Life in Guatemala is amazing. I love it here more and more everyday. I love the culture, the mountains, the people, the traditional clothing, the market, the colours, the beauty. Nothing is dull. There is so much life. Yes, there is also immense poverty, but this does not mean a dullness or lifelessness in the people. No matter where you are or who you are, you will be greeted by everyone. Whenever I am introduced to someone, I get a hug or a sincere "Mucho gusto" (Pleased to meet you). Everyone in the Christian community refers to each other as Hermano/a (insert name). The meaning of family is understood. Living in community and service is understood. Immense love is also understood and lived out.We finished our check ups at Mocohan on Friday. It was sort of bitter sweet. I have grown to know the children there and truly love them all. They have taught me so much about worship and love. They are amazing. But we finished. I took on a pilot tooth brushing program with some of the kids who needed it most - but really how do you decide who is most deserving when all of them could have major dental work done? Barely any of them own a toothbrush or know how to brush their teeth. So I taught about 9 of the children to brush their teeth without water because water is scarce in Mocohan. No everyone has safe water and if they do, they don't have enough of it. It is hard to imagine not having water. Even here I waste so much water. I take long showers, rinse my dishes more than necessary, use too much water when I brush my teeth... Sad. Water is something I definitely need to be more grateful for. I take it so for granted. Anyways back to tooth brushing. After 3 days of teaching and monitoring them, I gave them a toothbrush and small toothpaste as a gift. They were all so happy. Another thing I take for granted. So since my little pilot project was successful, Impact is going to implement a bigger pilot project - the whole school of Mocohan once a few things are fixed since they have a working well with water now! I bet the dentist will be glad to hear about that. There is a nursing and dental mobile unit in Mocohan although it is not usually open because the
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| Yasmi (on the right) is a girl I played with 4 years ago! |
On Friday, during recess I played pato, pato, ganso (duck, duck, goose) with the kids. It started off with 3 girls and then grew into a group of about 20 kids. It was really fun. I was the ganso a lot because for some reason they liked picking me. And then when I was saying pato, pato, pato, everyone was screaming yo, yo, yo - how was I possibly supposed to pick just one? During the game, about 5 of the girls decided to play with my hair instead. They clung to me (making it hard when I was ganzo) but it was so wonderful. But what did I do to deserve their undivided love and attention? Nothing. Sure I gave up time and the comforts of home to come and serve here but really, what did I do? Then I got thinking what did we do to deserve the love God gives us? Absolutely nothing. We are so unworthy, we are sinful, we continually screw up. But God's arms of love are always open and He continually blesses us through His never ending perfect love. Wow, I guess we just need to accept it. I am learning what it means to truly be in love with God. It is pretty amazing. For so many years I viewed Him as my Father and Creator but did not desire to be with Him or grow closer to Him. But now I do. I want to pick up my Bible. I want to study a verse and pick it apart. I want to just rest in Him. I want to start my day of in prayer and meditation. I still have a lot to learn but it is pretty cool.
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| One of the couples who got married |
Back to the girls and their love for me. One of them is named Yoselina. She is seven, super cute, loves to laugh, smile, and just give hugs. I went to choose a sponsor child from the upstairs guesthouse bulletin board where some of the children who still need to be sponsored are put. And guess whose picture was there? There was no decision for me. I was so excited to become Yoselina's patrocinadora. Then to make it even better at church on Sunday, she came running up to me when I arrived and gave me a huge hug. She did not know that I was sponsoring her and that did not matter. It is amazing to know she loves me not because I help her go to school or send her letters, she simply loves me. We went to the daughter church of the one I usually go to in Tactic. Impact started the one in Tactic, which is in Alta Verapaz and then they decided to start one in Baja Verapaz (where the Mocohan, Chicoy, and Puruhla schools are) because it was too difficult for them to travel the 30 minutes into Tactic. When you don't even own a bicycle, travel is difficult - either really long or expensive. So they have a service at Puruhla now and we were all invited to go this week to show our support and also to be apart of something pretty exciting. Three couples who had been together for years and already had families were getting married. Marriage is not a priority in Guatemala. Yes, family is super important but not the actual steps of marriage. So they wanted to make things right before God and they got married. It was so precious and impacting. They valued God's law and knew they needed to change things. They were so happy. It truly was a special thing to be a witness of. After the service, lunch was served to everyone. After eating my tamale, I went over to where the children were. Yoselina was there but Karey, my roommate, cautioned me not to say anything just in case it wasn't her or something fell through. She immediately ran to me, hugged me, and did not let go of me. For about fifteen minutes she just sat in my arms. She didn't run off with her friends who were playing. I felt this amazing connection with her. At first I had doubts. What if my sponsor child is a different Yoselina that looks similar to her? Satan was trying to plant worry in my heart but I knew this had to be her. I was so at peace with it. She already had a place in my heart and nothing could take that away. Just to be sure I asked her what her last name was and she told me her birthday, so when I got
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| Yoselina is on the left! |
God has blessed me with so much and I am so grateful that I can bless others. My time here just keeps getting better. I don't want to leave.
Let's all remember to always spread God's unconditional love to everyone we meet - whether we can find reason for them to deserve it or not.
Live, laugh and love to the fullest.
:)
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