Eternally Focused

Week 2

That week there was a group from St. Paul’s Lutheran from Decauter, IL working in Gualan so we tagged along with them for a few days. They were building two houses and running a VBS in the afternoon for about 300 kids! After the group left, we were surprised with a trip to the zoo with our friend Nancy and her English students and also got to spend some time hanging out with some friends in La Fragua holding their cute babies! 

One of the houses  being built in Gualan was for Candida, a woman in her 80’s who lives with her daughter. She was so excited for her new home saying she had never imagined that she would actually receive a house like this. The other house was being built for Clara and her five children. One of my favorite things is getting to be a part of the joy filled celebration that comes along with a house dedication. Receiving a CALMS house has the potential to completely change a family’s life. On these special days, the room is filled with a sense of excitement and pure happiness. I love watching the faces of the owners as they cut the ribbon and unlock the door to a brand new home and a new life. 

Even more importantly though, these families are being shown the love of Jesus as the groups do their best to be His hands and feet. Could all of the Guatemalan workers do this themselves and probably be even more efficient than us Americans? Most likely. But if the money was just sent from the U.S. and no one came down to partner with them here to build, no relationships would be formed. I saw a quote the other day that said, “You may be the only Jesus someone ever sees.” You just don’t know how much someone has been exposed to Jesus so it’s important that we try our hardest to show people how much He truly loves them. We give our time and effort in hopes that people are able to at least grasp a bit of how much He really cares about them. The pastor at these dedications told the families not to thank the teams but to thank God primarily because He is the one that made this all possible. How crazy is it that He decides to connect us all in these awesome ways in which He allows us to be the answers to someone else’s prayers who lives thousands of miles away? He knows what we need and allows us to be involved in each other’s at just the right moment.

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless-cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything-encores to the end of time. 1 Peter 4:7-11

At VBS, we had the pleasure of meeting this woman, Pancha, who claims that she is 45. ;)

 Everyday she would walk up to each member of the group thanking them for being there, giving them God’s blessings, and telling us that she would see them in Heaven. She was persistent and unrelenting in her efforts to proclaim that Jesus was currently up there preparing a house for her and for the rest of us too. This woman was completely Heaven-minded which gave me the realization that I don’t live in that mindset at all, even though that’s exactly how we are commanded to live here on earth. In Colossians 3:2 it says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Philippians 3:20 says, “But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skills by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.” Pancha is convinced in her eternal home and lives her life based off of that hope. I realize that all too often I invest too much into my life here on earth which actually pretty dumb since this life is only temporary. Instead I should be keeping an eternal focus and living in a way that reflects that there is an eternal, perfect, home with Jesus open for anyone that knows Him. 

Candida and her new house

Candida and her family in front of her new house

Clara and her family at the house dedication with the group

Visiting friends in La Fragua

Surprise trip to the zoo with Nancy's students

Jumbled Thoughts from San Pablo

I can’t believe that it’s already been a week since we got here! I wasn’t really planning on blogging this summer but God is already doing some way cool things here and it just doesn’t seem right not to tell everyone about it. Don’t be expecting an award winning piece of writing these are just a few of my jumbled thoughts from my first week here.

Cassie and I arrived here last Saturday and as soon as we pulled into the boarding school, it immediately just felt like home again. We were talking about how incredibly different it felt than last year. A year ago at this point we were filled with so much uncertainty and fear which has now been replaced with excitement and relief to be back in a place we love.  

We were excited to hear that there was a group going to San Pablo this week and that we got to tag along with them. We were there for a week last summer and fell in love with the village and the people in it so we were eager to be reunited with them. One thing that amazed me this week was being able to witness the strength of relationships built in Christ. It is incredible to see the impact people can have on one another regardless of not seeing each other for a year or even speaking the same language. Though Cassie and I had only been there for a week last year, I was surprised how much it felt as if we had just seen the friends we made there and that we were able to pick up right where we left off. Opportunities were given to help make these relationships stronger and on a deeper level and these could only have happened with God. Kids came running over to us calling us by name (even if it was Jackie Chan) and greeted us with huge hugs everywhere we went.

I know that there is often a negative connotation that goes along with short-term mission trips and at times, I can understand why. However, when these trips are done right and those serving are doing it out of mutual respect and with a heart to follow wherever God is leading them, these trips can be life changing both for those coming to serve and those living in the community. I believe that some mission trips are done out of a desire to check serving off a list in order to make one feel like they have done their good for the week, month, or year, to provide a confidence boost in feeling as though they improved someone else’s life. However, coming to a community for a week and building a house, working in the schools, having a vbs, etc. then leaving without truly investing in the community is not beneficial. Though those are good things, they should be done in order to provide a means to spread God’s love and build relationships as that is the way to project real change. In working with CALMS, they ensure that you are working alongside of community members rather than doing things all yourself and leaving them with no means to continue once you leave. You work with those from the community, knowing that they have much to teach you.

