Month two of the World Race has been spent in one of the major coffee bean countries in the world: Guatemala.
Coffee bean trees take place in the local’s yards and there are lots of cute, quaint coffee shops that decorate the streets of San Pedro, Guatemala. It has seriously become one of my favorite places.
A little background story:
Once upon a time, I despised coffee. It had made my list of the
most grotesque things to ever hit my taste buds. It wasn’t until my second barista job that I began to acquire a taste for coffee. I worked in a coffee shop where the owner roasted her own coffee and that is where I experienced my first fresh cup of coffee. I became hooked and I haven’t turned back since. You could say that I am addicted but I say that I can quit at any time.
So needless to say, I thought it quite hilarious that the Father had placed me in coffee bean country where He then proceeded to tell me that this month would be full of coffee ministry.
The ministry this month has contained a ton of prayer walks in the nearby villages, witnessing death and life, healing, but most importantly- relationships. Before we left Honduras for Guatemala, my team did a vision casting. We asked the Father to show us what He had for us going into Guatemala. In asking that, He showed me relationships.
When arriving in San Pedro, we walked around the village a little and asked the Father where He wanted us to start.
Side note: going into this month, our contact did not really have any ministry planned for us, which allowed free reign for coffee ministry. Crazy! So, we spotted a coffee shop right on the corner of where the Father had called us for ministry.
He then blessed us with 3 sweet local street kids: Margarita (11), Margarita (13), and Kevin (6). They work from 9am-7/8pm; 7 days a week. They don’t go to school. They hardly know how to read or write. Their job is to sell cashews and bracelets to the incoming tourists. People hardly gave them the time of day, but the Father allowed us time to get to know them and to see that they are still just kids.
One of the Margarita's and Kevin. Just another day at work.
Yolanda- one of the local bread ladies. She had the best bread out of all of the other bread ladies.
Going into this month of ministry was definitely different from the types of ministry that I've done in the past. It's all about relationships, people.
I want to challenge you guys to take someone that you hardly know, out for a cup of coffee and get to know them. Hear their story. Listen to them. Ha. And they say coffee is an addiction.
Emms
