For the better part of the week we spent time helping a local ministry in Chichicastenango (Chichi for short) called New Generation, led by a local Guatemalteco, Juan, and his family. Juan has started this ministry and local church plant (check out the FB page here!) and it was such a blessing to be able to spend time with him, get to know his heart for his country and his country's people, and to help him grow his ministry in Chichi and serve alongside him. God is doing big things with him and through him, and I'm excited to follow along his journey. And Lord willing, hopefully my path will cross again with Juan's and his ministry in Guatemala! Juan, mil gracias por la hospitalidad, la cortesía, y por compartir con nosotros tu pasión por los niños y la juventud, tu pasión por aprender y enseñar inglés a todos, y sobre todo por tu pasión de escuchar y seguir a Dios y el plan que tiene. Te deseo todo lo mejor y mucho ánimo. Tengo muchas ganas de ver cómo Dios va a trabajar a través de ti y espero poder ayudarte otra vez!
The week was jammed packed full of really awesome experiences. It's hard to pick one to start with first! There were so many moments that just made my heart so full so I'll mention a few and let the pictures do the rest of the talking!
FUTBOL!
I love sports, and I love that I can connect with people through sports. Give me a ball and I feel like I'm right at home. This week was filled with opportunities to play sports and I loved every second of it! Our first full day we had the opportunity to go and play at the main stadium in Chichi and spend time with two local teams. I also got the opportunity to do some translating here, and that was a really cool experience for me -- translating prayers into Spanish!
One of my favorite parts of this trip was the time we were able to spend in a local school. I've written before about the complete chaos that ensues at Guatemalan recess time, and it was an absolute joy to be able to experience that all over again. One of my most precious memories is time I spent playing soccer with two five-year-olds, Diego and Brian, as they were giving me all I could handle with this tiny soccer ball. The smiles and giggles that emerged out of these two as they countless times kicked the ball between my legs made this entire trip worth it for me.
We got to spend two days in the school - the first day spending time with the 10-year-olds and the second day with the 5-year-olds. We played tons of games with the kids, took tons of photos with the kids (special thanks to the selfie stick), and it made it all the more cooler that I could speak their language and just get to know them. Part of Juan's ministry is to teach the children the English language. Through this, the schools allow him to come into the classroom and by teaching English he is allowed to preach the gospel. How awesome is that! We got to be part of this, and it was an amazing experience.
I also got to play some 3-on-3 basketball with the local Chichi team. I can't imagine what was going through their heads as they saw this gringa walk onto the court LOL. While I wish I could say we went undefeated (sorry I'm not quite on this guy's level haha), we did win more than we lost and I had a blast the entire time.
Another really great experience we had was the day we got to go visit a nearby village a few minutes outside of Chichi. I've seen villages in the past, and whether in Mozambique, Niger, Haiti, Bolivia, etc. they all have this impact on you that you can't even begin to explain. I was excited to visit this village and meet all of the people because I knew the impact that past village visits have had on me and how God has used that to move in me. It's an indescribable feeling - trying to bring hope to someone who has no hope, to bring peace to someone who can't find peace, to bring joy to someone who doesn't have joy, and to give love to someone who thinks that love doesn't exist in their world anymore. But make no mistake, I'm not the supplier of any of those things. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Such freedom can only be found in one thing and one thing alone, and that is Jesus Christ. I was excited, anxious, nervous, and a whole bunch of other things about this village visit, mainly because I had decided to share my testimony for the very first time. As I started to prepare and think about what I was going to say, one thing was very clear to me and that was that I was to do this without any sort of notes in my hand. What I was going to say would come directly from the heart and the heart alone. We were initially told that between 15-30 people would show up at the village church upon our arrival. Well, God had other plans as probably about 100-150 people showed up to greet us. HELLO STAGE FRIGHT. The crowd ranged from toddlers to grandparents, and if I'm being completely honest it was straight up panic inside my head. Apparently the pastor of this church had made an announcement on the radio about our arrival and the entire village basically showed up! I don't normally have an issue with public speaking, but this was a total different animal to me for some reason. And then I was told that I would be speaking first.... say what! I wonder now what my