Semana Santa and a Dive in a Lake
Welcome to Semana Santa! It’s Holy Week here, when Covid isn’t a thing the entire country goes into celebration and I’ve been told the amount of people is overwhelming. I haven’t been out much today yet, but I am eager to see what Antigua is a buzz with.
It’s been an extremely eventful few weeks here in Guatemala. I worked extremely hard to get my work for our English classes to a place where I could set it down while my friend came to town. It was days in a row glued to my computer, but I am extremely proud of the work we have put in and I’m eager to see what works and what doesn’t. I’m wishing (only a little) I didn’t have to teach the classes, but I think that’s nerves and once I get into it, I’ll find a rhythm and will do fine. It’s encouraging to think we are about to put our best foot forward in helping these kids in Bola to change the course of their lives. When we change one it’s many more because here if one rises, the family rises. That gives me great hope for tomorrow and in the work that we’ve done. Really the best we can do is prepare and hope and the Lord does the rest.
Last week my girlfriend came to visit and we experienced something I never expected, the airport closed due to volcanic ash. So crazy details later, she flew to San Salvador, El Salvador and my friend and hired driver got Covid tests and left at four am and went to get her. That was an adventure I will not be repeating, but we made it. It was amazing to have her here and she was able to bring some more of my clothes down for me which made it like Christmas! It was my own clothes, but I did get new shoes, because cobblestones change your shoe choices…
We spent two days at Lake Atitlan where we went hiking, zip lining, and swimming in the lake. It was a beautiful place and the adventures were a lot of fun. This trip was encouraging because it was a lot of work for my brain. I was the “native” traveling for the first time in the country and I had the Spanish. We got around really well on my Spanish. I was really proud to see it come together so well. I was able to get us where we needed to be, figure out when things left, what we were ordering, and helped negotiate shopping with the street vendors. What a blessing to see that all this work is starting to come together and I am going to make it here.
We had a great trip. I did get a bit of food poisoning while she was here and was down for two days, but it was nice to have someone here to help me during that. Her visit really brought home some truths for me that I had to deal with. One of which being, I actually live here. She was going back to Virginia in a few days, but I was staying here and I never expected it to hit me so hard. It helped me see a few things, though. For example, I was merely “getting by.” I was working hard to make it a year, but not living here. So, when I got back from the airport yesterday I put up pictures, strung up twinkle lights, and made the decision to really be here. I don’t want to finish my time in Guatemala and go back to Virginia to the life I had before. Honestly, I wasn’t happy. I was merely “getting by” to the next day hoping the next tomorrow would be the day that would bring the breakthrough I was seeking. When I go back, I want to go back to more, with more.
There’s a surrender that has come through her visit. Realizing all my disillusionments and missed expectations of what this was “supposed” to be like will never change if I don’t change my perspective. Becoming like Christ is a true stripping, it owes us nothing and the moments when we think it does it’s a good consideration to sit in a scripture that reminds us of the sacrifice of Christ and what the cross really meant. It meant eating with Peter who promised to never deny him knowing full well in a few hours he would. I am Peter, I promise to go and to serve and then deny I know this sacrifice when it asks me to deal with culture shock, selfish comforts, and wanting to have my cake and eat it too.
I have two choices, to be here - really be here, or to “get by” until my time is done and I go back to the States. I have decided to go all in, to give it away again (even when I thought I already did that), to let him have his way. To sit in the stillness of this transitioning, trusting that in the cocoons of life he creates his greatest beauty in the quiet stillness of dim seasons. It is here I wait and trust his workmanship.
Easter is here and it’s one of my most favorite times. I am cooking a chicken and having a few people over for a day of egg dying and egg hunts. Grateful for the care package from family who made sure I had Easter day provisions and Reese’s!
The rest of this week/weekend I will work on preparing for our first English class on Tuesday. Pray for us! It’s exciting and I can’t wait to see what happens. I’ll also be working on fundraising. I am needing more financial partners to come alongside to reach my salary needs. I am impressed that I have more than 50 support partners, to think that many people are willing to help in this season is mind blowing. I am blown away by the community that I have. I am so blessed to know that I bring that with me. Community is life, it’s really the thing that sets me on fire and there are times when I am feeling overwhelmed with this choice that I remind myself there are people who are cheering me on. To know you are all here with me; to know who I can reach out to when I need something be it word, song, laugh, or cry there is someone in my community who is strategically there to provide that and I’m here to do the same for others....it’s pretty special what we are a part of when you think about it.