Ministry Weekends

For the past two weekends, Discover in their two teams: H'onward {honestly awkward} and iPoc {in Pursuit of Christ} have done 'ministry weekends'. Ministry Weekends give us the opportunity to live in host families and work alongside a local church. Both weekends have proved to be extremely valuable.

I had been feeling confused as to why exactly I was in Guatemala, what purpose it held. We had been doing a lot of learning about the culture here and not much ‘serving’. My view of what ‘serving’ is was different from what we were doing. Time after time I said I wanted to ‘get dirty’. In my journal February 1^st I wrote that I had been wanting to :

see poverty

smell hopelessness

touch brokenness : people and objects

provide smiles

offer a hand to : touch, play, express, and pray

listen to pasts, presents and potential futures

experience another’s life

LOVE

While living with my wonderful host family I have had the opportunity to truly live life alongside a Guatemalan family. From the time my host mom picked me up at the church and those initial moments walking down the path to her house my previous feelings of dIsConTenTmenT started to evaporated. As my pumas got dusty, the smell of tortillas filled my nose and while my hands got dirty with tamale ingredients a smile crossed my face and a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment was in my heart.

Through the last two weekends I have enjoyed my time living with this family and have begun to learn just how well off I have it. Through broken Spanish, I’m learning the family; their ways, their lives, their pasts. Hopefully in the next two weekends we will continue to go deeper in our relationship.

‘If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.’

-John 15:7

For the first part of February I was upset, discontent and generally didn’t talk to God, but rather at God. I told him numerous times what I really wanted and although I wasn’t faithful in my discontentment and anger, He was. How faithful and loving a God we serve who gives your desires to you, even when you weren’t faithful? Lesson learned. Abide in him for He is faithful.

Updates, updates, updates

Discover has been immensely busy in the past weeks with many new adventures starting and others wrapping up. In the last week I have:

returned from a weekend road trip to El Salvador

finished Spanish Language School,

lived with Host Families,

moved from Antigua to Chimaltenango,

went camping in Chichicostenago

{and here went Splunking, crazy swinging, and marvelled at the vastness of God}

learned about Mayan cultures and customs,

did some shopping in all these places,

and overall have barely had a second to breathe.

My road trip to El Salvador went very well; it was a lot of driving, however this provided ample time to chat it up with some interns and directions. This conversations where very thought-provoking and needed. I was able to connect with the man (and his family) from the foundation that my team will be partnered with when we do our practicum in March/April. What the foundation and what he is doing is wonderful and their base is working with kids. When I heard this I was super excited. They start with the kids then they work their ways into the family then eventually into the community. I am excited to do our practicum here; there are a lot of lessons we can learn from the foundation.

Spanish School finished on Thursday with a written and oral exam, which I believe went well. I haven't got my marks back yet, but I felt confident about how I did. Spanish is coming along ever so slowly but surely. Just need to memorize and keep repeating the verbs. Spanish has tons and tons of verbs.

This last weekend, Discover went CAMPING. Yes, camping in Guatemala. It was slightly chilly time, but a time where we could relax. Take pictures, swing, and go on the zip line or splunking. Some of the camp stuff guided us through a sweet cave, where we only had a few flashlights and torches. This weekend gave Discover some time just to relax and have some fun.

It feels like we have been on the go for quite some time now. Today we had a bit of a day off so we feel more prepared for the week. The next coming weeks are said to be busier than the last few so we will just keeping plugging along; eating beans, getting full nights sleeps, eating rice and practicing our Spanish. : )

EL SALVADOR

Today I am heading out to El Salvador on a two day trip. In Discover this is known as the RECON trip (Research, evaluate, conversational, observe, numbers). It is a time where one person from each team (+interns/directors) go scope out the practicum areas in El. Salvador. I was picked from our team to go. I will meet the people in our practicum areas, ask many many questions and help my team prepare for practicum in April. Pray that God helps me ask the questions that need to be asked so my team can do their best and that he keeps us safe while driving. I am very excited to go experience a bit of El Sal and meet new people! Adios!