composure looked like on the outside, because on the inside I was legit ready to run for the hills. But it was time to share my story. It was time to share how God has moved mountains in my life and how He has given me more peace and joy than I ever could have asked for. I never thought my story would be shared in front of 150 complete strangers, but when God says go, heck you just gotta go! It was like I was standing on the ledge of a cliff preparing myself to jump feet first. God gave me a nudge and I jumped. And as I jumped I was surprised to find that God had equipped me with a parachute that safely guided me to the bottom of the cliff. As I braced myself to take the "stage", Matthew 28:20 popped into my head --- And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. My testimony, my story, flowed out of me like nothing I've ever spoken before. What exactly I said seems like a blurred memory, but I know it came out exactly how it was meant to come out. God planted a seed somewhere that day through my testimony, and whether that seed was in me or someone else I likely won't ever know that answer, but I do know that that seed is going to grow and that's just amazing.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful time we had playing with the kids after the fact. These kids just made me laugh and made my heart so full. We also had an interesting ride to and from the village as we were literally standing, holding on, in the back of a pickup truck. So the natural thing to do was to take a selfie, with the selfie stick. The progression of photos that I currently have on my phone from this truck ride seriously make me laugh...
One afternoon our team leaders, Kacie and Gabe, handed us roughly $20 and sent two groups of us out into town to just "go and bless someone." It was our job to ask and listen to God to figure out how to make that happen. It was market day in Chichi so everyone was out and about and all the market stands were set up. We walked around for about 15 minutes before deciding to approach a couple of homeless men near the local church. One of our team members, Melvin, is from Guatemala and so naturally he did almost, if not all, of the talking during this hour and a half adventure. This one man in particular that we approached was in dire need of new shoes and so as we walked away we decided that was our best way to serve this man. Because they sell everything in these markets, literally EVERYTHING, we went and found some shoes, socks, and a few pieces of fruit to hand out. On the way back to this man we were approached by this girl, probably 10 or 11 years old, that had been trying to sell us things not only for the past half hour, but for the two previous days before this day. I have to admit, she was getting on my last nerve, and I straight up told her she was getting on my last nerve, but that didn't stop her from following us anyway. What happened next is a true testament of a Godly man extending love to the least of these. 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Melvin, querido Melvin, ya que somos buddies, I'm going to take these next few lines just to brag about how awesome you truly are. Melvin so kindly and gently approached about 5 or 6 people and just started talking with them and sharing food with them. Then he approached this one man. His shoes were practically in shreds. His clothes were all beat up. He wreaked of not having had a shower in a long time. He appeared to be a drunk. This man could barely form a sentence in Spanish. And as he sat there, hungry, helpless, hopeless, Melvin bent down, removed his old ragged shoes and started to put the new socks and shoes on. His feet were filthy, but Melvin proceeded. Melvin then convinced our pesky little follower to help out with the other foot and even she proceeded despite her own reluctance. As the group of us stood there watching Melvin put on this man's new shoes, I couldn't help but turn around and see almost half the town standing around and watching us. I've had my fair share of stares directed my way in my travels, but never to this extent. It was awkward and it was uncomfortable. My heart was hurting for this man and his circumstances. The smile on this man's face once his new shoes were on will forever be etched in my memory. We started to pray for this man, with Melvin translating into Spanish, and then this little girl translating the Spanish to the Mayan language this man spoke. Turns out, this little girl that I was itching to shake was one of the biggest blessings we ran across this day. I ended my prayer, but Melvin proceeded. He continued and tried to press on this man's heart that no matter our circumstances we are all children of God and He cares equally for all of us.
Che Melvin, me hiciste sonreír tanto este día. Estás caminando con Dios y espero que sigas caminando con El. La verdad es que me ha dado tanta felicidad conocerte. Esta experiencia fue una reflección del amor que vos tenés dentro de tu corazón a lo cual es una luz de que refleja el amor de Cristo. Tenés un regalo, no sólo a amar a cualquier persona, sino que relacionar a todos. Qué no permites a nadie decirte lo contrario. Sos fuerte, generoso, amable, y con Dios todo es posíble para ti.
