The Plague, the Lake and the Shepherd

• To think  I just met these people 2 months ago… and now we’re living together in the middle of Guatemala, fenced in to 2000 square feet of space. We step outside to volcanoes all around us and a busy road that we lawlessness cross everyday. Where we’re given what feels like Monopoly money (also known as quetzal) to spend on chicken bus rides and food. Then go to a job that is completely unpredictable. When we go to do house visits, we end up on the side of a mountain hiking a waterfall. Our life is surreal.

~Plagued~
Recently our squad has been plagued with mono… and no it’s not from kissing. Just living in tight quarters, you start share everything with everyone. But the Lord has taught me to slow down through it and humbled me in my inability. Sickness has definitely taken a toll on our squad from mono to salmonella to dengue fever. Safe to say it’s spiritual attack.

~Panajachel~
Nonetheless, the Lord has not failed to pour His blessings out on us. My team and the DOGS (disciples of God) went to the lake over the weekend. After a lengthy 2 hour drive we get to a house. A house?! Unfamiliar territory. Then within the span of 10 minutes I burned the stovetop, Malachi attempts to kill a scorpion with a fork and Banks tricks us into thinking there’s a bat in the house. Chaos has insued. Then the girls take over all the beds to make a mega bed. The next day we took a boat across the lake to an island that was like a mini paradise. We had some food that was good going in but not so good coming out if ya know what I mean. It may have given most of the boys food poisoning because there was a lot of throwing up the following night. But we got to swim in the lake and it’s was like the calm before the storm. We jumped off some rocks and it may or may not have taken me a good 15 minutes to talk myself into jumping the daunting height of 5 foot 3 inches. After that eventful day, we’ll you know what happens next… double rainbows all around. I guess rainbows come after storms…

~Divine Encounter~
Ministry is life and life is ministry. I’ve learned to step outside myself to seek out others on the day to day. So many times when I wouldn’t usually think to go out of my way to talk to a stranger, I’ve found myself having gospel conversations on the daily with people on the street. This particular instance we came across a drunk man on the ground. We prayed for him and stepped away in faith. Later we saw him again and this time he was hungry for more. Eventually, he came to clear conscience and asked to be baptized. So my team baptized him in the lake!

~Psalm 23~
In this, I noticed my heart for the body of Christ. As my team was talking to him, my desire was to pour into them so they could better pour into him. I think the Lord is calling me deeper into shepherding His people. He’s showing me that shepherds stand behind their sheep. Leadership has been redefined as meeting alongside people in order to walk them into righteousness. Pray the God would take me deeper into His love for His people and be my shepherd above all.