We made it to Guatemala! We are working with GO! Ministries. They mainly focus on widows and orphans. We have already visited and prayed with several widows and helped with the feeding program at a school where we also played with the kids and taught English. This is what our month will pretty much look like. More details and stories to come later, but for now I want to back track a month.
I could come up with countless of excuses as to why I’m ‘behind’ in blogging as I’m posting Nicaragua while I’m in Guatemala.
To name a few- it’s so hot that my computer over heats in like 30 min (true story). It’s so hot that all I want to do is lay peacefully in a hammock with a fan blowing directly on me (which is a great way to avoid butt sweat, something that never happens in Michigan.) I don’t feel like typing my thoughts down or I don’t have enough time, which in reality I do.
But the real reason besides all of the above is because I decided to spend more time resting during this debrief. Normally I have a long to do list of things to get done during our 3 day debrief. Like blogging, talking to friends and family, (I was able to talk to my whole family at once on a day off last week cause it was our annual family vacation week. 🙂 ) Doing laundry, yep, I had a bag of dirty clothes in my pack as we traveled. Responding to emails and Facebook messages, and some other random stuff. And I did post a blog and did a few other things. But I focused more on rest, like taking a day off and laying in a hammock all day reading “The Count of Monte Christo.” To be honest, I don’t remember the last time I did something like that.
God has really been teaching me about resting. There have been several times on the race where I was both physically and spiritually burnt out. And the rebound takes a while because I wait to rest til I’m totally burnt. However, it’s not healthy for me or anyone else for that matter. One of the things I struggled the most as a TL (team leader) was delegating and resting. They both sound easy, but for me it’s easier said than done.
I didn’t get that much sleep the first week cause I kept hearing voices telling me that I was wasn’t good enough, that I needed to try harder, keep working and no rest for a TL. After I finally told these voice to leave me alone Satan tried another tactic- guilt. I then felt guilt for sleeping when there was too much to do when in reality, there really wasn’t all that much more to do. In the power of Jesus I was able to overcome these tactics. However, resting was still difficult for me. I am not a natural born leader. It’s a struggle for me to step up and make decisions. It’s even harder for me to make decisions that involve the whole team. I felt like I had to do everything. When in reality, there was a whole team ready to serve, help and support me and the team. I needed only to ask and delegate.
God rested after creating the universe even though He didn’t NEED it, because God is simply awesome like that. But I think He did it to show us the importance of taking the time to rest. To simply sit quietly, and rest in His presence. Forget the ‘to do’ list and let it all go for a few hours or days.
God has also been teaching me to discern when I need to rest and when I need to push through, because Satan can easily turn my tiredness into laziness and I could miss out on what God has for me in those moments.
