When preparing to leave for Guatemala, I also prepared my heart to be away from my family for two months. I talk with my mother and father every day, and they are a huge part of my life. Preparing to leave, meant that I would be without my family. The thought was, ït’s okay, I have God and he’s enough.”This is true, but he had something so much bigger planned.
I expected my team to be close, and for us to know eachother well, but the amount of love we share shocked me. These people I met three weeks ago are my confidants, my shoulders to cry on, the people who make me laugh til my stomach hurts. In a country where everything is different, these people have quickly become home. We truly are family, sons and daughters of the living God.
The Lord took my ideas of what community would be and changed them completely. When I thought he had blessed me to overflow, he proved once again to be bigger than I could imagine.
I met Sylbia by the tienda down the road. Although I speak very broken spanish, and she spoke NO english, a friendship formed instantly. The next day my teammate and I walked over to her house where they were making tortillas. Immediately they welcomed us with hugs and kisses and lots of laughter. In that home where chickens and ducks roam through the kitchen, I felt the love of a family. We visit them every day, making tortillas, and laughing about the language barrier. Then one day her father had us pose for a picture. After he showed us, and with the look of utmost pride he said, “look at my two new beautiful daughters”
In that moment, my heart almost burst with love. God takes us to places uncomfortable, gives us people we can’t communicate with, places us in a group of 23 other american kids (and one canadian!), and shows us yet again that he is faithful. He didn’t send me here just me and him, he sent me here to find my family. This family that I’ve found isn’t just built on flesh and blood, but in something so much deeper; in love. After all, that is what it’s all about.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.- 1 John 4:7
