Here I am yet again feeling flooded by all the things I haven’t done
I am no blogging guru, my journal is utterly behind in all its dramatic entries of the daily emotional journeys I sail through…
Like the ice cream experience: I came into the country with every intention of giving up all things sugar and junk food; three days later I find myself in tears of joy at an ice cream shop for having decided to not skip out on cultural experiences. Yes I actually cried, and no ice cream is not of Guatemalan culture.
But the horchata milkshake I had the next day sure was. I have no regrets, only an overdramatic journal entry about the pure freedom that washed through me as tears fell down my face. Ironic that my dominating feeling was freedom in the event of succumbing to my sugar addiction.
Anyway back to things I don’t do, like say actually sitting down with Jesus to read some of that book God wrote
It took me a week of experiencing Guatemala before I actually began to DO things I needed to
I have had fun running around the town of San Raimundo
Drinking horchata, eating carne tacos from my favorite taco man, pupusas from all the pupusa ladies, and buying delicious bread from every panadería
This town is the sweetest, cutest little painted mountain town and it is a special sort of feeling to have eaten all things and to know where the good places are at, usually for simply two dollars a meal.
We are working with a Christian school here in Guatemala.
It is INDEPENDENCE MONTH and we have been in multiple school/town parades, have watched the town’s dance competition,
And have performed a choreographed dance in our school show [by the strong request of our host]
The towns yellow municipal building was decked out in circus attire, and the children danced to The Greatest Showman. I won’t say I cried, but I can’t say I didn’t.
Basically ministry this month means either I am a dance mom, or I should HAVE a dance mom because truly we looked like we are now cheerleaders and Honey BooBoo did our makeup. After watching the schools first competition, I was quite ready to join in and it honestly was a movie scene learning a dance in one evening, to then perform on stage the next night. [surprisingly, this would not be the first time this year we were last minute forced by our hosts to dance or sing on stage]
This first week was all over the place, because all the Independence Day celebrations, festivals, parades through town.
But in the midst of this, a teacher from the school died unexpectedly in a car accident;
Which is what brought us to assist in one of the dance competitions, getting the children ready and accompanying them along the way, so as to allow the other teachers to attend his funeral.
It has been heartbreaking. I cannot stop thinking of the family, the fiancé, the school he left behind—nor the silent tears of the children as they placed flowers one by one before his picture during the school’s memorial for him. I rest in the peaceful knowledge of the joy he is experiencing in heaven with Jesus now, for all of eternity.
We arrived at school a day before he died, and I’ve racked my brain for an image of his face
A memory
I don’t know if it’s my imagination, or if my eyes truly recognize this soul
All I know is I acknowledged all the teachers this day, and now one is absent. It breaks my heart
Believe it or not I began writing this blog a week ago and now I’ve actually done some of the things I complained about not having done before
Including wonderful Jesus dates once again
He is teaching me, opening my eyes to Him
To faith
Authority
Courage
Reliance
Dependability
Prayer and community
And to spiritual attacks and trust in Him through it all
I’ve had the best dates with Jesus this year, usually on the rooftops of dreamy places
And of course rooftops are dreamy,
when you’re existing above the ground and can see so much of the world at once
Everything swirls together in color
Like dye drops in water
Thank You Jesus,
I rest in the knowledge that Your presence is ever near me
That there is not a place on earth that You are not there
That You will not follow me there