Hales Corners (the church group this week) loves this community well and comes 3-4 times a year. On this particular trip, they provided a dental clinic, did some house visits, and had a vacation bible school in the afternoon for the kids. The people in the village know that they are loved and cared for by this church and because of it, lives are being changed on both ends. With God in the middle of it, we were able to clearly see Him working all around us this week.  Here are a few of my favorite God moments from the week:

VBS- We had about 100 kids show up for VBS this week. Every day we began by singing worship songs which was my favorite part. I just love seeing that innocent trust and faith of a child as they belt out the words while singing to Jesus. The fact that so many of them were participating in singing along just goes to show that they have been going to VBS and/or church long enough to actually learn something which gives me hope and fills me with joy. Kids truly are the future and investing in them is important. Building off a foundation of Christ and growing up in the faith gives them great potential in positively impacting their village in the future.

Every day at VBS it can be a little nuts because there are 100 excited kids at once in a small place. This would be the same with kids regardless of where you were in the world. Kids are kids and with that many, it tends to be a bit chaotic at times. Because they are constantly moving around and because more and more keep coming throughout the day, there is no easy way to get a count of how many are there in order to tell Nilss when he goes to buy the snack. Instead he just has to go with his best guess. On this particular day, I was helping to hand out the snack. We were getting close to running out but then as I got to the last child, I handed them the very last package of cookies. We had EXACTLY enough for every child. Though it may not sound like a big deal, I got chills right away when I realized this because it just shows that God is involved in every single detail of our lives, a fact I tend to forget. He loves his children so much that He cares down to the very last detail, even as small as ensuring that every child receives cookies. What’s even crazier is that this is not the first time I’ve seen this happen but the same thing happened in my trips to La Fragua several times. I guess you could call it a coincidence, but to see this very thing happen three different times seems to me to clearly be God’s hand at work.

House Visits-While on house visits, we would go into someone’s house, chat for a bit and get to know them better, ask if there was anything we could pray for with them, pray, read a bible verse and present them with a bible. We went to one house with a woman who said that her and her family had just started going to church recently. She asked for prayers that they would have strong faith as they continued to grow. When we gave her a bible, she was very grateful and excited. She said that ever since she has been going to church, she has been praying and asking God for a bible because she didn’t have one and He had answered that prayer in us. It’s pretty awesome to see God provide for us through one another. Once again, I am just blown away by the huge puzzle that is God’s plan and the way that we are all intertwined in order to complete it. His plan is WAY over my head but I’m thankful that He allows us to see little glimpses of tiny parts of it.

Those are only two of the many ways I saw God this week. Being removed from all of the daily distractions of being back home, it seems that my eyes can more obviously see Him everywhere and I love that about being here. It’s just what I needed. It’s exciting to see Him lead me and equip me whether that means giving me enough guts to help take out someone’s wisdom teeth or being able to somehow know enough Spanish with Cassie to translate on a house visit when our translator wasn’t there.

Being an American, I tend to want to see results right away and to get answers the second I have a question. One thing I often wonder is why God chose to bring me here this summer. There is nothing that I’m really adding that couldn’t continue without me, in fact a person that speaks Spanish fluently could be a lot more effective than I am on so many levels. But I think that through being here, being re-immersed into this much slower pace life and not having all the answers, God is forcing me to totally lean on Him. He’s also changing my perception of a mission trip as I learn more and more how it looks like to just BE rather than DO. Though I often feel like I’m not adding anything, I’m learning to be open and willing to serve in whatever opportunity I am presented with, which could be spending an entire afternoon just sitting and chatting with someone. I will never be able to see the entirety of what part I play in His plan but I do trust that for some reason, being here is at least aiding a little bit in completing that plan and by that, I’m humbled.

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence. Psalm 105:4

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2

Adventure is Out There!!

Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you’ll live as you were meant to live. Acts 16:31

“I don't always know where this life is going. I can't see the end of the road, but here is the great part: Courage is not about knowing the path. It is about taking the first step. It is about Peter getting out of the boat, stepping out onto the water with complete faith that Jesus will not let him drown.” -Katie Davis

Jesus said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat-I am.” Luke 9:23

God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but BOLD, and loving  and sensible. 2 Timothy 1:7

This past year I have spent a good amount of time praying about the future. (As a lot of people in their last year of college do) The past five years have been dedicated to preparing me to be ready for the future and somehow it got here so much faster than I anticipated it would. As a freshmen, looking to this time in my life I thought I’d have it all figured out by now. I’d graduate with my Masters in education, get a job, and start teaching. But it’s funny how God likes to throw loopholes into our plans. While I am absolutely loving student teaching and fully believe that this is the profession that God wants me to be in, lately I’ve felt a sense of discontent in the thought of starting that right away.  I can’t shake the feeling that instead God is leading me down a bit of a different path for now.                                                                          

 I have loved every second of college and if I really stop to think about how in a few months I won’t be in this place anymore surrounded by some of the people I love the most, I get close to having a bit of an emotional breakdown. I think that God has placed certain people into my life for a reason and given me experiences that have helped to draw me closer to Him and shape me little by little to be closer to the person that He has created me to be. He’s taken me places I never thought I’d go and given me chances to see Him do incredible things.                                                

 He got me out of my comfort zone when He called me to work my first summer away at camp in Indiana, teaching me that His plans far surpass those of my own. The next summer on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Heart Butte, Montana, He showed me that He will ALWAYS come through when I need Him, providing me with just what I need at just the right time. He gave me patience and wisdom beyond what I could fathom and provided me with a support system of a family on the rez when I needed one most being so far from my real family. In Guatemala, He reminded me that to fully trust Him means to actually give up my little sphere of control, completely surrender and believe that He’s got this covered. Then just when I was dumb enough to think He was taking a bit of a break in my life (because I was too blinded to see Him at work all around me, all the time), He decided He’d show up in some pretty big ways again. I’m thankful that I have a God who is willing to make His works obvious enough that no matter what, I can’t miss them because I can be pretty oblivious sometimes. Never would I have ever imagined that He’d allow me to be one of His instruments at the Crossing, getting the opportunity to love and serve His children alongside one of my best friends.                                                          

 Holy moly, it’s crazy to think that the Creator of the universe knows me intimately enough to know that one of the things I struggle with in my life the most is fully and completely trusting Him with every aspect of my life. And knowing this, He knows that unless I have opportunities to practice that trust ALL the time, I will lose it completely. So, instead He puts these crazy chances to trust Him in my life all the time, and then I fail at them, and then He STILL keeps giving them to me. So here’s the newest little trust exercise He’s decided to throw my way…I’M GOING TO AFRICA!                                                                                                                      

 I’ll be leaving next year, January 11, 2016 and will be staying for 6 months through a program called Immersion through Experience Mission. I will travel with a team of 7-14 people that are between the ages of 18-30 and our time will be split between South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia. While there I will be living with host families and working alongside already established service partners doing things such as working at a disabilities center, running vacation bible schools, helping out at the schools, and serving wherever needed. I’ve been told that I could be eating the same food day after day, sleeping on the floor on a mat, and bathing in the river. The scariest part is the thought of having to fit EVERYTHING for 6 months in one backpack…This alone seems nearly impossible since I do not have a history of being the lightest packer. But while all of this seems absolutely terrifying at times, I’m really pumped to see what God is going to do through it. He's never failed me yet so I know He won't now, somehow He's going to make me brave. I’m not going because the people there need me, because they definitely do not. In fact, I probably need them more than they need me. But I’m going because I think that God is going to use this to work in my life and grow my personal faith in amazing ways. The fact that while He is doing that, He will also choose to work through me to minister to the people there, blows my mind. I don’t deserve this opportunity to be His hands and feet because I can never possibly measure up but I know that regardless, He will use my insignificant self anyway and that alone is going to change me.        

I have also felt that God has placed it on my heart to return to Guatemala. He's doing big things there, His love is spreading like crazy, and I want to  be a part of it. Since St. Marks has such strong ties with CALMS (Central American Lutheran Mission Society) already and returns there twice a year, I feel like it is really beneficial to continue to invest in that country. I was very much blessed by my time there, having my faith greatly impacted by the friends I've made there and I want those relationships to continue to grow. Since I will not be leaving for Africa until next year, this means I will be free from May when I finish student teaching to January when I leave. So, I think I am going to return to Guatemala for the summer again!                                                                 

 I know that some people have trouble understanding foreign missions because there is so much work to be done right where we are and I completely agree with that 100%. But I also believe that God makes us all different, giving us different interests, passions, personalities, and dreams. And for some reason, He put in me a heart for missions. I think that He did this for a reason and because of it, I feel responsible to give it some attention, using the gifts He has given me to follow His purpose. There are ministries here at home that God has equipped others to do, that I could never do. It’s awesome to think about how intricately we are created to all work together to fulfill the ultimate plan of bringing the light of Jesus to this broken world. I have NO idea what I will possibly be contributing to that plan in Africa but I trust that He is going to use this experience for His good.                                                                                           

 Right now, it all just seems super far away so I don’t feel like it’s real but I know that it will be here soon enough. In the waiting, I know that I will have plenty of fears and doubts (in fact, they’ve already started creeping up) so I ask that you support me by praying for me, asking God to shower me with the confidence and peace that only He can give. I also pray that I don’t lose sight of all that He is doing around me while I’m still here, remembering that His timing is perfect. I am SO excited for this next adventure!!  

