Water is definitely something I can’t seem to get enough of these days. I used to hate drinking it when I had the option of drinking cokes and teas. But now…I’m working and sweating so much that I just can’t seem to keep up. After a week of Launch/training, teams NEON & Agape8 traveled by van for 3 hours to the hub of Guatemala City. From there we rode in a bus another 5 hours to our ministry site of Puerto Barrios, pretty close to the Caribbean. 17 of us are staying in a 3 bedroom house (and sharing one small bathroom). We have one standing fan for each room but it gets about 80+ every day and it’s incredibly humid. We are praying through our circumstances, but are still grateful for the chance to meet families close by and serve them as best we can in this heat.
Sunday night we attended a church service and despite the fact that I don’t know speak Spanish fluently, the Holy Spirit is still able to break through language barriers. The pastor we are working with here is incredibly kind and gave a profound message on 1 Peter 2:7 about casting our worries and giving them to God. A member of the church teamed up with a missionary and we praye for each other in English or Spanish. The woman that I prayed with…something special just happened. We had to hug each other and give words of truth and affirmation about God carrying our burdens. As we were hugging I think the Holy Spirit just touched us both and we began to start crying simultaneously. It was as if we both needed God to carry certain burdens and it didn’t matter that we didn’t know each other or could speak to each other very well, but we both know God and we understand how amazing He is. We prayed for each other and it was just a sweet testimony to the power of God to break through walls.
Too many times I try to be so independent that I become more stubborn than anything. My “default” is to go back into silent mode and act like nothing is wrong with me. What I appreciate so much about this World Race so far is the fact that I now live in such intense community that it’s much much harder to do so. I get attacked emotionally and mentally, but my teammates notice the little things that I tend to get away with. God is definitely looking out for me and I’m not going to end up becoming a “tourist” on this trip.
I will do my best to post more later in the week, but right now I have a prayer request. A few minutes ago I read an email from my mom that one of my cousin’s was killed in an auto accident very early yesterday morning. I’m not able to make a call at the moment to check on his family, but I’m really hurting for them right now and sorry that I am not close by to be with them in this time. This was so unexpected and I’m really missing my family after hearing this news. I’m so grateful that my team will be with me and I won’t be praying alone tonight for this loss.
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