Today was an amazing day! It was my first day of ministry on The World Race. I can’t describe in words the excitement I felt. This month I am working at a school for disabled people. The school hosts people of all ages teaching typical subjects such as reading, writing, and math. It also teaches life skills to those in need. Today my team and I got the opportunity to sit in on a school board meeting discussing the curriculum. Their generosity and hospitality is wonderful, I feel welcome and useful. It started off a little shaky though, no one at the school speaks a word of English; not even hello. Can you say language barrier. We were also not provided a translator so all of our communication will take place through Margot, my team member, who speaks broken Spanish, as well as very comical gestures by all of us. Its almost at times a big epic game of charades. My face actually hurts because we laughed so hard at ourselves trying to speak to our hosts. I am excited to see the month play out and see the impact we as a team can have in Guatemala as well as the impact Guatemala will have on us.
Also, HUGE praise report!! Tonight I was informed that my teams ministry host, the school, will be participating in the HUGE independence day parade on September 15th. They invited my team to walk with them in the parade in traditional Guatemalan attire. I could not be more excited!!!! They will be lending us traditional clothes and letting us represent their school, what and honor! Wow!! The Lord is blessing me guys and its awesome.
On a different note… I am happy and healthy and this place is so beautiful. The streets are cobblestone and every color of the rainbow is represented by the paint on the buildings. People here drive cars, trucks, TukTuks, motorcycles, dirt bikes and bicycles. However, most people walk. There is a city square here that seems to surround this huge white Catholic Church. The market is a typical third world country market with thousands of little wooden shops with any item imaginable. The smell in this city is great! Usually thats something I struggle with but Quiche smells like a combination of rain, mountain air, and tortillas. We are living in our tents this month. I love my tent, its my own private area to just be alone. Although being alone is not needed very much yet, Im sure it will come in handy down the road. It rains almost everyday and my tent is wet!! It rains hard! Falling asleep in my tent to the sound of Guatemalan rain hitting my rain fly is one of the most wonderfully deafening things I’ve ever experienced. What a blessing to be able to experience those moments.
I’m still not exactly sure what it is I’m searching for or what I expect to happen over the course of this next year, but I can honestly say I have never been so happy or felt so alive and free. My heart is happy.