 

http://experiencemission.org/immersion/programdetails.asp?semesterid=8E276129-543E-4AFF-9CFF-F045EBD8B4F0

 

 

A Week in the Mountains

This past week Cassie and I went along with a group to La Avanzada, a village near La Union 2 hours away from here up in the mountains. This is the village that Cassie had gone to two years ago so she was super pumped to go back and see her kiddos and I was excited to go along, meet a new team, and visit a new village. Little did I know how amazing this week would turn out to be.

We went along with Divine Shepherd, a church that has been working in that village for the past four years. We were pretty excited to find out that it was a student trip so almost everyone that went was in college so it was a lot of fun to hang out with more people our age. We spent the week doing a variety of different things, some that we had planned on going into the trip and some that God revealed to us while we were there, sometimes hours or minutes before. I don't know how anyone could go there and doubt that God is alive and active as the results of His work are everywhere. God is working through Divine Shepherd to do some incredible things. God has worked through them in the past to teach the children the Gospel message through song, build strong relationships with community members, provide incaparina through sponserships, (a vitamin drink given students who may have nothing else to eat), and spread His word giving out Bibles. But God clearly isn't done there yet and while we were there, the leaders of CALMS and Divine Shepherd got to meet with the village leaders to plan for the future. The village leaders asked them to help them train others to lead a youth group, as investing in the youth is extremely important in this community in order to make changes. This was the idea of the community which means that they will be more invested and dedicated to make it work, they just need help getting started. What an awesome opportunity that has the potential to bring about such huge change for the better. 

The whole group

One of the things we did while there was visit the schools in the village. A long-term missionary there, Charles Cohen has been working in the schools teaching them through music. It was awesome to be able to praise God with them and to see the faith of a child as they sang and prayed. We colored with them, taught them some english words, did our best to read them bible story books in spanish, and just hung out with them trying to show God's love to them through giving them love and attention, high fives, smiles, and lots of hugs! As I watched the tiny preschoolers sing, I couldn't help but see their potential and think about what they could grow up to be. Through this foundation of faith God could be molding community leaders that could bring others to faith and help to cause radical changes in La Avanzada. Its amazing how both therapeutic and inspiring the joy and faith of a child can be. 

Another thing that we got to do was help to fulfill God's command of feeding the hungry as we got to take part in serving chicken soup to the community. While there an opportunity arose to finish constructing a stove so part of our group did that. During house visits, one of the groups visited an 86 year old woman named Felicita. They discovered that she has severe gangrene on her toe and has been living with the infection for months, no longer able to stand the pain. Our leaders felt the Holy Spirit move them to take action and were able to transport Felicita to Zacapa to get medical treatment. While there she found out that he toe needs to be amputated so please keep her in your prayers! Another opportunity we were given was to learn to make bread from some of the local ladies. It was a really great way to build relationships through doing something that is a part of their everyday lives and they were very patient even though I was struggling and dropped an entire roll on the ground, couldn't figure out how to knead it, and accidentally left several of my hairs in the dough for them to pick out. Afterwards, we got a chance to pray with them and later in the week we got to teach them how to make chocolate chip cookies.

Standing in line for soup

My favorite part of the trip was doing house visits. Miguel informed us that there are 110 houses in the village and that we were going to visit all of them which was pretty overwhelming, especially because these houses are not perfectly lined up in a neighborhood but spread out all over the mountain separated by dense jungle. The only way to go to some of these is tiny paths that are muddy and super slippery because of all of the rain. I couldn't believe how kind and welcoming everyone was to let us into their home. I would never let a bunch of foreigners into my house if they just showed up at my door at my house in the middle of nowhere. We gave each of them a picture frame with a picture and a bible verse inside, Romans 6:23. We would explain the verse and the picture and then pray with the family.

