“We are going to Guatemala! I’m so excited, I’m SO excited!”
That was me during our travel days to Central America. I was ready to get out of Eastern Europe and I was pumped to be returning to Guatemala a third time. I love Guatemala. It’s never been like that mystical “I just fell in love with the country” type of thing but I’ve always felt really at ease, at rest, and at home there.. This time was no exception and month 10 in Guatemala City proved to be my favorite month of the world race. Here are some reasons why:
1. Bright colors everywhere! On buildings, chicken buses, and flowers hanging over walls along the streets. Colorful woven fabric embroidered with bright birds and flowers filling the markets. I love it. Put me in some crazy shirt and I’m happy as can be.
2. A sweet house. We lived in the city in Hope Renewed’s mission house which meant a lot of space. It felt like a mansion after being stuck in a two room cottage for a month. I think God knew our team needed some room for activities, oh and running water, toilets, showers, and a washing machine. Praisealujah.
3. Zone 3. For the month our team worked in the community that lives next to the city dump. We did construction and spent time building relationships with people in the community. I had fun practicing Spanish and attempting to make conversation. We got to know a few spunky kids there and the crazy ones are usually my favorite.
4. Buckets buckets buckets. When we helped with construction we carried buckets all day. Buckets of water, buckets of sand, buckets of dirt, rocks, trash, and my favorite: buckets of concrete. The locals taught is how to heave them up on our shoulders and I felt so strong. ??
5. Volcanos. You can’t deny that volcanos are pretty rad. Our team got to hike one and roast marshmallows on hot rocks at it’s base. True story.
6. Lauren and Andrew! Our ministry hosts for the month were American missionaries in our age bracket. Our team was able to invest in them and be their community for the month. They invested in me as well through lunch dates, guitar lessons, and talks about life. God truly blessed me when he let me be friends with each of them.
7. Morning worship. I really wanted to coat our days in worship and prayer first thing in the morning last month so I started doing it nearly everyday before ministry, and the rest of the team usually joined. I began to see how starting the morning by giving it all to God really made a big impact on the whole day. I am very thankful that we had that time and space.
8. Girls, girls, girls. on my previous trips to Guatemala I volunteered in a Girl’s Home and loved it. Hope Renewed runs a home for girls as well and we were able to visit it one weekend. We painted nails, braided hair, danced and watched movies. We stayed up til midnight at a pajama party. Fun and crazy and exhausting but more than worth it.
9. Choco Fruta!!! Frozen chocolate covered bananas with nuts were my favorite but there were also chocolate covered strawberries, watermelon (which was weird), pineapple, and chocolate covered entire mangos. For less than a quarter each. Nomnomnom.
10. Guatemalan culture. People there just tend to be pretty open, friendly, and relaxed. It’s fun to meet new people and embrace the very “go with the flow” attitude that basically the whole country has.
11. Speaking up. At the beginning of the month God told me, “You know who you are, so be it baby!” And I have been trying to live that out ever since. Later in the month I realized that God gives me discernment and allows me to see things for a reason and he doesn’t want me to keep quiet about it. So I started speaking up more, calling out nonsense and giving hard feedback. I won’t be kept silent any longer but I will speak up, even when it requires me to risk relationships. I will be the risk!
So there ya go. I still love Guatemala and probably always will. Don’t be surprised if I end up there again someday sooner or later!
xx LeAnn
