This morning we made the final leg of our travels, driving to San Lucas Toliman, where we will be for the remainder of our time this week. The drive was amazing, and at the same time, the drive was tough. Such is the juxtaposition that is this beautiful country.
We arrived in San Lucas and checked into our hotel, and got a chance to see some of the town first hand as we made the 10-minute walk from our hotel to the Promised Land Ministry school. We walked to the school for lunch and then walked back to the hotel after spending some time after lunch with the PLM staff and translators who are with us for the week, and got ready for church. The church service here in San Lucas was 2 1/2 hours, it was in Spanish, it was loud, and it was awesome! After church, we headed back to the Promised Land school for dinner. The school is like a home base for the week. We have meals there, prep for our service projects there, and spend some free time there. But it was the walk there today that really made an impact on the team.
In our porch time tonight, we discussed the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. We considered the question 'What does it take to serve?' We consider this as we head to sleep tonight in preparation for our first day of building houses tomorrow. We talked about how serving costs us: our time, our energy, our wants. We talked about how, as we get into a serving mindset, it will take some things from us to get there. It will take vulnerability, take sacrifice, and take courage. We talked about how it can be easy to come onto a mission trip and fall into the role of the savior, come to this place to help the people here, and that humility reminds us that we all need saving. We all need help. We all need Jesus. If that 2+ hour church service in Spanish taught us anything today, it is that we all worship the same Jesus. Rich or poor. Guatemalan or American. English or Spanish. Student or adult.
Before we talked about the Good Samaritan, we opened porch time by talking about our day. Last night, we established a few lenses through which we were going to view each day here in Guatemala. What did we see that was different? That was challenging? That was beautiful? And so we open up each porch time together, talking about the things we have seen. The twisting, winding roads around the central mountains in Guatemala. A new town to many of us in San Lucas Toliman. A church service that lasted double what we are used to, and was in another language. A dinner that was new to many of us.
And the walk back to the hotel. We felt the culture of the city on the walk. As we walked past the people and the stores and the stalls and the sounds and the smells, we began as a team to understand. To understand and respect the culture we find ourselves in this week. A culture I am proud to say our team is giving a tremendous effort to appreciate and respect, and be a part of. What we saw today was different. What we saw today was challenging. What we saw today was beautiful.
As one student remarked as we tried to take some pictures out the van window, “It looks so much better in real life than in the picture.” Enjoy the glimpse into our day via pictures, but know our team wishes you could see it all yourselves in real life.
Excited to serve tomorrow,
The Guatemala Team
