Physical Therapy Site

Hello everyone,

This trip was an amazing experience coming alongside SI to learn more about how they do their ministry. I helped in the physical therapy site. I didn’t really know what to expect while working in PT, but the Lord has taught me a lot through my site leader and the local people.

Being a missionary kid, I went in with an idea of what it was going be like and how it would probably go, and although there were similar things about the culture and the missions field, it was also very different from what I was expecting. It really changed my look on missions. The most impactful thing I had to learn while working at my site was learning to be patient and slow down. In Guatemala, time is not as important as it is for us in the States, and this was something that I learned very quickly. Simple things like walking slowly were really difficult and humbling for me. I felt like I had to get as much done or move fast to the next thing. We would have lunch with the Special Education Site every day and while we were all walking together, I heard one of the leaders talking about how people always want to get to the next thing and have a hard time being present in the moment they are currently in. Hearing this really convicted me and showed me that part of being on mission is being able to adapt to the culture instead of trying to adapt the culture. 

It that was really cool to see is how SI used everyday jobs to share the Gospel. At my site, prayer and listening were how we shared the Lord’s love. I think it was really special to see that even simple things like that made a deep impact on people. I realized that we aren’t always going to see what impact we leave on people, but it’s more about the why than what we see. There is so much I have taken away from this trip and I’m so thankful that I got to be a part of SI’s mission. 

 

Andrew