Hola Familia! It’s been over a week in Guatemala working
alongside the Students International missionaries here. As our times at our
ministry sites are coming to a close today, I wanted to share what God has been
doing and showing the LIFTers working in the Girl’s Club Site.
Girl’s Club is a ministry site that looks to pour into girls
and young women in Magdalena and the surrounding towns. The site is run by a
wonderful young woman named Sydnee. Sydnee is a missionary from the States who
lives full time in Guatemala working with girls in Girls Club. Kimberlee
Collins, Abigail Munson, and Lida Hanson (me) have had the privilege of working
with and learning from her. Sydnee’s goal for Girls Club is to create a safe
space for girls to come and experience the love of God. She wants them to know
that they are loved by the Creator of the Universe. Each day in Girl’s Club
looks very different. Most days we are with the sports guys (Aden Cuellar,
Matthew Bollman, Luis Rosado, George Adamou, and their site leader Byron).
Together with them, we go to the surrounding towns playing soccer, volleyball,
and other games as we also share the love of Christ with them. The times we are
not with the Sports guys are spent at the Girl’s club site running different
classes and building relationships with the women and girls. Sydnee teaches a
class on painting nails on Mondays and a macrame class on Thursdays.
Something that has stuck out to me during my time working
with Sydnee is her focus on building relationships. The first day we worked
with her, we went on a walk in one of the surrounding towns, El Gorrion. The
whole time we were walking we kept running into girls that Sydnee knew. She
would stop and talk with them for 5-15 minutes each. We must have stopped and
talked to at least ten girls. From those interactions, I could see the time and
intentionality Sydnee is pouring into each of these girls. Sydnee loves these
girls like Jesus does and she does everything she can to make them feel seen
and known. Her heart is for each of them to have a relationship with Jesus and
to know their worth comes from Him alone. It has been through watching Sydnee
that I have been taught and reminded of the power of intentional relationships
to further the Gospel and God’s Kingdom. Through watching Syndee and the other SI
ministry site leaders, I have seen the value in walking with people and their
stories. Jesus walks with us and calls us to do the same with others. He is a
personable and intentional God, who asks us to be the same with others around
us. Relationships are an important vehicle God uses to reveal Himself through
and bring the Gospel to those who don’t know Him. I love this way of ministry
because through it you see God’s heart for all people. I have seen God’s love
and care through watching Sydnee build relationships with the girls and us. I
have seen His heart to have all people know Him. It has been so sweet to
witness this and walk with Sydnee in it. Building these intentional
relationships is not easy. It takes a lot of time, work, and relying on the
Holy Spirit. But it is worth it, and I know the missionaries here would say the
same. It is through God and the intentional relationship building of the SI
staff, that people have seen and come to know Jesus here. Relationships are
powerful and it has been incredible to witness God use them to make Himself
known.
My prayer for LIFT (that you can be praying for too) is that
God would use our intentional relationships with people to further His Kingdom.
That we would take to heart all that we are learning here and put it into place
in our lives. Pray that we wouldn’t forget all the things we have seen and all
the ways we have seen God move. Instead that God would keep these things fresh
in our minds and that we would truly learn to love Him and others better
through this experience. Thank you for all your prayers! The Lord hears them, and
we feel Him answering them. We cannot wait to share more in person of what He
has been doing but until then, Hasta Luego!
-
Lida
Hanson
What a beautiful story! You are all an inspiration to us back home. We are praying for all of you always!
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