Working in Somber and Joy...

WEEK TWO! La utz awach... Good Afternoon in Kaqchukel! Well, Guatemala has sunk its teeth in me....i'm gripped by this country already.


The end of last week was a crazy combination of excitement, adventure, home-sickness, culture shock, and physical sickness that had me on the road for disaster it seemed like...but thank God for JOY that came through the laughter and company of new friends...it truly was a complicated week of emotions.

Monday. I was abruptly stopped in traffic on my way to work. Traffic doesn't really exist on a 10 street town...this day's traffic was due to death. A little girl died in her home this morning. My taxi stopped in front of her covered body, and in arms reach of her uncontrollably somber parents. All i could do was pray, under my breath that God would do what He intended to. Somber.

I hung out with the "patojos" (kids) at the school i work at. Little first and second graders. Lice infested, snot nosed, most beautifully inquisitive creatures i have ever seen in my life. They ask me 5 billion questions. As fast as they can think, they ask. I feel like a movie star.

I try and put behind the gross realities of their homes and the reality that they are in my school because they WORK half the day to support their families. Did i mention they were in the first and second grade? Somber.

But you should see how they work...they have a determination to serve...they know that this value will help them survive...

Here is 6 year old Angel serving his classmates at lunch...

And this little one is on time out which i think he actually enjoyed being away from all the noise...

Later that day. Death gripped our little "Aldea" (neighborhood) AGAIN....A woman was found dead in the Lake. Her body was taken to the police station 2 doors down. The stench of evil reaked amongst us. Dark clouds loomed as the rain fell mid afternoon as the people slowly found out the news through the pueblo. Somber.

The people of Guatemala resilient as I can ever define that word, bounce back like a rubber ball with JOY. Years of war can do that. Years of somber woes will force the human spirit to rekindle its strength. It can't remain broken. Restoration starts with 2 single words. Move on.

So we moved on... I ran to the bakery and bought a cake for 7 dollars. My family's eyes were wide eyed as i sat the rare delicacy of cake on the fly infested table. We sang Happy Birthday to my brother Gerardo, 24 years young. JOY!

I held the newborn baby that's kept the entire family up for nights since his birth and rocked him to sleep. Un "toque" (touch) as my host mom says that few "unmothers" have. I am an "unmother" a mother without children. JOY!

Desire set in. To nurture and love. Something about witnessing the labor of the little guy i was holding did something to me. JOY.

Towards the end of the week, the girls and I set out to celebrate Hannahs Birthday! A new friend of mine that I am sure will be in life for years, we met in San Marcos la Laguna...i mean talk about an AMAZING time...it felt like a vacation, only to realize that we weren't going to actually stay at our celebrity mansion and would be returning to our humble homes! But that didnt stop the JOY that was in our hearts the whole time together....The week ended in JOY as promised!

Hanna Doll...Birthday Celebration!

The view from our loft in San Marcos...

Chillin on the dock in San Marcos...

I am reminded this week that regardless of what surrounds us, the difficulty, death, sickness, or pain...all of this is being done FOR us not TO us...Sometimes we blame the things we often can not control...and we say "why is this happening TO ME? But being immersed in a problem...allows me to see the healthiest response to this is to TRUST that:

And we know that in ALL things God works FOR the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose....Romans 8:28....

So in JOY or in SOMBER work...know that what you are going through is not what you are going TO and everything is working out for you....

UNREAL

I am here! After months of preparation and anticipation I arrived in Guatemala for my summer study abroad program in Social Work.

 I still can't fully express to you why i chose to visit a war ridden third world country for the summer but I have a feeling each day here will unravel it all....I am here for almost 10 weeks!

My host mom carried my luggage on her head when i arrived. Unreal.

I walk the streets everyday in Panajachel, Guatemala and still don't believe i can look up and see waterfalls in the jungle, three volcanoes, and a gorgeous lake...Unreal.

I wake up to a rooster every morning. and a few goats apparently watch me wash my face. Unreal.

I can eat a meal for less than 4 dollars a day here. Unreal.

My host family makes about $200 a month. They feed 10 people, 3 full meals a day. they are blessed. joyful and some of the most loving, helpful people i have ever met. Unreal.

I witnessed the birth of a baby this week. Unreal.

I spent time with 40 Mayan women at a parenting class. Spoke about "bullying". Played musical chairs to Reggeton and sat and listened to them commit to parenting their sons and daughters in the midst of some of the worst poverty i have seen in an urban/rural city. Unreal.

I listened to the tearful testimony of a woman in Santa Lucia who lost her husband, father and unborn child in one year in a ruthless Civil War that continues to haunt the people of Guatemala 30 years later. Unreal.

I identified the historical genocide of a history that affects us all. I wonder why and fear the answer, so i don't ask. Unreal.


I have been here a week, all i can think of is my BED, but you know what my host mom is thinking about? How can i make Michelle more comfortable in my impoverished home? Unreal.

You know what is REAL? The fact that while these things sound so unreal to a people from the US they are very REAL to a people in Guatemala.

I have done social work for over 10 years, but LIVING INSIDE the homes of people where brokenness, poverty, pain and desperation begins, is probably the most powerful, moving, and growing things i have ever done. REAL.

Not sure if I can capture all that is going on here, in my heart or in my head in a blog or in pictures...but moving forward past the culture shock and sickness this week is beginning to UNCOVER things in me.

I Pray for Grace to hide the diva in me. The judgement in me. The negativity that rises. The utter pain i feel each time I say no to a 7 year old street vendor. Each time I see a senior citizen carry wood on his back or 50 pounds of grain on her head.

It is unreal the amount of tears I've cried. Selfish tears. Painful tears, Humbled tears. Joyful tears.
REAL Tears.

Keep us in your prayers y'all. All this is about to get REAL for me.

Matiosh. (thank you in Kachukel)

Meesh.

"Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me, Lay any burden on me only sustain me, Sever any tie but the tie that binds me to thyself"-D.Livingstone