11/8/17
As mentioned earlier of our time here, this is a trip filled with many firsts. We are all experiencing and seeing things that we are not used to. I myself am not used to living in the midst of poverty. I have seen quite a bit of what we often only hear, and somewhat feel bad about at home. On a visit to a family in Magdalena we met a woman who is raising her two grandchildren. She is very poor, living in a cement/steel roofing type of house with no windows. She asked us to pray for her because she has no work right now, and is not sure how she will take care of her grandchildren. Excavation is also happening directly next to her house and it is damaging the foundation. In the art school where I have been each day with Alvero, I meet children that do not have enough food. I hear stories of children that used to come to the school, but they cannot anymore because they have to work.
There are so many stories of poverty, and I have seen so much of it around me, that at first it was simply confusing and discouraging to me. I thought to myself, “How much can I really do being here?” There seems to be so much going wrong in the world. What does our small gesture do? Well, in the evening just the other day I was walking alongside a few other LIFT students, and saw some trash. I picked it up and continued to walk. Not thirty seconds and I saw more trash. After picking up a handful of trash I realized that there was far too much trash for me to keep picking up the trash. My first thought was that I might as well not pick up any more trash here. However, that is when something came to mind.
A former LIFT student, Megan Tusing (LIFT 20 & 21), who now works as a teacher here in Guatemala, had the opportunity to visit us and share her testimony. She shared about her love for the people of Guatemala, and also about the struggle of seeing so much need and feeling stuck. She shared that God had to give her a new mindset on this. He taught her to love the person in front of her, and do what he had set in front of her. He taught her not to become stuck or calloused because of the amount of wrong in the world, but to just listen to what He had called her to do. Each little act of obedience to Christ makes a difference. A handful of trash was no longer on the trail where I was walking.
The woman that we visited made some baskets to sell in order to try and make some money for her family, and Alvero brought some of them to the store day that we had at the S.I. Community Center. I then was able to witness that woman earning some money from her baskets. God also listened to our prayers from the day that we visited, and a retaining wall is being built to hold back the loose earth that’s crumbling away from her house’s foundation. I’ve gotten to be a part of activities that keep children off the streets. Today in the Art School, some of the children received their money for paintings they had sold. One of the LIFT students from another site shared about a woman that accepted Christ today.
God is doing a work here is Guatemala and around the world. He is actively involved in our lives. When He calls us to do something, it is because He is planning to work. So we should care about the poverty we see around us, but we should not become hopeless. We do not see all the ways that God is working. He is doing things beyond what we are able to comprehend in people’s lives. Our part is to listen to His call, and seek to obey Him. We should not become weary in doing well. This is what God has been showing me and probably many more of us while we have been here.
On another note, we made kites with the children at the Art School today. They are little engineers. I was put on a team with three little maybe nine year olds, and they taught me how to make a kite from tissue paper, little poles from a plant I don’t know, and glue. We then all piled into a van and took our kites to a soccer field to fly them. They are also genius at flying them. I loved to see them all work together to make the kites and to fly them. When it was time to leave, my three little friends gave me the kite. They were completely unselfish about it. It made me realize, in that moment that people are far more important than any things we might want or even need.
I pray that what we see and learn here not only stays in our minds, but actually change us a spurs us on to action. We have been reminded this week as we study the book of James, that God has called us to have a faith accompanied by actions, and that is what we need to do. Praise God for everything He is teaching us and doing in the people while we are here.
Blessings,
Alina Grace Whitmore
For pictures please go to the LIFT 38 in Guatemala photo album on our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/liftdiscipleshipprogram/
As mentioned earlier of our time here, this is a trip filled with many firsts. We are all experiencing and seeing things that we are not used to. I myself am not used to living in the midst of poverty. I have seen quite a bit of what we often only hear, and somewhat feel bad about at home. On a visit to a family in Magdalena we met a woman who is raising her two grandchildren. She is very poor, living in a cement/steel roofing type of house with no windows. She asked us to pray for her because she has no work right now, and is not sure how she will take care of her grandchildren. Excavation is also happening directly next to her house and it is damaging the foundation. In the art school where I have been each day with Alvero, I meet children that do not have enough food. I hear stories of children that used to come to the school, but they cannot anymore because they have to work.
There are so many stories of poverty, and I have seen so much of it around me, that at first it was simply confusing and discouraging to me. I thought to myself, “How much can I really do being here?” There seems to be so much going wrong in the world. What does our small gesture do? Well, in the evening just the other day I was walking alongside a few other LIFT students, and saw some trash. I picked it up and continued to walk. Not thirty seconds and I saw more trash. After picking up a handful of trash I realized that there was far too much trash for me to keep picking up the trash. My first thought was that I might as well not pick up any more trash here. However, that is when something came to mind.
A former LIFT student, Megan Tusing (LIFT 20 & 21), who now works as a teacher here in Guatemala, had the opportunity to visit us and share her testimony. She shared about her love for the people of Guatemala, and also about the struggle of seeing so much need and feeling stuck. She shared that God had to give her a new mindset on this. He taught her to love the person in front of her, and do what he had set in front of her. He taught her not to become stuck or calloused because of the amount of wrong in the world, but to just listen to what He had called her to do. Each little act of obedience to Christ makes a difference. A handful of trash was no longer on the trail where I was walking.
The woman that we visited made some baskets to sell in order to try and make some money for her family, and Alvero brought some of them to the store day that we had at the S.I. Community Center. I then was able to witness that woman earning some money from her baskets. God also listened to our prayers from the day that we visited, and a retaining wall is being built to hold back the loose earth that’s crumbling away from her house’s foundation. I’ve gotten to be a part of activities that keep children off the streets. Today in the Art School, some of the children received their money for paintings they had sold. One of the LIFT students from another site shared about a woman that accepted Christ today.
God is doing a work here is Guatemala and around the world. He is actively involved in our lives. When He calls us to do something, it is because He is planning to work. So we should care about the poverty we see around us, but we should not become hopeless. We do not see all the ways that God is working. He is doing things beyond what we are able to comprehend in people’s lives. Our part is to listen to His call, and seek to obey Him. We should not become weary in doing well. This is what God has been showing me and probably many more of us while we have been here.
On another note, we made kites with the children at the Art School today. They are little engineers. I was put on a team with three little maybe nine year olds, and they taught me how to make a kite from tissue paper, little poles from a plant I don’t know, and glue. We then all piled into a van and took our kites to a soccer field to fly them. They are also genius at flying them. I loved to see them all work together to make the kites and to fly them. When it was time to leave, my three little friends gave me the kite. They were completely unselfish about it. It made me realize, in that moment that people are far more important than any things we might want or even need.
I pray that what we see and learn here not only stays in our minds, but actually change us a spurs us on to action. We have been reminded this week as we study the book of James, that God has called us to have a faith accompanied by actions, and that is what we need to do. Praise God for everything He is teaching us and doing in the people while we are here.
Blessings,
Alina Grace Whitmore
For pictures please go to the LIFT 38 in Guatemala photo album on our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/liftdiscipleshipprogram/
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