As of today (Friday November 14th) my team & I only have 4 days left teaching summer school & 1 day left doing construction. On November 27th our whole squad will come together for a few days of “debrief” until we leave for Thailand on December 2nd. This was something I wrote to process through this time of having to say bye to the people I’ve spent the past few months with and have loved getting to meet.
To my 11 year old student whose mom walked out a few weeks ago and hasn’t been seen since, leaving the 11 year old girl to take care of all her younger siblings- one sibling as young as 1 year old. To all my friends at El Cafetalito, my house’s favorite hangout spot. To the 20 something year old guy that showed up to our kids soccer camp everyday excited to play. To the first Guatemalan lady I met on the plane to Guatemala who started crying when we reached Guatemala because she was so excited to be back in her “beautiful country”. To Karla who is one of the students at our school who is amazing at English and rocks at saying ‘my name is Karla’. To Ingrid a teacher at the public school we taught at who prayed before class and was so passionate about her job and gave it her all everyday. To Manuel and David for setting up our ministry schedule and making sure everyday went smoothly. To Cali, our driver who lives with us during the week, for always being patient with us, driving us everywhere & having an incredible sense of humor. To the dad in zone 18 that came to watch his daughters play soccer everyday when we had soccer camp, proving to us that there are still dads there for their kids in zone 18. To all the boys age 13 in zone 18 who are about to join a gang according to statistics. To Daniela, the first kid I bonded with at the schools. To the stinker in my first grade class, I know all you wanted was proper love and attention but you didn’t know how to respond when you got it. To my 6th grade class that I got to watch graduate. To the boy in my class who told me about how dangerous his house was as he made a gun and choking symbols with his hands. To all the kids in zone 18 whose parents have abandoned them leaving them feeling worthless and unloved. To my best friend In zone 18, Lady, who showed me her arm where she had carved her name into her skin with a razor.
You are all loved. If nothing else I know how much my team & I love all of you. You are so worth it and you are all such beautiful people. I have really been blessed here with the people I’ve come in contact with- you are all special and will forever be in my prayers and heart. I hope my teams time here was enough to show you how much we care. We traveled all this way so you would know you’re loved and that God will never leave you- and I would travel all this way again to tell you that over and over and over. I hope we weren’t just another mission team that comes and goes, I pray you remember the conversations we had and that Gods love shined though us. All of you are so so so worth being loved. I know statistics are against a lot of you growing up in zone 18 but I know how much potential all of you have and that you will go far in life. Don’t listen to the lies- no matter what you’ve ever been told you are loved and you are beautiful. I don’t think I could ever tell you all enough. It pains me to think about leaving you all soon but I know God is going to continue to stir in all of your hearts long after my team leaves. I pray that we didn’t just teach you all English but that we taught you what pure love looks like. I pray that you always remember that you are loved and that you push through just one more day. And then after that push through another day. And then another. Never give up. I’m cheering for all of you & believe in all your dreams. I’ve heard stories from a lot of you about how rough life can be but with God on your side, I know you can do this. So stay strong and push on with God as your strength.
A big part of my heart will be left in Zone 18 & I hope God calls me back someday- but until then, you are being covered in prayer and I will always be thinking about you. You’ve all impacted my life in big ways. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be missing all of you. I’ll always be thankful that God called an ordinary, flawed person like me to come love on all of you.
Love always, Devan
