trip reflections

I'm struggling to believe that just a week ago, I was still in Guatemala. It feels like I've been back in the States and at my regular routine for much longer than a week.

The PSF trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala was a great trip. There were four staff and eleven students who ventured down to work on a hospital that was destroyed in the fall of 2005. When we got to the hospital, we discovered that our tasks would be digging two 15ft. deep holes and moving lots of buckets full of rocks, sand, and gravel. I spent a lot of my time dumping the buckets near two large water silos on the back part of the hospital property. It was a nice job to have (minus climbing up half the hill on every trip) because it gave me a lot of time for reflective thinking.

When we weren't working, we were spending time around Lake Atitlan, in different market and church settings, spending time in conversation, or experiencing Mayan culture. We saw several Catholic cathedrals, visited a school for students with disabilities, saw a local Mayan god, experienced a ride in the back of a pick-up truck, rode across the lake, and heard many people's stories. It was a very enriching experience, one of the best mission & cultural trips I've ever been on.

It's my prayer that seeds of change have been planted in all of us that traveled together. For me, this trip reminded me of how easy it is to share part of my life story with someone--even if I never learn if/how it touched their lives. One of the most powerful moments on this trip for me, was when the director of the school for students with disabilities shared her story for why she worked so hard to open the school. She shared with us, a group of total strangers who couldn't share even the same language with her, about her daughter who was born with water on the brain. Having a dear friend who was born with the same condition, really hit home for me. But beyond that, it was how vulnerable this school director was, to share her story with us. To let us into that deep part of who she is and how she feels called. In my own life, I tend to not share those deep, more intimate parts of myself. Her story was compelling to not be so fearful to share about myself. Who knows, part of my story may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.

This trip also reminded me of the many lessons I learned in Malawi, and how quickly I forgot about all of those. I wish I didn't always require trips out of the States to remember the importance of water, food, necessities, livelihood, etc. But I'm so thankful for all the opportunities I've had to be reminded of how blessed I am.