Hello Family and Friends!!
It is the end of week 2 in Guatemala and time has certainly flown; yet I feel like I have been here for months.
I am in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala with my team as well as two other teams on my squad and two different YWAM teams, so there is always a ton of people around. We are serving in the same ministry called Casa Verde or Shofar Ministries. It has been great working with Casa Verde because they serve in so many different areas in Puerto Barrios. We have done park ministry, prayer walking/street ministry, serving at the local dump, playing bingo at the old folks home, coloring with kids at the children’s hospital, and running around with orphans at the orphanage. We certainly have gotten a taste of every different ministry in here at Casa Verde.
On Wednesday, we spent all day at the dump spending time with the families that worked there. The dump is this huge landfill surrounded by the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen, with large palm trees and tropical flowers swaying in the wind. The people who work at the dump sort through all the trash that comes through, searching for anything that can be recycled. They spend there entire day sifting through all the disgusting, dirty trash so that they can provide for their families. At most, the workers make about $30 US dollars a day. Though they work all day in a very unpleasant job, they have so much joy and big smiles on their faces.
At the dump, my team, Dependent By Faith, spent our day with one of the workers, Augustina. She is the cutest 76-year-old lady that lives among the palm trees on the other side of the dump. Augustina took us through the craziest path in the “jungle.” We all thought that we were in Jurassic Park. It took us about thirty minutes to make it up the hill that she lives on. She does this several times a day for her, her daughter, and grandson. Her daughter, Noella, was waiting for us and greeted us with a big hug. They told us about their home and how they have lived here for 35 years. Noella’s husband works in New York and she has not seen him for nine months. She has the cutest son, Jose Fernando, who is super shy and wouldn’t even look at us. We helped them make tortillas and had lunch at their shack, made out of wood and trash. They were so hospitable and joyful with so little; I did not want to leave them!
The Lord is slowly, but surely changing my heart and my perspective on life. Although I am not sure who is changing me into, I know that during my time here in Guatemala he is preparing me for what is to come the rest of this year. I am learning how to set aside my pride, allowing my team to speak truth and wisdom into my life no matter how I view myself. I know I am exactly where God wants me to be, as I am continually following where he leads!
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What experiences are you having that God is using to shape and mold you into the person he is calling you to be?
