Our two groups moved on to a new building site, and each team built a new house. It was amazing to see how well the team improved at construction after just one day of experience. Today, we focused not only on the hammering and building skills, but also on our community and team-building skills. We met the families of the houses we were building. We met their neighbors and kids in the area. We all know each other better because of the experience of building houses together. It was beautiful. It was bonding. It was a community.
In our first trip meeting, we talked about this idea of serving with Joy. That is exactly what this team exemplified today. There was encouragement. We cared well for each other. We showed patience. We laughed (a lot). Most importantly, there was JOY that only comes from knowing Jesus. It is a gift and joy to be a part of it.
Tonight in porch time, as we gathered, we talked about the spiritual discipline of Solitude. This week, one of our main focuses has been being aware of God's presence in everything, so that we can be more like Him, so that we are able to better serve and love the people we encounter daily here in San Lucan Toliman, and at home. We were honest about the fact that solitude can be scary. But we learned that Solitude is important because it helps us open the gift that is God's presence in our lives. We looked at 1 Kings 19:10-12, and saw that God meets us in the quiet and stillness. We considered the idea of what might be noisy in our lives and hindering us from being able to practice solitude. Students were real, honest, and vulnerable tonight. God wants to be with us. He enjoys spending time with us. Our prayer tonight is that through the discipline of solitude, each of us will be better servants of Christ. That we would know Him better, so that we can be more like Jesus. The hope is that we can all lean into the awareness of God.
For The Kingdom,
The Guatemala Team
