Hola Amigos y Familia! | Child Sponsorship Update

Hola Amigos y Familia!

 

Where to begin? This trip has impacted me in so many ways. From the beginning, it was clear that the people here have a different way of living. The hospitality, humility, and hunger for connection, even with strangers like us Gringos has been so evident with each family we meet. 

Working with the Child Sponsorship site has not been what I expected it would be. Time and time again, I’ve noticed the radical unhurriedness of my site leaders Cesar and Yvonne.  This was first seen when we walked around town to get to know the area we’d be serving. Yvonne walked SO slow and us LIFTers consistently found ourselves way ahead of her. She walked slowly to be interruptible. Every person she passed, she not only said “Buenos dias!” but she intentionally began a conversation, checked in, and stopped for at least five minutes to hear their stories. 

One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from LIFT has been to take things slower and to be interruptible, but I didn’t realize how much I still had to learn. Early in this trip, I realized how addicted I am to my timetable, to my watch, to my schedule. At one house we heard the testimonies of a family who has been greatly impacted by Child Sponsorship. I didn’t understand a word of it and I was falling asleep, constantly looking at my watch, wondering how long we would need to listen to an untranslated monologue. That night, I reflected on the day and was disgusted with my hurry sickness. It doesn’t matter if I understand, it’s not about me or about my schedule. It’s about being present, engaged, and sharing Jesus’ love and compassion. That night, I decided to stop wearing my watch.

No longer did I care about the schedule. I went with the flow of where Jesus’ compassion led. I was able to be engaged during the sharing of testimonies, I wasn’t glancing at my watch constantly to make sure we were finishing at our sites on time, and I was able to be present, interruptible, and hungry for connection with the people here. I found joy in listening to the rapid Spanish conversations surrounding me, and I tried my best to understand. It was exciting to realize how much I could understand when I looked up from my watch and started listening. 

Connecting with our host family has been challenging but so so good. Oftentimes, our attempts to communicate has resulted in snorts from our host mama Marta and chuckles from our host sister Veronica. We tried to say we love bread and said, “Te amo pan!” (I love you, bread!), and the snorts and chuckles bounced off the walls of the small, lovely, and comforting kitchen! One night though, we were able to have an impactful connection with Veronica. We told her about the humility we are learning here in Guatemala and how thankful we are for the hospitality. She told us about the poverty that she’s seen in the area, about families that have lots of kids but not enough money to feed them. She asked if it was the same in the US. We told her that the poverty we’ve seen is more among adults who face addiction, who are homeless and hopeless. It was hard but beautiful to connect over the brokenness of the world, to see that there is hardship everywhere, even in the States. We, as the body of believers, must come together to fight this brokenness, this hopelessness, this hardship. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, this posture of humility and interruptibility is so evident. The Samaritan had been raised to hate, detest, and loath the dying Jew. And yet, he swallowed his pride. We don’t get to choose our neighbors. As Mother Teresa said, we must help the person in front of us. Who in your life is a neighbor that you wouldn’t choose? How can you help them?

Another beautiful part of this trip has been the lack of phones and technology. It has been so beautiful to connect with people without our rectangular distraction device that we hold so dear. My only wish is that I could communicate with my fiancée Mitchel and my family. In fact, I wish they could have been on this trip with me! This trip has been so incredibly impactful and I long to share it with those closest to me! I love you and I miss you <3 Also, shout out to my grandma for faithfully commenting on each blog post! It’s meant a lot to me (:

With so much love,

Caris

 

As I write this, the LIFT community and Students International staff are singing How Great Thou Art in Spanish and it is so so beautiful!

 

Thank you for your prayers! 

·      There is sickness going around, I had my share of the virus and it wasn’t fun. Please pray for health for us all!

·      Please pray that we would continue to learn and continue to grow in humility

 

Acts 2:42-47:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. Then awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.