These past 5 days have been full of adventure, sight seeing, many new experiences & getting to know Guatemala better. It’s been so much fun traveling with my 13 crazy family members (also known as my team & the team I’m living with). I feel like I have so much more understanding of the Guatemalan culture & much more respect for the country as a whole after getting to see all the beautiful land & people along the way. (This next paragraph just summarizes my trip. If you don’t want to read that whole thing skip to the next paragraph for an actual story)
The first day we traveled about 5 hours to Coban. I was expecting it to be a touristy area- but it turned out to be completely different. It was a very authentic city that was welcoming to tourists but they hadn’t changed any of Coban to fit tourists expectations. The streets were lined with food carts & the shops were all authentic. Nothing was super flashy or ‘Americanized’ which I found very cool. The next day we left for an island called Flores. Another 5ish hour drive (with a stop inbetween at Candelaria Caves where we tubed through a cave and had bats flying all around us), a ferry ride & then a boat ride later we made it to our hostel overlooking Flores Island. This was my favorite place to stay because of the beauty of the island and all the fun exploring there was to do on the island. The next day we took the 1 hour drive to Tikal, which is huge Mayan ruins. It was crazy to see the actual spots where Mayans used to sacrifice humans to get their many different gods to be on their side. This day also made me thankful for the God we serve and the fact that human sacrifices aren’t at all necessary because we don’t have to prove to God that we are good enough to receive His love- He just loves us because He loves us because He loves us. We don’t have to make human sacrifices to prove we are worthy- Jesus died for us & I think that alone shows how worthy of love He knows we are. The next day we headed to Rio Dulce where we took a 1 hour boat ride to Livingston that was on the Caribbean Sea. We ate some awesome coconut bread which is popular in that area. That night we stayed in a beautiful hostel that was fully surrounded by water & you had to take a boat to get there. To get from one part of the hostel to another you had to walk on the docks connecting them- it was so beautiful! The final day we didn’t do anything too special besides sit in a van the whole day to get home.
This trip was a fantastic time and I enjoyed every minute of it! There was something that has been sticking out to me though. At Tikal our tour guide overheard us talking at the end about our squad. We ended up sharing with him that we are part of a Christian organization on a 9 month mission trip. At this point we had been with him for around 4 hours and when we mentioned we were with a Christian group he goes “so are you guys Christian then?” It was honestly a bit of a slap in the face at first and then completely humbling. At first I was wondering how couldn’t he tell that we were Christians? Shouldn’t he have known? But then the humbling part hit me- what had I done that would set me apart from other people?
I have heard many stories of people seeing someone and just knowing there’s something different about them & that something different is they have God within them and it truly radiates out of them. I want that. I want to walk down the street and be able to radiate God and His love everywhere I go- I don’t want people to have to ask if I’m Christian, I want them to be able to just see Gods love seeping out of me. I want people to see me and think ‘I want whatever she has inside of her’. I don’t want all of this for my glory but for Gods glory. But through me I hope people are able to see the difference between living for the world & living for God and know which one actually leads to pure joy. So my challenge for myself is to stop just telling people I’m a Christian and start showing people I’m a Christian. I don’t want people to know I’m a Christian because I tell them I’m on a mission trip- I want them to know in a Christian because of my actions and the way I show love to others. It’s easy to go around and tell everyone how much you love God, but it’s a different story to actually make that your life and live out God’s love, patience, kindness and gentleness. I would like to challenge you all to do the same. Be that person where other people notice love radiating out of you- only because you have received so much love from God. Don’t just blend in with the world & tell people on social media that you love Jesus so they know you’re a Christian. Be so bold in your faith and confident in who God says you are that people don’t question who/what your faith is in. Let every one of your actions be done for His glory. You don’t have to be on some mission trip to spread the love of God. Start wherever you are and let it be a ripple effect.
Let’s stop saying we are Christians and start acting like we are.
Col. 3:12- Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
John 13:35- By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Gal. 5:22- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
