Goodbye Guate

Acatenango:
After packing 5 L of water and all the layers I own, we cram into a van to hike 8 hours up a volcano.

T-minus 8 hours:
I came into the whole thing pretty confident considering I’m from Colorado. It wasn’t even 30 minutes in when God told me it’s not about where I’m from, it’s about where He wants to take me. I was so concerned about how far I had come, that I missed how far God wanted to take me.

T-minus 6 hours:
We made our way to a restaurant where I had a busting (W squads word for good) burrito. Then made my way up these steep stairs and the only thing I could think was one foot in front of the other. Right. Left. Right. Left.

T-minus 4 hours:
My friends and I decide we’re gonna name ourselves after the ninja turtles. I’m Leo and still unsure why. Then we find this random dog following us. Every time we thought he was gone, he’d respawn like some kind of Minecraft dog. He proceeded to follow us all the way to the top of the volcano. That’s loyalty if I’ve ever seen it.

T-minus 2 hours:
I’d been counting down the time until the top and next thing I know it, we’re above the clouds. Suddenly, I realized that in pursuit of getting to the top, I missed what was right in front of me. A glimpse of His glory. Then we spent the night watching the volcano in front of us erupt, it was surreal.

Summit:
We woke up at the butt crack of dawn to summit. This was the hardest part for me because I got really nauseous. But let me tell you the view at the top made it so worth it. My suffering was incomparable to the suffering that Jesus endured for me. To think He looked at me in the same way and thought “that’s worth it”. The summit pointed to the sacrifice.

Thanksgiving:

It didn’t feel much like Thanksgiving because the weather first of all. We played a soccer tournament and my team nearly won. Never thought I’d say that. But then our squad put together a little dinner and served American foods. We had the Henini program group on base eat with us. This was ample time to practice my Spanish. Safe to say it was a really sweet holiday full of laughter and sweet company.

Last day of ministry:
On our last day the kids thanked us for being their teachers and prayed for us These kids that we’ve loved on, had showed their appreciation and I was in tears. I feel blessed to have had a ministry that was so hard saying goodbye to. Lose is evidence of love. Truthfully I’ve come well acquainted with the feeling of loss in my life and the Lord is showing me that that’s not such a bad thing. It’s better to be sad saying goodbye than to feel nothing at all.

House visits:
The Lord has taught me so much through house visits. To surrender my agenda and be ready to serve in whatever form that may take. The people of Guatemala have welcomed us into their homes and into their hearts. During my time in San Lorenzo, everyone I encountered had at least one major death in their family. A lot of the times it’s left old women to live alone. Some names to pray for: Paula, Maria, Cindy and Sandra.

Other ministries:
The Lord is so kind in His timing because our ministry ended sooner than anyone else’s so we served in other ministries. I had time to adjust and got to see what it was like to serve in other places. At Dar para Dar we installed windows after getting nearly crushed by them in the back of a pickup. We walked around town for some time and got to talking with a women in the Tienda. She was telling us how she hadn’t seen her husband in 24 years. He left for the US and never came back. That happens pretty often. It’s heartbreaking for the kids. At the house, kids as young as 4 years old working. We quickly got them to play, but there was one girl, Maribell, who insisted on working beside me. But finally she got comfortable enough to play with the other kids. She cried saying goodbye to me. But I know the Lord is not done with her. Every good work He starts He is faithful to complete.

The Lord revealed so much to me in my time in Guatemala. I’ll take tortilla making tips, choppy Spanish, calldo recipe and a heart of hospitality with me. Hopefully what was left is half as good as what I took away. Pray for deeper discipleship over this country. Onto the next… we’re going to Vietnam!!