Oh Guatemala. How I have fallen in love with you. After the craziest travel day I’ve ever been through (37 hours of straight travel in a 26 hour time warp) we landed in Guatemala City in the middle of Holy Week. Good Friday parades, Dunkin Donuts, and the beginning of ‘end of race reminiscing’ with squad mates kicked off my April.
We arrived at our ministry site a few days later, excited about our living situation and ministry. Which have turned out to exceed my wildest expectations. Our ministry with Mitch and Amanda and Rebecca (our hosts who serve here in Barberena, Guatemala through Mobilizing Students) and their business The Thrive Collective, has been some of the most fun I’ve had on the race. We’ve led women’s Bible studies and children’s programs, made beads and bracelets with Thrive Collective, and shared meals with village families almost every weeknight. I’ve enjoyed ministry so much this month. It’s crazy how close the end of the race is, and how I won’t start every new month wondering “what will ministry look like this month?”
For the first 7 months of the race, we were chasing summer. Literally. Every country we came to was just beginning their rainy, summer season. For the last 3 months, we’ve come to spring time. Guatemala is even nicknamed the ‘Land of Eternal Spring’. And it is. Everything here grows, all the time. And even in me, there are new things popping up all the time these last few months.
I’ve learned that on the World Race (and probably in life too) God just doesn’t let things sit. He keeps coming at ya. He doesn’t slow down. Team stuff, heart stuff, relationship stuff, identity stuff, past stuff, future stuff. God doesn’t slow down month 9 or 10. In fact, it feel like he even speeds up, throwing things in your path, growing you, challenging you. It’s been so hard to keep up these last 2 months. I’m tired. It’s been 10 months of constant abandonment, brokenness, dependence, empowerment, calling, over and over. Never ending. You get halfway through the cycle only to realize you’re at the beginning again. And again. And again.
God doesn’t let up month 10. And I hope he doesn’t let up month 11 either. These have been some of the most stretching and growing months of my life. I don’t want it to end, no matter how tired I am of my eternal spring. Not matter how endless the summer gets. In a way, I don’t want it to end. It’s a good thing The Lord says he will provide all the strength and endurance I need to get through it. It’s a nice thought that I don’t have to rely on myself alone. Because I sure couldn’t do it without him.