The absolute best thing ever was when we would be praying for them and they would be praying out loud at the same time in spanish. Most of the time they were thanking and praising God and sometimes thanking and praying for us. In those moments I felt the Holy Spirit and was blown away by the unity we shared being brothers and sisters in Christ. It was so encouraging to hear them praise God despite their circumstances. Many of their living conditions are unlike anything I've ever seen, houses made of mud, sticks, tarps, and corrugated rusty metal. None has electricity or running water and many were tucked away far in the mountains. I have no idea how they managed to even bring up materials there to build their houses. I was dead from walking up the path once and here they use it every single day to walk to school, carry laundry, or food, go to work, etc. But regardless of this, they were praising God for who He is and who we are in Him. All too often I find myself praising God because of all of the things He has blessed me with yet I forget to thank Him for the MOST important thing, which is sending His son to save us and for being all powerful and all knowing. On our last few house visits, a few little boys tagged along. During the prayer, we heard them talking and just as I looked up to shush them, I realized that their eyes were closed, their little foreheads furrowed and rather than talking they too were praying and repeating everything that the translator was saying in his prayer. The sight brought tears to my eyes.

On another note, we stayed at cement community building where we created a little camp inside setting up tents in order to keep the nasty bugs and massive moths out of our faces. For those of you that know me well you know that moths are in my top 5 list of things I hate most in this world so this was just one way that God decided to stretch me this week. However, it was actually a lot of fun staying in that building and roughing it a bit and being in such close proximity really created a community atmosphere. I was able to get to know everyone really well and immediately felt like I was part of the group because they were all so welcoming. I forgot that I hadn't known all of them more than a few days.

Home sweet home for the week

Another interesting aspect of the trip was getting to hold and make friends with some of the poor creatures that I would later consume for dinner. The first was a chicken that Miguel so kindly brought to our living site and proceeded to slaughter in the boys shower. That was an exciting evening to say the least. He made some chicken soup that was actually pretty delicious but I did avoid the heart, blood, and other various organs that were included. The second animal that I befriended was an armadillo. This one I was a little more hesitant about but when in Guatemala...! I felt so bad for it because the poor little thing was shaking when we held it, not a good way to enjoy your last few hours of life. I still can't believe I ate it, the thing I mostly struggled with was seeing it's scaly little feet and toenails sitting on the plate. But it really wasn't too bad, it kind of tasted like pork, not that this means I will be regularly eating armadillo from now on. Now, I'm just hoping signs of leprosy don't start to show up!

The week in La Avanzada was an experience unlike any other and I feel extremely blessed that God allowed me to be a part of it. I had been praying that I would more obviously see glimpses of God working here. Sometimes, I'm kind of dumb and miss seeing those unless they are right directly in front of me but God truly answered my prayer this week and allowed me to see so many instances that were no doubt examples of His love and power. As a fellow team member brought up in our last night of debriefing the greatest thing you can do is love, love God, love where you are at, love what He is doing, and love those around you. This week gave me a chance to really experience and learn that is the greatest commandment.

 In addition, I witnessed genuine joy in La Avanzada as well as in the rest of my time here in Guatemala. I've always considered myself to be a pretty joyful person but happiness and joy are different and my heart is not always as joyful as it should be. These people here possess true joy because they have found the most important place to invest all of their hope and trust in, which is God alone. All too often, we search for other places in our lives to place all our time, efforts, and emphasis on whether that be relationships, materialistic things, our dreams and goals, or even our families. And while those things are not bad things to invest in, I often forget to ultimately love and serve God above all else which is where you really find true joy.

Plans? What plans?

I realize I suck and it's been 2 weeks since I last blogged  but we got SUPER busy all of a sudden and also our internet has been a bit spotty lately. So, here's an update on what I've been up to!

Trip to Peten!

Carlo's brother lives in and owns an event center and restaurant in Peten which is a state 5 hours north of Zacapa. Nora didn't have to work for a week so they decided to take a trip there and Cassie and I got to tag along! While there, we got to visit Tikal the park where the Mayan ruins are which was incredible! The park is HUGE so we spent most of the day there and I was exhausted by the end of it. My legs hurt for like 4 days afterwards from all the walking so I think that's a pretty good sign I should probably start working out when I get back to school. We climbed 4 of the ruins and one of them was super high, even over the trees, so the view was beautiful with the clouds settling over the ruins. Being that I'm not the biggest fan of heights, I did my best to ignore the fact that I was a million feet in the air and the ledge  had no barrier on it. The ruins are spread out all throughout the park and have rainforest separating them so while in the park, we saw toucans, coatis which are like a weird racoonish animal with a long tail, and spider monkeys in the trees which I was pretty pumped about. Oh and we saw a tarantula while in peten which i was not quite as excited about.

