Hello friends!
Not so long this time since I posted my last blog. Lol
This is part 2 of my time in Guatemala last September.
Something so evident in my teammates in Guatemala was God’s joy. We had plenty of serious conversations. We walked through healing and were vulnerable with each other. It seemed that whenever we weren’t having these serious conversations, though, we were laughing. So much laughter. I don’t remember laughing that much in a really long time. Even in the quiet moments where we weren’t doing much, there was so much peace and joy.
After we all arrived at the airport September 17, we had lunch and got settled into our rooms. We talked about what the week would mostly look like.
September 18, we went to church. It was an English service and it was miracle Sunday. It was crazy and surreal, but so neat to be in a different country and be able to understand most of it. (They did some Spanish worship.) My heart connected more to my teammates and the Guatemalans every time we worshipped— and we did a lot of that! That day, we also did souvenir shopping. I loved enjoying a great cup of coffee and shopping with the team.
We had voted ahead of time on our adventure day. We voted on the ATV tour. We bought our tickets for the Friday tour and had lunch together. Happy bellies, happy souls.
September 19 (Monday), we began to prepare for the Guatemalan women who were coming in. We started to walk through for ourselves some of the sessions that we would lead the women through. 3 of the words that kept coming up for me throughout the week were delighted in, (God’s) beloved, and cherished. I was even given flowers. It is always so healing to be reminded of and go back to what/ who God says you are. It really changes you when you embrace the truth God says.
The team got to walk through a session on forgiveness. How freeing for the 11 of us teammates to experience healing together in and from all different areas!
It was also 2 of the ladies birthdays who were on the team from the US (like me). It was so special to be able to celebrate them. We had slices of little cakes and we each got our own coconut 🥥. I love celebrating birthdays! Do you all remember? I celebrated a teammate’s birthday in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 too!
September 20, we got to do house visits. These families belonged to a church in a nearby town. When we got to the church, I met several women who I was going to go on the World Race with. Some of them, I had even talked several times through Google meet before they launched on the World Race. Oh yeah! I almost forgot to mention that the base (where we were staying) was full of people. Some of them were the World Racers who I was going to launch with in 2022! The connections had me blown away—and they weren’t quite done yet.
At the house I visited, the mom was so blessed and thankful for how well her kids were doing in school.
We also got to build a stove. It was a really cool experience to be able to give a family a wood burning stove and the joy that came from that.
We returned back to base and prepared all the decorations and gift bags for the women’s retreats.
The days were full, but so we’re our hearts.
