Thirsting for water and food, runny noses, and dirty smiles, I addition to inviting each of us, at different times into their home with dirt floors. People in the Él Gorrion area are so proud to share of themselves, and delight in our presence. presence. Being there for the people, that is what we are learning, to lay aside the conditions, the smells, the sights for Him. From that comes a joy unexplainable.
My goal is to become more like that. To lay aside the material things of this life to be "present" for what God has for me. Hearts on the team are being broken for things they have never seen before, for what hurts Gods heart. As I sit this morning and hear their voices of all 3 teams here, my heart is overflowing with joy that my students are HERE! And healthy! God has been good. I am so thankful for the many blessings of seeing your kids actively playing soccer with the kids, of entering the homes of those in need, of carrying small snotty faced children, and extending love here. How I wish that you could see your kids, and see the smiles on their faces. Yesterday a student said to me, "oh, Sra. b, I'm DEFINITELY coming again next year", three boys at the end of each day, giving hugs and thank yous to me for allowing them to be on the trip.
I see and hear great things from each site and today the women's social work site and a few others are going to El Tablon, an impoverished area where they hope to hold a triage medical clinic, hold a women's Bible Study and sell some of the items made by the women in El Gorrion as well as share with them how to make them as well.
Yesterday, I saw a great example of Americans rush for time and the Guatemalan need for relationship. When I was washing clothes in the river with the women, I noticed that when our site leader asked if we could join in, they seemed to not really want to do that and in my American mind, I thought TIME. I wouldn't want to give up my momentum of finishing my pile of laundry. When my site leader asked if they minded, they said, "of course not, go right ahead, here's my daughters shirt." They thought, RELATIONSHIP. So, there we went, each of us, taking our turns at scrubBing those clothes with a large bar of soap, all of us laughing at our poor attempt. We made some friends that day, and as we were walking away, I stood looking down at them still washing their clothes and said goodbye. They waved, and I snapped a picture of those beautiful women. Hope you had a chance to see that one on Facebook. :)
I am so thankful for our adults on the team, Michael Kornelis, Ally Kornelis, Pam Moore, and Lisa Colburn helping in different areas...leading worship, taking pictures, updating the blog when I can't because of no Wifi or whatever. All of us are at separate sites, so we different things each day. Wow! What a great experience it have been so far!
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