My team has been plagued with “Only-One-Month-Left” syndrome. Home has been a huge topic of discussion as well as the countdown until we’re home again. I try to not take part in these conversations because I’m trying to stay present while I’m here, but it is incredibly tough when I miss home so much.
This brings me to the dream that I had the other night. I dreamt that I was on an airplane on my way from Guatemala to home and my mom is in the seat next to me (why she is there, I have no idea). It felt completely normal to be heading home. We leave the airplane and we go straight to her work so I can say hi to everyone there. They welcomed me home and then we went to my old workplace. I was surrounded by “Hi! How are you?! How was Guatemala?? When are you coming back to work??” This dream felt completely real. I literally felt like I was home seeing all of these familiar faces again.
I suddenly realized something. How did I get here? I don’t remember saying goodbye to everyone…I don’t remember crying when I left…Surely I’m going to cry. I don’t remember leaving Guatemala. I look at my mom and I say, “I’m sorry, mom…But I think this is a dream.”
A while later I woke up and I was pumped that I was still in Guatemala. All I could do was thank the Lord for that dream and that I was still here and I hadn’t just let this time slip through my fingers. That dream granted me a new outlook on this last month. I’m going to try my hardest to be present here and to enjoy each day and ministry while I still have the opportunity.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Please continue to pray for my team and I and that we will finish out our trip strong. Please pray that the countdown will disappear and that we will live for the moment and not what is down the road.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
This weekend we took a four day trip to Honduras! This trip served two purposes: to experience ministry in Honduras and to renew our visas. While there we visited elementary schools, about four different churches, and visited house-to-house praying, evangelizing, and inviting families to church. While we were there, we were told a lot of information that was incorrect; plans were constantly changing and we never knew what was going on.
One day we were broken into three groups and were sent to three different schools. I was told that each group would be hanging out with a different age group and that our group would be with really young kids. Since I was deemed the leader of my group, I put together a list of songs and skits that we could perform for the kids. Right before leaving to go to the school, I was told that we didn’t need to perform for the kids unless we wanted to; our time with them could look however we wanted.
When we arrived, there were a lot of kids of various age groups running around, but I didn’t think anything of it. I thought they would just walk us through the school to where the young kids were. As Julian and I were walking through the hallways we were praying that our time there would be successful and fruitful. As soon as Julian finished praying, he turns to me and says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we were performing for the whole school?” ......Famous last words. As we round the corner, we see ALL the kids waiting for us in their quad area. This is what we see.
I freaked out. This is not what I expected. This is not what I was told. What are we even supposed to do?! Julian prayed again that God would go before us and He most certainly did. The kids loved our songs and skits and were eager to participate when we offered to let them recreate the skits. What a great testament that there is nothing unexpected with God. He knew that we would be thrown a curveball and He prepared the kids’ hearts to receive us and our hearts to be flexible. He is always faithful.
One day we were broken into three groups and were sent to three different schools. I was told that each group would be hanging out with a different age group and that our group would be with really young kids. Since I was deemed the leader of my group, I put together a list of songs and skits that we could perform for the kids. Right before leaving to go to the school, I was told that we didn’t need to perform for the kids unless we wanted to; our time with them could look however we wanted.
When we arrived, there were a lot of kids of various age groups running around, but I didn’t think anything of it. I thought they would just walk us through the school to where the young kids were. As Julian and I were walking through the hallways we were praying that our time there would be successful and fruitful. As soon as Julian finished praying, he turns to me and says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we were performing for the whole school?” ......Famous last words. As we round the corner, we see ALL the kids waiting for us in their quad area. This is what we see.
I freaked out. This is not what I expected. This is not what I was told. What are we even supposed to do?! Julian prayed again that God would go before us and He most certainly did. The kids loved our songs and skits and were eager to participate when we offered to let them recreate the skits. What a great testament that there is nothing unexpected with God. He knew that we would be thrown a curveball and He prepared the kids’ hearts to receive us and our hearts to be flexible. He is always faithful.
So Many Churches, So Little Time
Before this trip, when I would ask what kind of church someone attends, I only thought of answers such as Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, Presbyterian and other answers of the sort. Little did I know that varieties of churches expand far beyond denomination. So I have decided to dedicate this blog to tell you about all of the different kinds of churches I have attended here in Guatemala (and in the last 4 days in Honduras).
We attend El Calvario on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, this church is like a lot of churches back at home (However, not air conditioned…) except for their worship. I feel as if this church plays the same three songs every week, but those songs are powerful (even though I don’t understand the words, I still love them too). This church has a stage where the band plays but then there is a shorter stage where at least half of the congregation runs up to just dance for the Lord during worship.
We once attended a Pentecostal church. What was really cool about that church was that it congregated in an old boat house on a dock. Many of the members even ride in canoes to attend the church. They were very conservative (The women had their heads covered the entire time) and the pastor was very welcoming.
Just last week we were a part of two services that took place on a soccer field (in the rain, mind you). I really enjoyed those because we made a lot of noise and that caused people to stop and listen.
A couple of Sundays we have visited the church in the MarBrissa Hotel. Wow. Air conditioning. Coffee. Worship music by Hillsong. Podcast sermons on a projector screen. It is the nicest looking church we have been to in Guatemala (but we all know that looks aren’t everything; this is merely an observation).
