We have only 5 days left in Guatemala and month 1 of the world race is done. What have I been doing? Let me catch you up… It’s crazy that so many things can happen in such a short amount of time…
We have been working demolition every day for the past couple of weeks. Tearing down concrete pillars and walls and digging trenches to even make it down to the foundation of the stone walls. I, all of us, both Team Warrior Bride and Magnetic Light have had more blisters and scrapes and cuts and bruises than we could count. Both of our first aid kits had to be restocked yesyerday at the local pharmacy because all the band aids and antibiotic ointment and gauze was completely gone.
My legs have so many cuts I think it could rival my entire childhood worth of scrapes…
Yesterday was our last day. And we finished it. Every wall is down. Every block of concrete was moved. The trenches filled back in. How do I feel about it? Great. We cleared it out so that a newer and better and bigger foundation can be laid for a new retreat center for the church we’re working with. It wasn’t easy, but it was our ministry this month and we worked as unto the Lord and we had a good time doing it.
We’ve learned the ins and outs of Quiche. We’ve picked out our favorite cafes. We know how to get to the laundry mat and where the bus picks you up at. Tuk tuks are always fun and hanging out of the door of a public bus is common when there’s too many people on board… We’ve been living here. My K Squad family and I. Living in community is beautiful and sometimes chaffing.
What does living with 50 odd other people look like? It looks like someone else’s snot and tears on your sleeve after a worship session. It looks like loud laughter and freedom. It looks like conversations at any moment easily gliding from ice cream to the Holy Spirit to the condition of your heart. It looks like a laundry line full of wet pairs of chocos that you repeatedly walk under and hit your head on. It looks like never needing an alarm clock because people are always up and talking earlier than you. It looks like tent talk, flies, shared shampoo, lost clothes, and so on… And in my roughest, toughest moments thus far I would choose to be here than anywhere else in the world. And I’ve had a few rough spots! In fact it’s just now beginning to even out a bit… The Lord has been doing so much in me.
I was in my tent several nights ago when the Lord gave me a picture of a little baby duck breaking out of its egg. And I got the sense of everything I’ve been working through is not a breaking down but a breaking out into the new thing the Lord is calling me into. Then night before last we had communion and worship. Communion was especially touching to me because we did the best we could with this big pound cake thing and then when worship started I opened my eyes and looked up and our two Catholic girls, Jenny and Amber were kneeling in front of where we had stood to take communion and was reverentially, lovingly picking up every single crumb that had fallen from the bread we had used. It was worship to them and was such a beautiful offering.
Also during worship I saw this great and mighty wind coming straight towards me and I knew in my spirit that it was the Holy Spirit but it was coming with such force that it frightened me and I remember thinking, “This wind is going to shred me. There’s no way I’m going to stay in one piece when this goes through me. There’s no way I’m not going to be forever changed by this.” Then the next worship song started and the lyrics rang out, “Like a rushing wind, Jesus breathe within. Have your way, Lord have your way in me.”
Then I talked to my mom last night on the phone and she said that she had been praying for me every day and gotten the same words about a rushing wind and hadn’t known anything about what He was showing me until we talked that night.
He’s got me. And I’m doing my best to follow. I love you guys. Please keep my squad and I in your prayers. He is doing so much more than I can even comprehend.
Blessings and love,
Sarah
