I say it every single day, but Monday was one of the best days of my life.
It was a pretty typical day— we woke up, ate breakfast, did devos, my stomach was really upset—the norm. We got ready for ministry and caught a bus to Chimaltenango. Mondays and Tuesdays are our planning days where we work on different projects and plan for the next week and for English class. We were going to Chimal to get paint from the hardware store to start painting a mural that we planned to do in our community.
Before going to the hardware store, we stopped at Pollo Campero to get some wifi to call home, check our bank accounts, and post a blog if we needed to. I had never been to Pollo Campero, but let me tell you… It’s like the chicken version of iHop, and I don’t really love iHop, but I. LOVE. Pollo Campero. I got a side of hash browns and orange juice, which made for a good morning already! We ate and did all the things we needed to that required wifi, and then started the search for paint.
The search for paint was a wild goose chase. We went to the first hardware store—too expensive. The next store—no paint. So we had to catch a bus back to Parramos, the town nearest to the base, to check their hardware store. Chimaltenango is the third largest city in Guatemala. It’s like a wild jungle, a little sketchy, and is something you just have to experience to fully understand what it feels like and the emotions that come with saying “We’re going to Chimal.” So we journeyed through the depths of Chimal and the market, narrowly escaping getting hit by chicken buses, to find a van back to Parramos.
In Parramos, we found paint and went to Llano to start on the mural. Camille strongly carried a 4 gallon bucket of paint on her shoulder from the van, and after many minutes we reached the blank wall. In recent weeks, we have started to become really great friends with a pastor that happens to live right beside the mural. Once he saw us outside, he came out of his house and asked if he can help us. OF COURSE, we said yes. So he brought brooms, buckets to mix paint, and joyfully joined in doing the base coat.
This mural is alongside a wall and near an area we are hoping to make a community center, so to have members of the community help in the creation of the mural is something really special. In only a few hours, we finished the base coat for the WHOLE wall! My heart was SINGING. A mural is something I wanted to do while on the field, and here I am doing JUST that, doing the design and leadership for it. I love this project so so much.
Soon after, a few boys from our English class ran by and invited us into a game of soccer. So we spent the last hour of ministry running around a dirt field, kicking a soccer ball into a goal with a cow tied to it. I was goalie and got hit directly in the face, but Carlos didn’t score and really that’s the most important part.
Monday was simple. It wasn’t a day that anyone would consider adventurous (except for maybe the trek through Chimal) or anything along those lines. But, I got to spend the day with my team, girls who I love so much and who love the Lord so deeply. I got to start painting and pouring the creativity and art in my heart onto a wall. I got to run around a dirty field with all my friends playing soccer, trying to avoid the cow on one end of the field. I’m living in Guatemala, growing closer to the Lord, and building relationships in communities all for His name.
It was simple, but joy filled the whole day. The Lord’s goodness could be seen and felt everywhere. It was all really good for my heart, and I’m thankful every day for this life.
We have been reading through Luke as a squad on Tuesday and Friday mornings during a time we call “deep dive.” One of the stories we have studied is Luke 5:17-26, where Jesus heals a paralytic. It’s one of my favorite stories because you see so much faith in the man and his friends and you see intentionality and deep compassion in Jesus. But at the end of the passage, Luke 5:26 reads, “And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
I feel like saying that every single day, I want to say that every single day- I have seen extraordinary things today.
Every day is just so good- the simple, the ordinary that becomes the extraordinary, the miracles interwoven, all the thankfulness, the way God shows up no matter what. Let me tell you, I really love living life like every single day is the best day of my whole life.
haven