The next day we got to go to Petencito which is a little zoo that has animals native to Guatemala in it. To get there we got to ride in a lancha, a typical guatemalan boat across the lake. The rest of our trip was spent hanging out with their family, relaxing by a pool in hammocks, and eating delicious food. Not too shabby for a mission trip! I also ate tepezcuintle. Look it up, its a nasty little rat looking thing. Im pretty proud of myself for eating it though and it was actually pretty tasty.

Teaching English

Last week we helped our friend Nancy, a 22 year old english teacher, with her english classes in a high school nearby. She has three classes and her students are really sweet and welcomed us with gifts they had made for us. They're also a blast. We played some english games with them which got pretty intense and competitive. At the end, I felt like a celebrity because they all wanted their pictures with us on their cameras, not that they are anything to treasure considering I was sweating gallons and was not looking in tip-top shape. We also played some fun games that Nancy taught us, for example tie a string to the bottom of a balloon and light it on fire then pass it between your students while they try to say a word that starts with another letter in english. I'm not sure this will fly in my future classroom at home but it was definitely exciting!

We've gotten pretty close with Nancy and it's really nice to have a friend from here that's my age. After class she invited us to go to some natural pools with her and her students. We spent a few hours swimming, hanging out with students, and eating pizza.

Mari's Family

On Friday night, we spent the night at Mari's house, a woman we met at church who has a family that needs to practice english. We ate dinner with the fam, then played games with the sons. Scattergories in spanish is quite a challenge. The next day they took us to the river which had waterfalls. Cassie is a little explorer woman and wanted to climb through all of the rocks down the river so of course I had to join her. It was super nice of them to invite us to spend time with them, hopefully they got some english practice out of it! 

El Maguey

We have also gotten to tag along with Carla, the english teacher and CALMS worker, to a VBS that she does each week in the village that she grew up in. Carla is amazing and someone that I really admire. She has  a selfless heart and such a gift for working with children. The kids in her village are full of energy and a lot of fun. At the beginning of each class they sing a bunch of praise songs which is my favorite part. They all belt them out and give it all they got with the motions. Then Carla reads a story from the bible, asks them questions about it, and then they make some kind of project. It's great to watch such passion for God coming from such tiny, innocent, faces. 

San Pablo

Since Sunday we have been working in the village of San Pablo with a group that is here from Wisconsin. They are running a medical clinic all day, building a house, and also doing a VBS in the afternoon. I have been helping at the clinic, holding as many babies as possible, translating the basic words I can, taking weights, taking pictures and printing them for families, and helping out wherever possible. There is such a big need there and on Monday 91 people came through the clinic! It's been a really great experience since I've never done anything like this before. At the clinic yesterday I met a 5 year old little girl named Maoli who nearly instantly became my little shadow. She's the most adorable child ever and giggles about everything, not to mention she's super expressive and sassy. She stuck around the clinic all day and became a helper delivering pictures to people in the waiting room after I printed them. I talked to her mom for awhile and met her brother and little sister who is about 2. They were there because her little sister has a horrible rash which we were later informed could possibly be scabies. This is after I've been holding her all day so I'm praying and trusting God to take care of me! Today we had 75 kids show up to VBS and it was a bit controlled chaos but really ran pretty smoothly. I can't get over the amount of precious kids that are here, it will never get old. 

Life here has been busy but so good! I had been asking God to show me exactly where He wants me, providing a sense of direction for us while we're here and boy, has He come through! I never really know what's going on and as soon as I think I have a good idea of my plans for the day or week, something completely changes and I'm once again left in the dark. But not really, this uncertainty and flexibility has allowed me to clearly see EXACTLY what God wants me to be doing day by day and I truly feel like He is holding my hand throughout this whole experience. Though I may not always see huge miraculous moments, I see glimpses of God here every single day. He is surrounding me, I just need to open my eyes and look. It has been through the the joy of a child, the beauty of clouds settling over the mountains, the generosity and love of those around me, and the encouragement and support I receive from Cassie and those at home. I am so thankful for my time here and pray that God teaches me a lot through this. 

Please continue to keep Cassie and I in your prayers. Pray for health and safety of the group that we are working with this week and those that they will be serving in the community. Also pray for safe travels as we go with  a group to spend a week in La Avanzada starting Thursday and that we are able to point others to Christ.

Muchas sorpresas

The past week has been filled with muchas sorpresas! (many surprises) as a lot of things have popped up along the way that Cassie and I had not expected.