On the other side of the fence, we have also attended many churches that meet on house porches, in yards, and under shelters made of rusting metal.
My favorite church that we have been to was the Iglesia de Dios Adulam in Honduras. This church meets in a ‘panderia’…A bread shop. The pastor of this church, Pastor Marcial is so kind, caring, and hilarious. His family has a hand in all of the different ministries: His son David plays the piano and leads the worship band, his daughters Maryli and Sara are on their dance team (A wonderful group of dancers that dance as a part of worship), and his wife who is just simply wonderful and a mother to all. We only worked with this church for four days, but they really took us under their wing and we became very attached.
Over the past two months I have experienced a crazy amount of church styles and locations. What is awesome about these different churches is that they are all wonderful. They are all focused on Jesus. They are all working toward a common goal. They are all our family in Christ. I’m excited to see what other churches are out there.
We attend El Calvario on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, this church is like a lot of churches back at home (However, not air conditioned…) except for their worship. I feel as if this church plays the same three songs every week, but those songs are powerful (even though I don’t understand the words, I still love them too). This church has a stage where the band plays but then there is a shorter stage where at least half of the congregation runs up to just dance for the Lord during worship.
We once attended a Pentecostal church. What was really cool about that church was that it congregated in an old boat house on a dock. Many of the members even ride in canoes to attend the church. They were very conservative (The women had their heads covered the entire time) and the pastor was very welcoming.
Just last week we were a part of two services that took place on a soccer field (in the rain, mind you). I really enjoyed those because we made a lot of noise and that caused people to stop and listen.
A couple of Sundays we have visited the church in the MarBrissa Hotel. Wow. Air conditioning. Coffee. Worship music by Hillsong. Podcast sermons on a projector screen. It is the nicest looking church we have been to in Guatemala (but we all know that looks aren’t everything; this is merely an observation).
On the other side of the fence, we have also attended many churches that meet on house porches, in yards, and under shelters made of rusting metal.
My favorite church that we have been to was the Iglesia de Dios Adulam in Honduras. This church meets in a ‘panderia’…A bread shop. The pastor of this church, Pastor Marcial is so kind, caring, and hilarious. His family has a hand in all of the different ministries: His son David plays the piano and leads the worship band, his daughters Maryli and Sara are on their dance team (A wonderful group of dancers that dance as a part of worship), and his wife who is just simply wonderful and a mother to all. We only worked with this church for four days, but they really took us under their wing and we became very attached.
Over the past two months I have experienced a crazy amount of church styles and locations. What is awesome about these different churches is that they are all wonderful. They are all focused on Jesus. They are all working toward a common goal. They are all our family in Christ. I’m excited to see what other churches are out there.
Free Day Adventure
(Here I am with Sindy, our friend who works at Pollo Campero, Walker, Jeffrey our "Taxi Driver", and Joel.)There have been a lot of crazy stories from this trip to Guatemala, but the one from today’s free day was definitely up there in the rankings. This morning some of my teammates and I decided to have our clothes washed at a laundry mat (Or ‘lavandaria’ as they are called here) for a mid-trip deep cleaning. The way the lavandarias work is that you drop your laundry off, they wash, dry, and fold them, and then you pick them up later. So some of my teammates went to drop the clothes off and then others went to pick them up; I was with the latter group. So Walker, Joel, and I walked down to the main road to try to catch a taxi. Taxis are usually a dime-a-dozen around here, but tonight they were hard to come by. After several minutes, we saw an empty taxi and Joel asked if he would take us where we needed to go. The driver seemed a bit hesitant, but graciously accepted.
About a minute into our journey, our driver asks Joel, “Where are you from?” Whoa...Once you live in Guatemala, you never expect to hear English. So it turns out that our driver is this goofy, awesome guy named Jeffrey, who lived in Rhode Island for a while and knows some English. Then he drops this bomb on us: “You know…this isn’t my car. I’m borrowing this from my friend. I’m not working. I’m not a taxi driver.” Umm…What do you do with that information?!
So we make it to the lavandaria and the boys get out of the car without paying Jeffrey. I say, “Guys…we need to pay him.” But then Joel tells me that he’s going to wait for us and then take us back to the house. Our clothes weren’t quite ready, so we just sit there with Jeffrey chatting. We tell him how we are working with Shofar Ministries and he tells us about working in Rhode Island and how his family works in radio.
After we pick up our laundry and pack it in his car, we start to head toward the main street when Jeffrey turns around and says he’s going to take us to the beach (granted most of the “beaches” here don’t have sand…They are just rocks or concrete right up against the water). I got kind of concerned at this point; where is he really taking us? But Joel and Walker didn’t seem to be concerned so I just tried to enjoy the adventure. We went to a part of the beach that we have never been to and it was sunset and it was absolutely beautiful.
So, once again, we get back in the car and start to head back toward our house. On the way there, Jeffrey says, “I want coffee. You guys want coffee? Let’s get coffee.” Oh man, where is this guy taking us? Our next stop is a gas station. There we don’t buy gas or coffee, but instead we pick up Jeffrey’s friend Ronny.
Then all of us head to Pollo Campero (Kind of like a KFC…but not) where we all order stuff to eat and we end up talking for another hour. We ended up spending about 4 hours with Jeffrey. I have experienced a lot of crazy things here in Guatemala, but tonight takes the cake.
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