Ok, can I hit the pause button now? It seems impossible that I have officially less than a week here in Guatemala. These three months have gone by faster than I ever could have imagined! I feel confident in saying that it has been the craziest, hardest, most fun, most joy filled, and simply the most beautiful three months of my life so far (no way there’s six more months of this ahead!!). In closing out this country, there are so many things that I wish I could share with you all, but some things are impossible to put into words! So here is a list of 10 things Guatemala has taught me:
1. I don’t have it all together!
Now, this one might seem obvious. No one really has it all together. But turns out for me, I thought, coming into this, that I had everything wayyyy more together than I really did! God has revealed things to me about myself that needed to be stripped away for Him to truly work in me. Walls needed to be torn down, and I needed to be broken… so that GOD could build me back up. I am such an imperfect human; full of pride, fear, timidity, and hurt. But my Father makes me perfect! I am still blown away every time I think of this.
2. The reality of the Holy Spirit
Prior to the World Race, of course I had heard of the Holy Spirit, but throughout my life, the power, importance, and reality of the Holy Spirit was always undermined. But since, I have been challenged in my knowledge and experience of who the Holy Spirit really is. The power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent to us as an Advocate (John 14:16-17), makes me available to the Lord to use as a tool to do things that Jesus did on earth, and even greater things. I now realize the potential that I have to be used by the Lord to be dangerous for the Kingdom! It is exhilarating!
3. The power of prayer
“Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.”(Philippians 4:6) That has been a “theme verse” of mine throughout this experience. Ask the Lord to break you, and He will. Ask Him to reveal himself to you, and He will. Ask Him to heal, and He will. But also in prayer how important it is to simply praise Him, thank Him, and worship Him through everything. Even when He doesn’t seem to answer my prayer in the way that I see fit. Prayer is our avenue to connecting with God. He wants us to not only talk to him, but also listen to what he has for us.
4. The importance of vulnerability
Being vulnerable is something that is hard to become comfortable with, but one of the most rewarding things one can do when it comes to building strong relationships and connections with others. It’s a scary thing because as soon as you are vulnerable with someone, you are risking letting someone in and potentially getting hurt, but you are also opening the door to love, connection, and full genuine acceptance. When my team and I began being vulnerable with one another about our struggles and things that we have walked through, we were able to fully lift each other up, encourage, and love one another.
5. The value of honesty
On the race we don’t get to choose our teams. And although I love each and every girl on my team beyond belief, in all honesty, there are some that we know we wouldn’t have necessarily been friends in the “real world”. Some people I just click with, and others I butt heads with. But one of the greatest lessons I have learned from this is just to be honest with each other. When a teammate does something or says something that bothers me, instead of letting annoyance fester inside of me, or instead of gossiping about it to another one of my teammates, I just go to the person and am straight up about it! But not in a way that is just like “hey I am annoyed with you, and here’s why”, but in a way that shows the other person that I genuinely care about our relationship, and I want to fight for it. It’s amazing the bonds I have made with teammates through these kinds of honest, raw conversations that have actually drawn us closer, when it could have resulted in something negative!
6. What it looks like to truly live by faith
Our host here in Xenacoj is an amazing man named German. He is a Guatemalan man who has a wife and six kids. And this ministry is his whole life. He is so passionate about bringing love, hope, and ultimately the gospel to his town. But being a Guatemalan missionary, he doesn’t have much of an income. This man lives every single day trusting God for his daily bread. Sometimes it is hard on him, but he has absolutely so much trust and faith in God, he has some of the most genuine love and joy that I have ever encountered. Something that he often says in his broken English with a beaming smile on his face is, “I no got money, but I got big love!” Prior to knowing German, I had never met someone who truly lives every day by faith like he does. It is such an inspiration.
7. The beauty of living in community
Reality: living in constant, non- escapable community is HARD! Being an introvert, I have had times I felt like I was going to explode not being able to go a single place alone, or even sit in a room alone. That is something that I have really had to trust God in, and although I still need to find my alone time, living in community is one of the biggest blessings I could imagine. The best way I can describe it is that we truly strive to live out Acts 2:42-47 when Paul talks about the community of believers. We worship together. We share our possessions. We eat meals together. We disciple each other. And we genuinely just love each other. Living in a constant community of believers, people see you at your best, at your worst, at your most joyful, and your most depressed. It’s impossible to “perform” 24/7 for 9 months straight. So therefore: we are genuinely ourselves. And we are able to call each other out, and call each other up.
8. Always say yes
“Adventure is out there.” True statement. Adventure isn’t found lying in bed watching netflix, and it isn’t found when you don’t try something because you are scared of failing, or just too scared in general. It happens when you just say yes! Someone might ask if I want to go on a hike, and I might be really tired and not feel up to it, but if I just do it anyways, and say yes, I might end up having one of the most memorable days of my life pushing a Guatemalan’s stuck van up a muddy road on the side of a mountain in the rain for 3 hours (true story)! Or if I feel nervous to visit a widow with just me and couple teammates because I’m afraid it’s going to be awkward due to the language barrier, what is gained there?! Nothing. We just did it anyways, and getting over our own fear of awkwardness and going to visit that widow, made our whole day and definitely made that widow’s day. An old man asks me to dance with him at a fiesta, seems weird, might be, but I just said yes and I gained one of the funniest memories of my life. Anyways, just say yes. Just do it. Adventure is out there. Life is fun.
9. If you get the chance, always ride on top of the bus
I find it to be one of the most unfortunate things about America that riding on the top of buses and vans doesn’t seem to be an option. Probably because it is extremely unsafe, yeah sure, but what’s the fun in that!! Some of my favorite, most cherished memories have been riding on top of the bus. It’s hard to even explain the exhilarating feeling I get up there. Especially at night, with the freezing wind whipping my hair around my face, while the bus lurches at top speed around winding corners, up the mountains, nearly falling off the side! The lights from the little towns in the far away valley twinkle as we whiz past, my friends are just singing and screaming around me, and in that moment, I feel like the most care-free person in the world!
10. Soak it all in. Even… especially, the small things
Like I have said in a previous blog, life isn’t made up of huge, insane moments all the time. Life is made up of small, almost unnoticeable, but beautiful moments of simple joy. What I have learned is don’t miss the moment in anticipation of the next big thing. Enjoy the now. That very second, because we literally will never get them back! Don’t miss the sunset. Take a moment to breathe in the fall air. Notice laughter and joy in the people around you. I know it sounds oh, so cliché, but man have I truly learned to seize the moment. It’s gone before you know it, and someday you’re gonna wish you had it back!
We leave for Malaysia on December 7th, and we are going to have team changes right before we leave. Please keep my whole squad in your prayers as we make this transition. It is hard to think about having a new team, but I know that ultimately the Lord has huge plans, and it will be a blessing! Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!
Much love,
Megan
