I am sitting in an internet café in Panajachel waiting for team LO and (more importantly) JOY to arrive for a couple days.
I missed her e-mail so I got here far earlier than I needed, but it has given me some much needed time to just sit, pray, process and write.
Guatemala
is beautiful.
The people are friendly, the churches are healthy.
It is a great place to be.
But in my heart, closure is already starting to take place.
I have loved teaching English to the children of San Juan (pictures will follow in a later post).
In fact, our next to last day with Stacy and I´s Fifth Graders was met with applause when we entered the room.
They are learning SO quickly and love the learning process.
It has been a joy to watch them stumble over our stupid English phrases (seriously, why is it ¨You want to play¨ but ¨He wants to play¨? Who was the genius that came up with that?!) and try to pronounce ¨th¨ and hard ¨r¨ sounds.
They are getting it nonetheless.
It has been a month of discovery, of learning how to live a lifestyle of ministry and to just love those we come into contact with.
Our kitchen is always open to guests, our food is always available to the little kids who conveniently come around during meal times and our attention is always available to those that would love to chat.
It´s a slow paced lifestyle and maybe I would prefer something a little more intense, but it’s a great model for how to live our lives.
God is teaching me an incredible amount about humility and living in community (if you haven’t seen my article contributions to
www.wreckedfortheordinary.com
check them out under ¨Community¨).
Selflessness is an act of God.
My challenge is to live everyday for others.
How can I serve, do you need me to listen, is something important to you that I can help make happen?
These are all questions that I am learning to put before: ¨What am I going to do today?¨ or ¨what do I feel like doing?¨
These are not always the most enjoyable lessons to learn, but in walking with the spirit, other´s joy becomes my joy – and I truly, truly love it.
In case you all don´t know, I am working aside four truly amazing women of God.
Katie, Stacy, Becca and Hannah are Godly women seeking the heart of our Father and who are challenging me in so many ways.
Living in community with them has not been the fiesta maybe I expected but its more than I could have ever asked for.
We operate on three team norms: 1) Be honest, 2) Family first, and 3) Everyone is allowed to have time, grace and space.
The honesty part is much, much harder than I think any of us expected.
It´s admitting you are not okay when you are not okay.
Its being able to say I don´t understand or I don’t agree.
It´s about allowing each other the freedom to drop the mask and drop all pretense and get to the root of who we each are.
It has been liberating and challenging for me at the same time.
On Wednesday, Squad A will return to Antigua for a night, travel to Guatemala City for a night, travel half-way to our destination and spend the night in El Salvador and end up at the end of the week in Nicaragua for our monthly debriefing where we will reunite with Squad B.
A lot of travel, but a good time of fellowship and processing.
Please pray for our teams that we would be safe as we travel this week and that debriefing would be a beneficial exercise in preparation for Peru!
Thanks also to all of you who commented on my last post – you have no idea how blessed I was to hear your comments and feedback – keep it up!!!
