The first reality check for me was on the first day in Guatemala. We were sitting in our van, riding towards Antigua for 3 days of Launch, and we were all pretty excited. We were joking around, chatting and overall feeling like we were still safe in the U.S.
And then we saw him.
A man was standing in front of a gate on the right side of the road, holding an AK-47. With the way he was holding it, he definitely knew how to use it. Needless to say, all conversations stopped cold. There was no joking, no laughter, no smiles. And then…
“I guess we aren’t in the States anymore…â€�
Now, it has been about 10 days since that moment, so I could have a few words wrong, but the overall feeling of those first 10 minutes in Guatemala are cemented in my head.
Ever since then, the reality that I am in Guatemala, a developing nation, has been hitting home. My team and I were picked up by our contact, Marco, one week ago today. He took us to his house in Tizate, Guatemala. It is a quaint village full of starving dogs, adorable children and friendly neighbors.
After traveling all over the place for the last week, including the coast, we ended up about six hours north (ended up being almost 10 hours!) in the mountains.
Now, when I say mountains, I mean MOUNTAINS. But not just any mountains, but JUNGLE mountains. I will admit, I had a horrible attitude going in, while we were there, and pretty much until an hour before we left.
I wanted my bed, I wanted my shower, I wanted my clean clothes. To sum it up, I was throwing an internal and external temper tantrum. Thankfully one of my teammates called me out, and by the grace of God my attitude has been getting better and better over the last few hours.
But I digress.
Coban, the general name for the area we were in, is sparse. We hiked up about a mile or more of intense inclines, and slept on the dirt floor of the local church (which was far better than it sounds!)
To be honest, if I would have been paying more attention to the living spaces around me, the simple means, the dirt floors and the joyous faces, I would have been far more humbled by the experience of the last 24 hours. My teammates sure were.
But what I noticed was amazing! Pastor Luis is a very new Christian. I believe he was saved by Jesus about two years ago, and he became the local pastor only one year ago. The main reason we traveled up to see him and his congregation was to bring an electrician up so their church would have electricity. Before we got there, I think they were using candles. By the time we left, they had lights on the inside and outside, and they had outlets on the walls. It was amazing, and they were so grateful. Pastor Luis holds a service on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. However, only the Sunday service is full, because some of the congregation walks from three hours one way!! That is a true example of dedication, eh?
Oh, and they are Mayans. Some of them speak broken Spanish, but all of them speak their native language that I have no idea how to say, none the less spell. Something like Qui/e-chi…
Now, we are once again in transition. We have no idea where we are going, what we will be doing, nothing. However, each new surprise has been such a blessing in the end, so I suppose we will do what we are currently good at (well in the process of being good at): Sitting back and going with the flow.
Oh, and right before we left we gifted Pastor Luis and his family Q1500, which is almost $200 to put five of his kids through school for an entire year! It was awesome, so I just wanted to let all my supporters know that your money is being used for important things, more than just my travel, food and other necessities.
I miss you all dearly, and if I don’t know you, please sign up for my updates and if you want to e-mail me, my e-mail is: write me a comment :).
Look out for more blogs soon!
