Just like that, my time here in Guatemala has come to an end. When I first arrived, I thought three months was a long time, but it went by so fast. I loved it here so much! It was incredible. If I had to describe Guatemala in one word, it would be vibrant. The culture is vibrant, the clothes are vibrant, the food is vibrant, and even the people are vibrant! I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Hope Ministries. Our last day was a Christmas party with the whole village! For the past few weeks, we had been making decorations and handing out invitations, and then it finally came! It was so sweet to see the parents of the kids we had been working with, and to see all the families together. The goodbye was so sad.
For our very last week, we had debrief! We stayed at a hostel in Antigua, and our time was filled with getting coffee, teachings, debriefing, worship, and lots of ice cream. It was so fun! It was so awesome to see how God moved individually in each of our teams and how we got to return with testimonies! For my ministry, every Tuesday we went to visit houses, and one day there was no specific agenda for who we were meeting. We ended up visiting a house where a man was on bed rest after having a heart attack and was using a breathing simulator. Two weeks later, we returned, and he was up walking around and doing remarkably better! It was incredible to see how God worked in that, and He did it over and over in so many ways with every team. We went cliff diving one day, which was amazing! It took a 2-hour bus ride and a boat ride to get there, but it was totally worth it. The lake we went to is called Lake Atitlán. It’s crystal blue, and all around you can see the volcanoes! The jump was 47 feet! It was insane. I did it once, and it was terrifying. You have time to think about falling while you’re falling!
After the week was over, it was time for a week of travel. It took a total of 63 hours to reach our destination. On Tuesday, we left at 7 AM for an hour bus ride to the airport. From there, we hopped on a 3-hour flight to Miami, followed by a 5-hour layover. Next, we had a 13-hour flight to Qatar with a 12-hour layover, then an 8-hour flight to Johannesburg. From there, we took a 7-hour Greyhound ride to Durban. We finally arrived on Friday! We are split up for South Africa—two teams went to Cape Town, two to Durban, and our guys’ team went to Lostho. We’re partnering with Circuit Riders, and we will be staying at three different locations within Durban. Our first place is right on the beach, where we’ll be working with a holiday program. I am so excited to see all that the Lord has for us in South Africa!
What an adventure!! Love you!!