I climbed a volcano....
And it was INTENSE. Actually, I'm not even sure intense is even the word haha. And to my friend Kelly Armstrong, if you're reading this, I met someone who knows you as I was climbing said volcano in Guatemala. Small world right?! So this volcano was about a two mile hike up and then another two miles down. To give you a better idea of the incline, it's been four days and my legs are still sore. I've had a lot of outdoor 'adventures' I'll call them in my travels, and this experience certainly ranks up there with the lot of them. We made it to the top of the volcano (not the very top in reality because it still is an active volcano, but the top region) and then we roasted marshmallows because, well, we could. It had been drizzling here and there before, but at this moment it started to downpour. Then the thunder came. Then the lightning came. And it seemed crazy close because we were way up in the sky, literally walking through clouds. Still pouring.... so we commenced our trek back down the mountain. Quite frankly, I was honestly entertained by this wild experience for the first probably 15 minutes back down (I'll chalk that adventurous spirit up to living in South America for 5 months once). And then everything seemed to turn into a huge mudslide and we were literally walking down these mud paths with streams of water rushing down. Did I say walking? I meant running. There was no walking. Thankfully, I got to latch onto our tour guide who had the best equilibrium I've ever seen in a person. I was slipping and sliding left and right and this man, God bless his soul, hung onto to me every time. Didn't fall once all two miles down what seemed like a river we were walking through. I think my arm was more sore than anything after the fact from clinging to this man so tightly. Thankfully we all made it down safely and in one piece. And truth be told, we were soaked from head to toe -- I don't think I even get that wet in the shower. And it was all awesome.
Old friends, new friends, amigos para siempre!
Chapina - My heart is so happy that you asked me to go to Guatemala with you, and it's even happier that I said yes! I loved spending this past week with you, and I'm so excited to see where our adventures lead us in the future. I loved watching you grow this past week, and I loved the hysterical conversations we had each night before bed. I loved watching you stand up in front of that church congregation and spill your heart out. I can't remember ever being so proud of a friend. I love that you inspired me to share my story after hearing yours. I loved watching your progression from Haiti to Guatemala, and I love how your heart loves children oh so much. Perhaps next trip, you won't have to turn the water on..... ;) Te re quiero amiga!
New friends - y'all are so talented and each have such special and unique gifts! I really enjoyed spending time with each of you and exploring Guatemala! I'm excited to watch God lead each of you along this path called life! Thanks for making the week awesome -- mad love!
Disclaimer - the selfie stick may or may not cause an excessive amount of selfie-taking.
It gave me so much pleasure and joy this past week to be thrown back into the Spanish culture. I didn't realize that it had almost been three years since I had the opportunity to speak Spanish on a daily basis. Those that know me know that I love foreign languages and have a desire to learn as many as I can, but there will always be something special about Spanish for me. For some reason or another, Spanish has always been a special passion of mine, and living within a Spanish culture and getting to connect with people who speak Spanish is just really special to me. I almost forgot how much I enjoyed it. This week served as a really awesome reminder of this. I'm really excited to see what opportunities will arise in the future to continue using my Spanish!
Although this trip was substantially different (in a good way!) from my trip to Haiti, the end result was equally as awesome. We had an awesome team leader in Haiti, and this time we were blessed with TWO awesome leaders. It was such a pleasure to get to do life with this team for a week. It was a joy to spend time with Juan helping him grow his ministry there. It was heartwarming to spend time with these beautiful children and families. It was amazing to visit this beautiful country again. And simply put, it was overwhelming to see how God works in such incredible ways.
Higher than the mountains that I face. Stronger than the power of the grave. Constant in the trial and the change. This one thing remains. Your love never fails and never gives up. It never runs out on me. Yes it overwhelms and satisfies my soul. And I'll never ever have to be afraid cause this one thing remains. Romans 8:38-39 all the way!
There's no cliffhanger this time folks ---- off to Cuba in August! No veo la hora!! Prayers appreciated yo. Gonna be awesome!
Un abrazo fuerte y hasta la próxima!
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