until July.
Here we cook every night, we try clean up after ourselves, we grow together, we laugh together, we cry together, we cut hair together, we watch movies together, we are learning how to do this thing called life together.
Trust me when I say that living with eleven other girls hasn’t always been easy for me, there are some arguments, missunderstandings, girls eating other girl’s food, the things to be expected.
But also trust me when I say that living with eleven other girls has taught me to appreciate community living so very much.
In the past two weeks I have switched ministries, so instead of going with Ellen I have started going with Luis and 5/6 of the Daughers of Zion team members.
That also means that instead of teaching English, I spend my Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays teaching a value class, which, in other words, a health class. So far we have taught on abstinence and addiction. These times can vary from starting at 6 am and ending at 5 pm.
Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend our time working at a day care, which I absolutely love. I help a sweet lady named Olga with two and three year olds, and I have completely fallen in love with a sweet girl named Sofia. Every morning when I arrive she’ll grin, come up to me, and give me the biggest hug ever. During the day she’ll proceed to play with my hair, my bracelets, sit in my lap, help me with my TA work, and today she even decided that she wanted to help wipe a little boy’s milk spit off my face. She is the sweetest thing, and reminds me so much of some of the little girls I watch at home.
There have been highs of every day, but I am only going to share a select few.
One day last week, I am not quite sure which one exactly, but my teammate Emily and I went into Antigua so that she could buy some food and pray over a beggar lady that she fell in love with, named Juana. I joined her, and I’m so glad that I did because that day turned out to be one of my favorites here. We went to the chocolate museum, watched a street performer, went window shopping, had great conversations. It helped our friendship grow in many ways.
Another great day was this past Sunday, we woke up bright and early to go and help set up this church plant that we attend here, Shoreline. They meet in a bar every Sunday and are seriously some of the most kind and most welcoming people I have ever met. On my first Sunday they put me to work and now consider me, as well as the other girls with me, staff members. To make things even better, they speak English. It’s great. Another reason that Sunday was a good day however, was because I got to walk and talk with my friend Bri (DOZ team) before service. She is so sweet and loving and a great person to not only talk to but to listen to.
Yesterday, one of my most favorite days, my ministry team and I didn’t have school so we went to do manual labor instead. We helped a family of 6 build their house. We carried 50 pound bags of cement uphill as well as multiple trips of carrying buckets of sand. We then swept and mopped the bedroom floors, swept and mopped the outside walls of the house, and then began to cement it. The reason this day is one I’ll never forget is because the family couldn’t stop smiling and luaghing with us. The children played duck duck goose with us as well as other games, and the parents were so kind. It was so honoring to help this amazing family, and so beautiful to see how their eyes still shined and their smiles still bright even though they don’t have much. I learned from them.
Guatemala living is happening and it is mesmorizing in every way possible.