On Sunday we went to church in Zacapa with the family that we are staying with. Although I didn't understand much of the sermon at all, I did recognize several of the hymns. At the end of the service the pastor had Cassie and I stand up as he introduced us to the congregation. The people in the congregation are so sweet and were all coming up afterwards to welcome us and give us hugs. We found Carla, the english teacher at the school where we will help at because we wanted to find out what times she has classes. She asked us about our daily schedule where we responded by telling her that so far we don't really have one and that our day consists of hanging out with the students and giving informal english lessons. Carlos and Nora (our hosts) came over and the three of them began talking about what to do with us. During this, Cassie and I were only catching a few words here and there, waiting for them to tell us what we are going to do. Another woman walked up and started gesturing towards us and talking to Carlos. Turns out her and her family are trying to learn english and she was asking if we could stay with her for a few days so we could practice spanish and they could practice english. She also asked us if we brought tennis shoes and mentioned something about working out though we had no idea what that really consisted of. Anyway, Carla was super helpful and we left the conversation with more of a concrete plan of what our week will look like and the new-found knowledge that we were leaving to go to Guatemala City later that day to stay the night, that we were going to work out with that woman on Monday when we returned, Thursday we would go with Carla to her Village to help with a class, and that at some point in the week we will be doing a VBS type thing with the kids in La Fragua.

After church we packed up the truck and left for Guatemala City. With Carlos driving, the trip only took 2 hours when it usually takes 4 from the airport, so I'm not exactly sure how that happened. We went shopping with them to pick up various things that they needed from a Guatemalan Costco and the mall and then stayed overnight at Carlos' brothers house because it is empty. Cassie and I are happy because we've finally secured our friendship with their adorable grandsons who are 2 and 5 years old. At first the 2 year old was terrified of us but now he wants to play with us all of the time. When we woke up the next day we were told that there was an earthquake during the night but unfortunately we had slept right through it and had no idea. The actual earthquake took place near Mexico, so there was no damage around us but apparently we would have felt tremors had we been awake.  After breakfast at McDonalds, they took us to the city center where we got to walk around a bit, see the beautiful city, and feed some pigeons. While in the city, Cassie and I enjoyed playing a new game similar to Where's Waldo? called Where are the white people? However, we were not successful at it so we had to change it to Where are the Non-Hispanics? For awhile we had found about 2 but then I ended up winning when I found a mission group walking around. The trip was a lot of fun and we got to spend a lot of time getting to know Carlos and Nora better.

Later that day when we got back to Zacapa, we went with the woman who we found out is named Mari and she took us to a sports complex where we waked around the track with her and talked for awhile. Like us with spanish, she can understand a fairly good amount of english but just needs practice in conversation. When we were done we got in her car thinking we were going back to the school and ended up at her mom's house to meet her family and then found ourselves at her house. We talked some more, finding out more about each other and then ate dinner with her and her family.

Today we thought that we were going to help with english classes at the high school in the afternoon but when we arrived we discovered that there were no classes going on today because the world cup game was on. So, we watched the game with all of the students and then the rest of the day was spent hanging out around the school. Tomorrow we are going to help Carla teach english in the morning at the elementary school then Thurs afternoon, we're going to her village with her to work with more kids. It sounds like on Friday, we may be leaving for Peten, a city about 5 hours away that is a tourist location where there are Mayan Ruins and where Carlos' brother owns a resort that we will stay at. Obviously, I'm pretty pumped for that trip and hope that ends up working out.

Once again, we haven't had a chance  to really work with the students much yet, other than just hanging out with them. At times I have felt like we aren't doing much and wonder how God is going to work through this to bring more people closer to him. However, I need to do my best to quickly push these thoughts out of my head because by doing this, I'm putting him in a box and doubting his abilities, which is absurd. When reading my bible today I came across several verses that really brought this point to light.

Saving is all God's idea, and all his work. All we do it trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! Ephesians 2:8-9

Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills with light. Matthew 6:22

Be content with obscurity, like Christ. Colossians 3:4

God doesn't NEED me to do anything and I don't NEED to know everything. He has given me this opportunity for a reason and will choose to use me how He wants. The results and effects of my actions may not be obvious to me but that doesn't mean I shouldn't trust that He is strong, His ways are good, and He has it all under control. He is alive and therefore always active so I need to trust that He is at work even when I can't see it immediately. His plan is so much bigger than I could ever even comprehend and if He uses me for even a small part of it, that should be enough for me.

Ps. We've been hearing noises at night that we were terrified were mice. Turns out, they're geckos! Who knew geckos even made noises!?

I held a duck!

