last thoughts on guatemala

 

i caught a glimpse of those words as an all too familiar sign flashed past for the last time. 

 

–

 

it was my last day in a random little farming village on the base of a volcano.

it was my last “¡hola!” with the lady at the local tienda,

my last attempt at tortilla making,

my last time watching the clouds roll in over the lush green hills, 

my last lunch with angel & elsa (my ministry hosts),

& my last few hugs goodbye. 

 

…it was my last day in calderas & i was a total wreck. 

 

that place + those people were my home away from home away from home & leaving them was hard. 

 

calderas is a place where the soccer field is five times the size it should be, 

a place where people welcome others into their homes with open arms,

& a place where children run around with confetti in their hair from all the carnival celebrations. 

 

but most of all calderas is a place of abounding hope. 

 

i saw 

lives saved,

bones healed,

& families restored 

all in the name of Jesus.

 

God is moving in that place & with Grace + Love is providing for every single need. 

 

–

 

…so as that sign flashed by for the last time, the words “Jehovah Jireh” stood out to me. i had passed that sign every single day for three months but for some reason the truth inscribed on them didn’t resonate with me until this last bus ride:

 

…a name and a truth that marked my time in guatemala. 

 

90% of my team’s ministry in guatemala was completely unplanned. we simply went to our village and asked the Lord what He wanted us to do that day. some days He would give us colors, names, or words to direct our steps and some days we just walked around until an opportunity presented itself. either way, God provided every single time. He would provide us with the words to say, places to go, people to meet, & all the physical + emotional strength we needed. He would provide for the people with displays of Love, words of Hope, & miracles of Truth. 

 

guatemala was a place where i saw God provide for myself, my teammates, and strangers. from comfort to peace or healing to freedom, He showed up time after time after time. the more we depended on Him, the more He provided whatever was needed. 

 

reaching that point of dependence was by no means easy, but by every means worth the cost. learning to depend on Him for strength meant admitting i didn’t have the energy to serve + love others alone. learning to depend on Him for direction meant sacrificing my own understanding. learning to depend on Him for the right words to say meant stepping out in boldness. LEARNING TO DEPEND ON HIM MEANT CONFESSING MY PRIDE SO THAT HE COULD PROVIDE. everyday of guatemala was waking up to unknown plans but a known truth that God would show up somehow- so that’s what we expected. and the funny thing about God is that when we wait with expectancy, He shows up. His abundant Grace & Love for us run so freely within Him that He cannot help but provide for His children. so why not wait with expectancy of His provision? HE IS JEHOVAH JIREH!!! the God who provides!!! and if guatemala taught me anything at all, it’s that depending on Him means waiting on Him to move and trusting that He will. 

 

 

^^the small dirt road village of calderas is a living testimony to the truth of that name. Jehovah Jireh is moving in that place and i am real grateful to have spent three months sowing & reaping seeds for the Kingdom there.

 

–

here are some pics from my time in guat!!

 

these are my ministry hosts angel and elsa. they constantly encouraged us and welcomed us into their home as if we were their own children. 

 

everyday we would visit the local tortilla shop for lunch. this is a picture of elsa trying to teach us how to make tortillas.

 

we hopped off the bus one day and immediately one of my teammates started talking to a man who was waiting for his bus. this man is oracio and we soon discovered him to be one of the most joyful humans any of us have ever met. he invited us over to his house where his family spent over three hours preparing a traditional guatemala meal for us. he continued to be a source of laughter and hospitality for the three months we spent in calderas. 

 

this is ruby, her goats, and her home. she lives in the outskirts of calderas along with her brother salmon. we met them during our last month of ministry and picked them up from their home everyday so that they could come to our english classes. 

 

this is ruth. she is a women of strength and hope. before we arrived in guatemala, she was bed-ridden due to a kidney disease. she could not walk and was in constant pain. the world race team that was in calderas before us would visit her and pray for her every single day. after three months of praying for ruth, she was finally healed on the team’s last time at ministry. AFTER MONTHS SHE WAS FINALLY ABLE TO WALK! so my team continued to visit her and encourage her for the three months we were in that town. whenever we would pray for her, she would thank God for His faithfulness and for His love. ruth is still sick, but her pain and health are doing much better than they once were. 

 

 

 

when we asked God what He wanted us to do one day, He said “follow the music”. so we did. we went to the first house we passed that was playing music. we knocked on the door and found a family washing the carrots they had harvested from their farm. we asked if we could help and spent the next three hours loving this family by helping them with their work. we visited this family many times after that day and they ended up being some of our closest friends in all of calderas. 

 

we held a beauty for ashes event! we wanted the women in our village to know how worthy, valued, and beautiful they all are. so we partnered with some professionals from the states and offered free hair cuts, makeovers, and nail treatments! providing these women with an opportunity to be pampered not only put smiles on their faces, but ours as well.

 

 

pretty sure calderas is home to the world’s largest soccer field.

 

savanna and cat teaching the older boys in the garage of our ministry host’s home.

 

 

 

pika pika! a carnival holiday during the month of february! people fill paper eggs with confetti or flour and smash them on the heads of other people. 

 

making tortillas is a loooonnnggg process. first the seed of the corn is sown. months pass until the corns is ready to be harvested. after harvest, the kernels are removed either by hand or machine. then the kernels are grounded and turned into powder. they then use this powder to make the base of the tortilla. this picture is me using a hand machine to dekernel corn.

 

we went on a prayer walk for ministry and came across this man. he was obviously very drunk but sat there in silence. one of my teammates felt convicted to go and buy some water and food for this man. after giving the water and food to the man, she asked if she could pray for him. he agreed. the second they laid hands on him the man began to sob. only God knows what was happening in this man’s heart but it was a blessing to be able to partner with God in this moment as we declared life + peace over him.

 

this is a pila! aka a guatemalan version of a washing machine! there is typically a basin of clean water next to a dry cement basin wear people scrub their clothes. this is a public pila located in the town closest to where my squad and i lived. we had a smaller version of this at our base so that we could hand wash our clothes. 

 

the main form of transportation in guatemala were chicken buses! chicken buses are brightly painted schools buses that ever so often do have actual chickens running around the small aisle ways. 

 

christmas family photo! 

 

the entire squad participated in secret santa. we all sat in a big circle on christmas morning and one by one opened our gift and tried to guess who was our secret santa. somehow my secret santa found a jar of nutella and this picture is me being real happy about it.

 

new years eve! we spent the night dancing under the stars until hundreds of fireworks went off at midnight. i also had salmonella due to some raw cookie dough i had earlier in the day and ended up having a pretty rough night after all the festivities.

 

the boys on my squad decorated the entire common room and surprised all the gals with a three course meal for valentine’s day.

 

i also got to see my mom after six months! she had the opportunity to join me for my last week of ministry in guatemala!