So, this week I took a fast from Wi-Fi. I really felt God convicting me about not committing to my plans of fasting these first six weeks of the race. As a team, two weeks ago, we decided to try it for a week and see how it went. I didn’t commit to that. I still used social media daily and was in constant contact with friends and family back home. At the end of the week, while discussing how it went, one of my teammates said that she felt disrespected by everyone’s lack of commitment. That hit me to the core. So, this week, I chose to honor her by truly committing to the fast. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Multiple times I caught myself mindlessly opening apps and having to shut them down and drop my phone. Today the fast is over but I think I will still choose most days to be Wi-Fi-free. It was nice to spend more time present in the moment here. With all that being said, I have a week’s worth of memories I’d like to share with y’all! So, let’s get down to business.
Sunday last week, I woke up early and my teammate, Ally, and I went to the cross here in Antigua before the early church service. We walked up about what felt like 500 stairs to get to this amazing scenic view of the city. We took a couple of pictures and then separated and had some quiet time just overlooking Antigua. Then we came together at the end and listened to a couple of worship songs just sitting and taking in God’s beauty. It was the absolute best way to start my Sunday morning.
Monday was an awesome night too! On Monday night, we had the Adventures In Missions (AIM) staff over for dinner and a night of worship. We cooked a Cajun chicken stew served over rice (Chelsea knows what I’m talking about.) I have realized that I have a gift of looking in a kitchen and throwing together a meal. This has become one of my favorite things to do. It’s like a game to me. So, when we looked around one night to fix dinner and I saw all the ingredients to make this meal, I got really excited. After ministry on Monday, we came home and got cooking. We ate together and then had an amazing worship set in the living room. One of the staff had specifically encouraging things to say to me about what God has in store for me. It really helped me get some clarity on some struggles I’ve been having.
Fast forward to Tuesday night. We had been invited to attend and all Spanish speaking women’s bible study. Ally, Rebecca, and I decided to go check it out. Upon arrival, there was a crowd of women standing outside the church waiting for the doors to open. Around 80 women were in attendance that day, most of which were mothers or grandmothers. That means all of the children were there as well. There was a team of people who took and played with the kids the entire time so that the mothers could participate in the bible study. Most of the women were either coming straight from work or from working in their homes. Many of the women still wore their aprons. You could tell that they truly wanted to be there by the way they just came as they were. I felt like I could learn a thing or two about how I approach God in my daily life. Do I come as I am or do I feel the need to clean myself up first? Once we were settled, we were asked to give our testimonies to these women. I was definitely not prepared for that, but with the help of a translator I stood before these women and gave my testimony. It was another reminder of the power of testimony because I could look around the room and see women who could relate to the things I was saying. I thank God that they were able to hear how God can redeem even the hardest parts of our stories. How God works all things for good. In a city so full of Catholicism, it was so cool to see Christianity at work and see the people who want to live for Christ. There was a hunger for the word in those women that was so strong I could feel its presence in the room. It reminded me of why I am here. Why I chose to say yes to this adventure.
Wednesday night was full of testimonies too. I have been attending a church plant here from Dallas called Shoreline. They have a women’s night once a month or so and this was the big night. We had invited our ministry host Gabee and her sister Sophia to join us. It was basically a night of worship and testimonies, followed by a moment to process what we got out of that. It was a fun night to just hang out and be a group of women who love the Lord. I felt like it was an awesome opportunity for Gabee to get to see us outside of the ministry setting and it let me see more of who she is. I also got to get to know Sophia more which I loved. To see and hear their hearts for God and their struggles in their daily life was something I really cherished.
Thursday night was our host home’s one year anniversary of moving to Guatemala. So we celebrated that with cake and making popusas. A family came in and taught us how to make this traditional El Salvador food. I was even told that mine turned out looking good, and when a El Salvador woman says your popusas are good, you know they are bomb! It was so fun for me to learn a new food to cook.
Friday evening was “Girls Night In.” The women on AIM’s staff invited us over to their house for dinner. We started with worship. These women are super talented musically and we are loving the time we get to spend with them. We had a quick bible study about identity and how they wish they had learned this early on in their race. It was really uplifting and enlightening to think about how God sees us and how to learn to see ourselves that way too. My favorite part of the night was being able to look around and visually see people coming into realization of the biblical truth about themselves. To see people fully understanding and grasping their true worth was something I loved that I was able to see. Then we ate dinner and played games for the rest of the night. It was nice to just chill and have fun and laugh after such a busy week.
Yesterday was our adventure day, but after the week we just had we all wanted a smaller adventure than the previous weeks. We decided to invite Gabee and Sophia to lunch and to go enjoy the market in Antigua. We walked through the market, tasting all the local fruits and foods. We found something that looks like a tamale, but tastes like cornbread, that was super delicious. Markets are one of my favorite things to explore. I love the tight spaces and the crazy things that all get packed into such a small space. It’s something that we just don’t get at home and it makes me happy to get to experience it here. Also, we went to the grocery store and Sophia teased me so much about my toothbrush. I accidentally put the tap water on my toothbrush one day and had to buy a replacement. The only one I could find was a Minion toothbrush with bubble fruit flavored toothpaste. What’s a girl to do? It has a suction cup though, so it can stand up on its own. #superhandy #mytoothbrushisbetterthanyours #imanadult
That was my week without Wi-Fi. That was my week in Guatemala. All of the things that I wrote about happened after we did our daily ministry. We are still working at the school every day and helping finish with the soccer field. I will post about that next week, but I truly feel like we have made an impact through the work we are doing here. I love Guatemala and a month does not seem like enough time to truly experience it like I want to. Maybe one day I will return, but for now I am trying to experience as much as possible while I am here. So, now you know what my week looks like here. I am seriously blessed that this gets to be my life!
