Ok, so for the past 9 years back home in the United States, you would see me serving from the sideline. Literally. I served my athletes and made sure they could stay on the playing field. A picture of that would be: taping ankles before football games, evaluating a soccer player’s knee, rehabilitating a basketball player’s back, reconditioning a volleyball player’s post-surgical shoulder, mentoring high school student athletic training aides, and many other random duties of a high school athletic trainer.
me doing one of my many duties of a high school athletic trainer.
For the month of August 2012, I am serving in a different way. I am a caretaker. A dish washer. A teacher. A babysitter. A therapist. A house keeper. A fix-it woman. I do all the duties of a mother without being an actual mother. I wake up at 6 am to help get the kids ready for school, chores throughout the day and finally around 10 pm after team time, I get to lay my head on my pillow.
At the end of July before I left Honduras, when I heard about what my team would be doing in Guatemala, I immediately started praying. Praying for a servant’s heart and hands. A desire to do the work joyfully. I knew loving the kids wouldn’t be hard, but doing the tedious work away from the kids would be. My team and I, along with one other all girls team, are working at Joy Filled Homes, which is a special needs children’s home. There are 10 special kids that live on the property. You check out their website here: http://losgozosos.org/LosGozosos/Welcome.html
After a week of being here, I got the sense of joy I have been praying for. The joy of serving. I enjoy the smiles from the children. The laughter from the nannies. The relationships that grows everyday within the two teams of women here. The relationships of women and children here at Los Gozos.
The friendships of my team.
The friendships of team O.I.L.
The relationship with God.
Who gave me these serving hands.
And serving heart.
Thank you Jesus for answering my prayer. I am blessed to be able to live a month at Los Gozos among these amazing women and children of God and serve these beautiful people.
me and one of the girls, Andrea
me jumping off into the hot spring. We get Thursdays off to be able to explore what Guatemala has to offer and for us to rest up.
Look guys, my rehab skills are being put to use here in Guatemala! I'm helping Andres get up from a chair. He is unable to walk fully on his own and does physical therapy everyday. A few years ago, he was unable to open his fists and now he has full function of both hands.
my team and I in front of our ministry.
