This month consists of teaching English in a couple of local schools. This can be very challenging, especially when one doesn’t speak Spanish well whatsoever and no one in the class speaks English.
But this isn’t what this blog is about.
I want to share a little about the house visits our team has done throughout the month with the pastor of a local church we’ve been partnered to serve with. I have been able to visit homes and pray over families several times this year, each time most definitely a different experience. We are staying in a city that is way up in the mountains and our source of transportation is walking. Most of this walking is on roads consisting of gravel and dirt and very steep hills, up and down. What’s really amazing is the view of volcanoes and all the cities in the distance, we can see it all. Currently the temperature is pretty chilly and it’s rainy season. This is actually nice because as we’re trekking everywhere, especially up the steep hills, we don’t sweat nearly as much! We meet so many people along the way, lots of cute kiddos who are just curious and gaze at us as we walk by and say hello. Since we are teaching in a couple of the schools, so many of the children recognize us because we’re teaching in their classes. It’s fun when you hear from behind you someone yelling out “CAT!” and you turn around and see this beautiful face smiling from ear to ear. Many of the homes we’ve been visiting also have children we’ve been teaching. We test them to see if they remember what we taught them, many times they say no and giggle. I’m sure it’s because they’re shy! When you step into the homes of the local community, you have the opportunity to see a little glimpse of how they live and what they have. One thing that has been pretty consistent is the sense of community within the families and the love they have for each other.
Soft drinks and snacks are a gift the families bless us with during our visit. We even were each gifted with a piece of pottery from the mother of a home. She handed them over to us with such joy and love. There is no holding back with what they desire prayer for whether it’s for good health or needing to be healed from sickness, a loved one needing to come to the Lord, or for God’s protection and favor to be over the home. Just before we pray, there is a scripture shared and spoken over the family. Another reason why we can absolutely turn to the Word all the time no matter what, it has the answers to everything!!
The woman who gave everything she had. We visited a home of a family who shared with us that the mother had lost her son a year ago, since then she’s been in terrible pain from her waist down. As I shared before, the families always bless us with snacks and drinks. This precious woman was in tears as we prayed for her and saying how sorry she was that she couldn’t offer us anything. This one hit me so hard because all I could think about was how little this family had, the struggles they were facing, the physical pain the mother was overcoming, and all she cared about what providing treats for us. That is straight up humbling.
DIOS TE BENDIGA! It means God bless you and we don’t ever leave a home without saying that to each other. I’ve seen a lot through the great community here, Guatemala is a beautiful place with such beautiful people. I’m grateful for finishing the race out in Central America. It has so many similarities to North America, yet there’s still so many things different that I’m being immersed in. Although I don’t feel like my ability to speak Spanish has progressed much since two months ago when we first arrived in Central America, somehow communication with the people has become more clear and understood.
“And God is able to make every grace overflow to you; so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
