Over the last few months, I’ve tried desperately to prepare for my time on the World Race. Logically speaking of course, I should have been able to do my four test packs, read enough books on each country, do unending hours of prayer over my team and our ministries… In the back of my mind I knew I couldn’t prepare for this… not really, anyway. Not emotionally. Not so that my heart was ready to be challenged so bluntly.
Our ministry contact in Guatemala is called Hope Haven International. In Antigua, they run a wheelchair assembly plant, operated mostly by Guatemalans who are in wheelchairs themselves. The dedication and resilience of these people is unreal. They spend close to ten hours a day building-from scratch-wheelchairs for children in Central America.
Our contact, Ilse—who is absolutely a God-given wonder to us—petitions for grants to be able to continue their ministry, as well as finding clients who need the wheelchairs. She’s incredible… like, really, really, incredible. Like, if she was in the least bit willing, I’d dump out everything in my backpack and bring her with us as my carry-on. THAT kind of incredible. The kind that sees things we don’t see in each other yet, can spot a team-dynamic from the way the room smells, and speaks truth without hesitation. You know, incredible…
Yesterday, Ilse sat my team down to go over our month’s schedule with us and said something really profound… something I guess I’d overlooked in all my preparations.
She said, “You have to understand… this is their life. For you it is only a month.”
It was a slap in the face in the best way, providing perspective that I didn’t have yet. This month in Guatemala is only a month for me and my team, but for the people who work in the factory it’s their everyday. It was arrogant of me to come in with the attitude that I needed to help them.
We came to Guatemala to help change things… but I think that what’s really going to happen is that we’re going to be changed by who these people—no, not “these people”, Blanca, Paulina, Angel, Mauricio, Dionel, Omar, Larry, Don Edgar, Ilse—are in their world.
Pray for my team as we continue to try to communicate with everyone. We could definitely use the gift of tongues… preferably the Spanish-speaking kind! Also pray for the kids we’re meeting tomorrow… It’s the distribution day, where clients come to the factory to be fitted for a wheelchair.
One more prayer request: Pray for my team as we attempt to create a family. We all came on race for community. Pray that the LORD blesses us as we create it.
