Hola from Santa Cruz, El Quiche, Guatemala! This month we are partnering with Agape In Action, an incredible ministry that serves the local hospital, school, and orphanage. We arrived in Guatemala last Sunday afternoon and then all 56 of us loaded up on vans and buses and began our trek from Guatemala City to Quiche. 5-6 hours later we made it to Agape in Action! Thank you Jesus for safe travels! What a wonderful day it was.
My team (Eshet Chayil) is partnering with another team (Team Manifest) and we are working in the preschool/daycare down the road. There are kids of all ages, ranging from infants all the way to 12-year-olds. It has been a great experience working with them and loving on the children.
In the morning, we help the teachers in the classrooms and then we move from there to lunch. During lunch, we are responsible for feeding 20 young tiny babies their food. What an experience! It is quite a sight to see having 20 infants tied to wooden highchairs with a piece of string (I know… American mothers **cough cough, Carrie** are probably cringing at how unsafe this is). We feed all the babies, pass out food to the older children, and then help the kids transition into nap time.
Yesterday, as I was moving one of the little babies from her highchair to her crib, I smelled an incredibly foul smell. As I placed her down, I noticed that the stench wasn't leaving and then I noticed one of the workers making a funny face and pointing at my arm. Yup, the little kid had pooped all over my arm. Gross. My teammate, Meredith, then did something so brave and reached down and picked the girl up and began cleaning her as I ran to the bathroom and tried to clean my own self up. Unfortunately as I was in the bathroom cleaning my arm, I heard a loud commotion and came to find out that the little girl's poop had gotten all over Meredith's shirt and pants! God has some pretty good humor and Meredith has an incredibly sweet spirit AND awesome poker face as she continued changing the girl without even batting an eye.
Thank you God for giving us grace enough to laugh it off and sweet school ladies who provided a new sweater and apron for Meredith. It's in these moments where I'm thankful that I know the Lord and that He has done a good work in my heart. I'm thankful that even though my flesh wanted to freak out and get upset about my arm being covered in a stranger's poop, God's Spirit interceded and provided laughter in place of anger. Thank you God for softening my heart and I pray that You will continue to soften my heart even more towards Your people.