We are safe and sound in Zacapa!! On Wednesday I flew to Houston, met Cassie there and then it was on to Guatemala City. As we flew over the mountains, it was hard to believe that all the months of anticipation were coming to an end and there was no turning back now! Out first mini-adventure was trying to find our luggage. We waited at one  baggage claim for at least 15 minutes until we realized that we had watched the same bags go around about 3 times without seeing ours. We figured this would be a good time to ask where the bags were coming from so Cassie asked a man that worked at the airport and he responded with "America." Well that was a bit more broad than we hoped for so we wandered around until we found another one where our bags were, thank goodness. After customs, we headed outside to the mass of people waiting outside of the airport. We were slightly nervous about knowing where to go since we didn't know who was picking us up but luckily I saw Ramiro's friendly face in the crowd waiting for us. After loading up the van, we stopped for lunch at pollo campero where we did our best to make conversation with the three Guatemalan men who speak pretty much no english. Cassie and I were fascinated by a purple drink we kept seeing at the restaurant thinking it was something exotic and Guatemalan only to find out it was normal grape soda. The men were very confused as to why we kept asking about it, only the first of many times that we've been laughed at. 

We started out on the 4 hour journey to the Zacapa. Just riding in a van is a bit of a thrill here as traffic rules are an arbitrary idea. Surprisingly by the end of the trip I was getting used to our driver was passing cars on curves while driving up a mountain. Not to mention, seatbelts are apparently not important here. When putting mine on yesterday, Nilss said, "Yackie, you do not need to wear a seatbelt, you are in Guatemala!" After stopping a couple times for Ramiro to go to the bank and then buy some corn on the cob at the side of the road to chomp on as a roadtrip snack, we pulled into Zacapa. We were greeted by our hosts, Carlos and Nora who are in charge of the school. We dropped off our luggage then headed with them right away to the hotel to bring dinner to a mission group staying there. We had dinner and visited with the group who were super friendly and welcoming to us. They are from Kansas and I was surprised to find out that we had some mutual friends. After dinner, we went back to the school and Nilss, our translator that we had on spring break stopped by to say hello and invite us to go with him and the group the next day which we were excited to have the chance to tag along. After that we were shown to our room and went right to sleep, exhausted from a day of traveling. Our room is actually pretty big and we have our own bathroom, I'll put up pictures later. Though we don't have air conditioning, it's really not as bad as I would have expected but it will take some getting used to. 

The next morning we slept through breakfast, explored the school a bit, practiced our tortilla making skills (we will need A LOT of practice) and then went with Carlos to the hotel to deliver lunch. After lunch we went with the other group to the village where they have been working all week and we got to help with VBS. We were welcomed with endless hugs and smiles from all of the precious little faces of the kids excited for another day of VBS. Cassie and I were pretty pumped that there were lots of babies to hold.

After VBS we got to go with the group to the house dedication service for the family that they had build the house for all week. The group built for an elderly couple who were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. I felt blessed to be able to witness them receiving their home and to see the amazing relationships built between them and the group from Kansas. It's amazing to see what strong bonds can come out of only one week. It was a good reminder that God is doing big things here and is working through all kinds of people to show his love. St. Marks is just one of the many tools that he is using here in Guatemala. It is an awesome feeling knowing that brothers and sisters in Christ all over the place are working together for his glory.  

Everyone here is incredibly welcoming and kind to us, going out of their way to make this feel like home as much as possible. Last night we spent a lot of time talking to some of the high school students that live here at the boarding school. It was fun to start to get to know them and they were all super friendly and patient with our slow and broken spanish. I pray that these relationships continue to build. I've also had many encounters with my friend, Santos who I met on our previous trip. Yesterday we had about a 20 minute conversation where basically all I got from it was that he was going to bring food to the hotel. About 50% of our conversations with each other are laughing at each other, 30% of it is spent being confused, and 20% is actually understanding. But even with that I'm surprised at how much we can communicate anyway through the few words we know and lots of gesturing. I may become a pretty skilled actress after this summer! 

Though this is only our 3rd day here, it already feels like much longer. The country of Guatemala is breathtaking and the people are beautiful in every way possible. So far we are doing our best to fully embrace Guatemala, with the laid back lifestlye, no emphasis placed on the concept of time, and living by the motto, "No problemo!" I think that Americans have a lot to learn from the Guatemalans, to learn to treasure what is important and not rush so quickly through life that you miss some incredible moments. For Cassie and I some of those moments are super exciting to us and normal life for those living here, for example, holding a wild duck, riding in the back of the pick-up through town, making tortillas, and watching iguanas around the school. I'm not sure exactly what God has in store for us yet, right now we're just hanging out and getting our bearings but I know that I wouldn't be here if He didn't have something up His sleeve!