Gracias a Dios por todos!

Dear friends and family at home, 

Tasked with the assignment to contribute to this blog (I did, in fact, volunteer), it is hard to know where to begin. There is so much to tell! For traveling to a new country always brings a wave of new impressions with it. There are the big things, like the change in landscape, culture, infrastructure, or food; but it is the little things that make the biggest difference. It’s in doors opening with a little string, in noting the Chuchos (street dogs) stationed at their same territory every day, in the new smells and flowers, and even in toilets flushing a little differently (at our site, we flush it by pouring a bucket of water into it).…More than once have I prayed under my breath in Spanish for it to flush at our homestay.

Yet, wherever in the world you go, God’s Spirit is the same. After only a few days spent in Guatemala, I already felt I would miss the people here when it’s time to go. Let me tell you about a few of them...

Our homestay has been wonderful. Together with Nicole, Grace, and Attie, I am staying with Blanca, her husband, and her daughters. She has four daughters, one of whom is married and living elsewhere. Every meal includes tea and sweet bread, and many include homemade tortillas. They have a brilliant view over Magdalena, which means we have to walk down and back up the hill every day. It is good mini-training in this high elevation, and I have been grateful for the conversations we have on the walks. They also have two dogs: “Doggy”  and “Gordo,”  or “ Gordito,”  as we usually call him. (This is huge. Camp has a no-pet policy.) Gordo does not live up to his name (it means “ Fat” ) but it gives us a good laugh. There has been much laughter at our homestay. Blanca teases a lot, and Mariana, her eldest, speaks a lot of English; so we banter with her, too. She also came along with us to Antigua for one afternoon, and has joined us twice for the Eco hike, which is our fitness training for the upcoming Acatenago hike.

I’ve found incredible support in rooming with Attie, our RA, and in the prayer time we share with the four of us at the end of most days. It’s been so sweet to spend time with these girls. …and extremely entertaining.

Today marks exactly one week since our first day at the Special Education site. I’ve been working with Jeff, Jack, and Evelyn, under Brenda and Daniella. Brenda and Daniella are both very humble, inspiring people. I wish I had the time to share their testimonies here. Suffice it to say that God has worked in powerful and redeeming ways in their lives, and I look up to them a great deal. We also love seeing the laughter and and friendship they share with one another.

We start every morning in prayer. Thereafter Jeff and I dutifully sweep the floors, while the other two wipe surfaces. And so we prepare the space for the kids to come. We play games and puzzles with them, and beyond that, every day looks a little different. On Monday, a teacher came to give a music therapy class. We do exercises that involve movement, developing rhythm, and counting. Similarly, the puzzles help the students to recognize colors and shapes—though the learning points are different for each student. Thankfully, my broken Spanish is not too much of a hurdle. Some of the students talk a lot, but some communicate non-verbally. On other days we have joined forces with the sports site, and on others, no students come. We’ve also made greeting cards for fundraising, bookmarks for the mothers, and painted some walls. One fun example of the variety at our site is found on Monday, when Jeff was a gentleman as I was painting in full midday sunlight. Through some creative thinking, he found a frying pan to hold over my head for some shade. This turned into a four-person system in which Evelyn and I painted, while Jack and Jeff gave us shade with their combined umbrella and pan.

Through these days, God has been causing me to reflect on a great deal. The first is practicing being present. Whether I am sweeping floors at our site, or seated around the table with our host family, I have been trying to treat each moment as having eternal significance. It is not in an effort to over-spiritualize, but out of necessity. For with LIFT approaching its end after this trip, my mind has been much fixed on the future. It hit me in the week leading up to this trip. However, there is enough to focus on here, and now. So God has challenged me to entrust him each day with my daily bread. Jesus teaches us not to pray for our needs tomorrow, next month, or five years down the line; only to entrust Him with each day. This has been an invaluable lesson for me in Guatemala. It is in the slower days that I wrestle with this most. For as packed as our schedule is, the rhythm is slow. And so for every morning that I spend in quiet with Him, I find peace and rest in that day. In this way, the 30 minutes we get between worship and our group devotionals have been one of my favorite parts of the day. I sit and overlook a valley adjoining Magdalena from the SI site even as I write.

As such, the first week has flown by. Now I am once again challenged to stay present, and entrust the Lord with my daily needs. It has been good.

Another thing that has jumped out to me during our time here, is the ways in which SI pours into us. We came here on a short-term trip, ready to help however we can. But our experience is as Caleb, Rachel, and Tim told us beforehand: most of what we do is rooted simply in being present. We are a support to the leaders at our site, and we are intentional with our time with our host families. The staff of SI, on the other hand, has done a lot for us. They provide devotionals for us every morning, have prepared amazing dinners several times, pack us lunch every day, have treated us to meals in Antigua, have shared testimonies with us and passed on life lessons, and are gracious in helping us understand and operate in Guatemala’s (and Magdalena’s local) culture. And so I hardly know who is serving who.

Lastly, since we don’t do many home visits at our site, but are more stationary, it has been a gift when we have gotten to hear stories from people in Magdalena. Just yesterday the mothers of some of the kids came for a Bible study. We worshiped in Spanish together with them; Evelyn led and played guitar, Jack was on percussion, and Jeff and I harmonized. As we had prayed before, the Spirit moved, and the mothers each shed tears as they worshiped and shared prayer requests after. It is interesting to find that I am completely comfortable praying over people, now. Because, well, it’s not about me. I just invite the Holy Spirit to give me the words, and they get to receive. It is humbling to hear the burdens they carry; there is illness and alcoholism in this community, and social stigma around special needs. This past week, I have witnessed how SI meets people in their needs; through the material (sickness, education, sports, etc.), they also meet people’s spiritual needs (to know the love of God!). And on a more personal note, I remember how I used to squirm at my own parents praying for people on the streets, even as I saw the good they did. Yet now, I find myself doing the same.

And so I see, this is one small example of how God has been transforming our hearts all year. I have seen this in many of the LIFTers. This trip has been an invaluable place to put what we’ve learned about missions into practice… and the Lord continues to disciple us through it. It has consisted of newness, challenge, and a lot of joy. My heart has been very full.

I find my time runs short now. So, I will close with some prayer points:

• Pray for wellness among LIFTers; we’ve been dropping like flies with a bad cough going around. We want to do this volcano hike all together!
• Also pray that everyone will be able to go to Acatenango; we will have another hike to qualify today
• Pray for continued group strength and unity. There is spiritual warfare going on, I have felt this in my own mind. It has also been a lot of fun, and special, to be in a different country together. So may God continue to strengthen and teach us. Pray that any hardship may form us into being more like Him, and to greater unity.
• Pray for energy! Nights are fairly short, and the sun is hot.
• Please also pray for the people of Magdalena, and how we may be a support to the work SI does in this short-term context. Pray that they may see Jesus through all SI does.
• For me personally, pray for peace, and presence. God has been good to me this week. But on some days I feel a little lower than others, because of circumstances outside of this trip. Pray that I may be fully present in all I do.

So, all that is left to say is,

Gracias a Dios por todos, y adios por hoy,

Rosalie Baak