Journal

Coming into the last week of our time in Guatemala our team as a whole prayed that The Lord would lead us into more than we could ever imagine. We had asked The Lord to give us what we needed to finish strong. Wednesday morning rolled around and we began at 9:30 am with the task ahead being evangelism for the prostitutes living and working in the local bars and brothels. We walked down the street towards the hub of the area surrounded by the fumes of the city while the sun beat down relentlessly on our skin- we marched to the trenches. We split into groups of five to cover a larger area and entered into the first few places armed with the words of The Lord and covered with the protection of the Holy Spirit. The first girls we spoke to were very closed off and hard hearted (which was no …

In less than two days I will be leaving Puerto Barrios, Guatemala to start my journey home. My two months is almost over. Part of me is excited and ready to go home, the other part of me is not ready to leave all the wonderful people I have met. I have learned so much here in Guatemala, about myself, about God, and about random other things. It would take days to share everything I have learned (and a longer blog post than anyone wants to read), so I am going to share just a few things that Guatemala has taught me and a few things that God has taught me.      Things I have learned in Guatemala   1. I don’t like humidity and I burn very easily and badly in it. Also, sunburns can blister, and it is gross.   2. Public transportation is not scary. I love taki…

A few days ago, I held a tarantula: a real live, palm-sized, poisonous, hairy tarantula. As my team and I hiked through the ancient Mayan ruins on our free day last Monday, we came across this little Guatemalan man casually taking his pet tarantula for a stroll. He asked our group if anyone wanted to hold it, but warned us that if the tarantula felt our blood pressure spike from fear, it may bite! So naturally, I grabbed the tarantula right out of his hands without a second thought. As the little monster began spinning a web between my fingers, I though to myself, “if I was scared right now, I could be dead.” But for some reason, I wasn’t scared. You may be thinking of how reckless and foolish I am for imposing this death sentence upon myself (I prefer to call it brave…

Matthew 18:3-4 And He said, “Truly I say to you unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.   The kingdom of heaven is for people who humble themselves and become like children. But what does it actually mean to become like a child? How do I have child-like faith?   I came into this trip with a lot of doubts. Right away from training camp, I saw how my team was very Spirit lead. The very first question that was asked of me was ¨what are your spiritual gifts? ¨ I had no idea. I always knew that the Holy Spirit was in my life, but I hadn´t known what it meant to be led by Him every day. At first, I thought God was sile…

I have been inspired, I have been challenged and I have been loved because of one man’s story. I hope that you will be touched just like I was, if not more. Before I begin, take a minute to ponder about what the phrase “love each other well” means for your life.   It was a typical Thursday afternoon here in Guatemala which means heading to the garbage dump to serve lunch and love the people that live there. When I arrived, I began to look around and wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go or what exactly I should do. I began to pray and I asked God to reveal where I needed to go and who I needed to talk to. He sent me to Geranimo Marcos, a precious 74 year old man who had an amazing story to tell and a heart that loved the Lord.   I sat down in his shack that overlooked the…

Some of the team mates and I came up with this list over the last few weeks:   You know you’re a missionary in Guatemala when.. You can count the number of showers you’ve had in the last month on one hand You’re unrecognizable with makeup on You wear cargo shorts more than should ever be fashionably acceptable Wearing the same shirt four days in a row is normal Face sweat is a daily struggle – starting the second you roll out of bed You always hurry up to get somewhere and then wait for the locals to be “fashionably” an hour late Your mode of transportation doesn’t include seats or seat belts – and you’ve made squeezing 25 people into an 8 passenger van an art Not shaving for weeks is just fine Your water bottle is an exten…

Friday i went to an orphanage for the first time. Before we left i wasn’t excited. On the way there i wasn’t excited. While we were waiting for the kids to come play i wasn’t excited. i was tired and impatient and not in the mood for cranky kids to crawl all over me. Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t work according to the mood of a tired, nineteen year old missionary (you should all be thankful for that, really). We were sitting outside, waiting, my team talking and laughing and making jokes as always. Questions such as “Why did we just come to wait around?” and “If they didn’t need all of us, why did we all come?” arose in my mind and i quickly prayed for a changed heart, asking for a new perspective on why we were there and what we were d…

God is doing crazy and insane things in Guatemala and I am absolutely in awe of how He is moving and working. He is capable of so much more than anything I could have ever imagined and I am watching Him work in mind blowing ways.   I was given the opportunity to visit the sweetest and sassiest woman at the hospital a week or so ago. My team had originally met her at the nursing home the week before, but she had an allergic reaction and became very sick and was taken to the hospital.   I am one of the few people who speak Spanish on our team and was asked to go with three other people to translate for them on this visit. I agreed but was very hesitant at the time. As we began our walk to this unknown hospital, I began to ask the Lord to provide me with words to say because …

Over the fourth of July weekend, when our family was home cooking hotdogs and having barbeques, we had an adventure all our own. We spent our weekend in Livingston, a little island community about an hour boat ride away. From the moment we set our feet on the dock, it was one surprise after another. We walked in a parade, performed at a church, baptized one of our team members in the ocean, and rode in a speedboat over the caribbean. The Lord blessed us with big beautiful adventures, but the most impactful was when we met Jesus in a little shack.  Her name is Justine, she lives in a one room shack complete with a bed and one plastic chair. She has one foot, and a roof that leaks. Other teams have been visiting for years, pursuing her and blessing her. When it was time for us to hu…

Here is a quick picture of what a typical day in Guatemala might look like: 1. A torrential downpour that can last for up to an hour and result in being completely drenched. 2. Losing power at random times and then not knowing when it will come back on again. A great time to get out the headlight! 3. Only being able to drink purified water because we are in a third world country and would be super sick if we drank anything else. 4. Drinking out of plastic bags that you bite the end of off and generally end up spilling all over yourself at some point. 5. Freezing cold showers that take your breath away and you only get to take every few days. 6. Petunia, oh petunia….this is our method of transportation. An eight passenger van that we cram 30 people in and literally sit on top …