Time has been flying by and I’m not sure I can quite believe we just arrived to our last stop: Guatemala. The colorful culture, beautiful flowers, and kind smiles from everyone we’ve meet is so wonderful. I’ve been practicing up my Spanish, and being able to somewhat communicate with people who cannot speak English is literally the best!! Language barriers are crazy and it’s sweet to have a little less of one!
Our first week here was spent in Antigua, a beautiful city nestled in the volcanoes with cobblestone streets and lots of fountains! My mom came and visited for the Parent Vision Trip, and we had quite the time exploring and catching up from the last six months! She’s one of my favorite humans, and it was so so sweet to just be in her presence for a week!
The next week, the whole country of Guatemala celebrated/shut down for La Santa Semana (the Holy Week, the week before Easter). Antigua is the hub for all of Central America to be during this week, and about two million people travel to be a part of the celebration. We decided to join the two million and got to watch some processions, help decorate sawdust rugs, and celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection there. It was so cool to learn more about the Catholic culture and be present for such a big event!
We arrived at our ministry site, a Christian school called Mañana Gloriosa (Morning Glory) about two hours north of Antigua. Our team has been teaching art, voice, Bible, and working with the children with special needs. When we’re not teaching, we get to just hang out with the kids and love on them! I like to hang with the 3rd or 5th graders, and I’ve been teaching Bible and will begin to teach choir! It’s been both a challenge and incredible to dig into the Bible on a new level, and not only read it, but actually make it come alive for students from five to seventeen years old!
The Lord is consistently opening my eyes to new levels of beauty and brokenness every single morning. As the Race has progressed, the Lord has shown me that I consistently walk into situations looking at my own inadequacies instead of focusing on His strength. I am learning that when I proclaim I am inadequate, I actually put limits on God and put Him in a box! I’ve believed a lot of lies that have clouded my vision of truth, and He has been calling me out of those things and into His marvelous light. In this light, I get to be honored instead of fearful. Walking into a place of confidence in Jesus and the Holy Spirit is a battle for me at times (a battle that’s actually already won), but I’m learning more and more each day what it looks like to walk into deeper freedoms as the Lord continues to break every chain in my life, in my teammates’ lives, and in beautiful Guatemala.
I am already so grateful for our time here and so excited for all to come!
