On the way back from our jungle adventure to Chahal, we were still walking out the “live by faith” and allow God to lead our evening mindset. Marco had a few people he wanted to introduce us to, but before meeting them, we need to make a quick stop at the grocery store for fruit, water and of course, peanut butter. (side note: peanut butter is a missionary's best friend and is VERY hard to find outside the US. BUT since the grocery store in Coban is large and somewhat Americanized, we figured we would be able to find it).
After searching for a few minutes, we located the peanut butter aisle only to find that the one space on the shelf reserved for this delicious treat was empty! What a tragedy!! "I should start a peanut butter business here!" I joked with Marco. "ok," he said, "what do you need to make peanut butter? We could do that." (He later informed me that he has a friend who has a peanut farm)
Let me just give a little context here. Marco has been trying to get me to stay in Guatemala since we began our trek to the jungle. He had already extended at least a dozen serious invitations to me to stay and work with him. I told him that he better not make me that type of offer because I might be tempted to actually say yes. "wow" he would say, with a sneaky smile on his face. I can't quite explain the feeling I had, but it was as if Marco knew something I didn't. He could tell that I loved this country and was certainly encouraging this sense of call I was feeling.
After leaving the grocery store, still thinking about and joking about the peanut butter, we arrived at the Felipe's house. Felipe and his wife invited us in and we sat down in their living room as Marco started explaining to them what we were doing. Felipe then shared the the ministry he was involved in in Coban- with the homeless. Little did he know that I have a huge heart and love for the homeless. His church feeds the homeless every day at the Texaco gas station in the middle of Coban. There is a big, open area of land in which they are planning to to build public showers and eventually a large homeless shelter. Marco encouraged them to build the shelter in phases, just starting with a roof. "How do they plan to get money for the roof?" I asked Marco. Before he could answer, I looked at him and said "peanut butter." A sneaky, but awesome smile crept upon his face again and he just looked back at me and said, "You said it." That moment felt like a collision of emotion and I can't explain it, but I just started crying right there in Felipe, Marco and my teammates.
Bryan reminded me that we are able to best serve God where our passions/loves collide- in this case, peanut butter and homeless people. Who would have thought! We talked some more with Felipe and he told us it would cost about $3,000 to build a roof for the homeless shelter. Although I want to just stay in Guatemala right now and work with this group of people to build the shelter, I believe that in this season of my life, God has called me to the World Race. In the next few days, weeks and months I will be praying about ways to help this church get funding for this roof and also about the possibility of coming back to Guatemala after the Race. Who knows, maybe my peanut butter business will be able to fund the shelter! Crazy, i know. I wish I could adequately explain the feeling I got when I made the connection between peanut butter and serving the homeless. I think I could really be on to something. Please join me in praying about this and asking God what He wants to do with this crazy dream he has laid on my heart.
Here are just a few fun pics to show y'all why I love this country so much. Enjoy! 
Kaitlyn & I on our way to Coban
Still on our way to Coban- these people are hard workers!
Prayer meeting/ribbon cutting ceremony to bless Abelardo's new cardamom refining business (Abelardo is the one in the red and black shirt)
Typical Guatemalan breakfast/dinner- eggs, beans and tortillas
The beautiful waterfalls we jumped off of deep in the jungle of Chahal
