Guatemala - Day 5 (Journal Entry)

I hope that by reading this blog that you are moved by God the same way he moved me by the experience I had working with the Pokomchi people of La Campana, Guatemala. He taught me much about Himself, myself and what it means to be on mission for Him. This was written in my journal and is an actual excerpt of what I wrote. God bless you.

3/9/11 AM
-Day 4 without a shower!

-Matthew 6:19-24
-Psalm 62:5-8
"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock. my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah."

-Chacuy Ni'mahc - Please Pardon, I'm sorry

-House 1 Cultural Note - In the house we were offered real Guatemalan coffee. It was brewed with cane sugar and tasted amazing! The funny thing is that the 5 or 6 year old here was drinking it too! (Note: Ironically, I saw a toddler drinking coffee from a bottle later that very day.) Unfortunately, I could not drink it all, just to be safe. I snuck outside and sneakily tossed the rest...

It was an honor to serve with Dana, Jeff and J.B.

3/9/11 PM
-Cascarones - eggshells filled with picu picu - confetti

-Today we finished all of our sectors! Praise God! In the morning we hit 5 houses and saw countless Pokomchi. I was really hit hard emotionally when at one house a blind lady was brought to us. Her spirits seemed down and she had to be led to her seat when she came in. Immediately my heart ached for this woman - no older than 35 - who needed so much medical attention that we could not provide. The one thing that she needs more than anything is Christ, whom we proclaimed to her; but seeing this young mother suffering made my heart heavy. Jeff was such an inspiration to watch with her though, from his kind words, gentle touch and genuine concern to the prayer we prayed for her. I could just feel Christ present in Him. You could see genuine love and compassion in his eyes as he lifted her up to God. It reminded me of Zephaniah, where it says that "God quiets us in His love." I genuinely pray that the Lord not only opens her spiritual eyes, but her physical ones as well. How can I go back home? I deserve nothing that I have. I should be the blind one. I am really feeling torn about living in a grossly indulgent society. Lord help us all.

 (Note: I would like to add that this experience was the most impactful moment for me while in Guatemala. As soon as I saw the blind lady and began to be burdened for her, God spoke to me. He said "Yes, you want to heal her physical sight, but what she needs is spiritual sight!" Is. 61:1-2 says
            “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim
              good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the 
              prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 
             to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 
I realized in that moment that as much as we want to do practical missions and help people's physical needs, that is not what matters. It is temporal. They need Jesus. That is all that we can give that truly gives life, satisfies, heals and GIVES SIGHT. I pray she saw through our prayers, our love and the Gospel what life in Christ is like. I was reminded of the passage in Acts 3 when the beggar asks Peter for material help. His response is appropriate. "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you." We must realize the importance of what we have! It is the only thing that the world truly needs. End note.)

My awesome team inside a Pokomchi home.

-After lunch some of us walked to a cave and actually went down. :-) If we had the equipment we could have gone down about 40 feet. It was cold and oh-so-cavelike. Ha. Upon coming out we discovered a crowd of 30 or so people watching us. Some had somewhat shocked expressions on their faces. Apparently the Pokomchi believe that the mountain eats Gringos. :-) Guess we proved them wrong!

A Band of Spelunkers

-We then went to a view where we could see the river and accumulated a crowd of children following. They followed and the crowd grew as we went through the village, picked up some cascarones at the local tienda and smashed the confetti filled eggshells on each other's heads then journeyed back to the HQ. Some of us are now playing frisbee/Father Abraham/duck duck goose/etc. with the kids; some of us are consulting patients; and the rest of us are just chilling. At 5 o'clock 8 of us are going to take a Pokomchi bath at a local man's bathhouse. Should be very interesting. Apparently they put water of varying temps in different pots and you mix them to your preferred heat...

Bethani in mid-cascarones attack!