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Going into
debrief, I had no idea what the Lord would bring up in my heart. So I went into it with an open mind but not an open heart and open hands. And the Lord made that very clear to me.
The most impactful day for me in debrief was the day we received the prompt of “what are you holding on to thy you need to let go of?” When we received that, I began to look within myself and it made me realize that I have people I need to apologize to. We were in worship at the time when we were prompted to go and reconcile with people that we felt like we needed to. I accepted that as a sign from the Lord to do it right then, so I listened to what He was saying to me. As I went around apologizing to the people I felt like I needed to, I felt lighter and lighter the more people I apologized to. It was a weight I didn’t realize I was carrying that was being lifted off by the Lord. I spent the rest of the day in awe of how He worked in my heart and how He changed my heart posture towards people on my squad. He will reveal and bring up things that you wouldn’t normally expect to be brought up. He’s just mysterious and amazing like that.
Last week was our first week of ministry and I’m sure I can assume that this has been my team’s favorite ministry thus far.
Here’s what our week looked like!:
- On Monday, we got to meet our ministry hosts!
- On Tuesday, we got to work in a school helping teach English to children that were grades K-6. In the 6th grade class, we taught them how to use a water filter that the school is going to gift to each of the families so we know that they have clean water!
- On Wednesday, we got to go to the Alabasters ministry and do house visits, help clean their property, beauty for ashes, and a Bible study! (Between 16 girls, there was like 3 or 4 people doing each thing.)
- On Thursday, the Adventures Guatemala has something called activation Thursdays! Where we have a teaching in the morning and we go out and we are sent out into the surrounding cities and apply what we learned! We received a teaching on speaking life and how our words have POWER. So we went out encouraging Guatemalans with the Word of God!!
Quick story about an encounter that we had on last Thursday. So we were walking around and we were walking through this market that had the most beautiful produce. And we stopped to talk to this woman who was selling produce. After some asking some questions and getting to know her, we started to ask about her faith and how her relationship was with God. But after we asked if she read her Bible daily, she started to not make eye contact with us or answer our questions. It was then that we realized that we offended her by the way that we asked the questions that we were. She ended up packing up her stuff as we were talking to her and wrapping up the conversation after we observed the non verbal communication that she wanted to be done with the conversation. After debriefing what had happened, we realized that we offended her and she felt somewhat attacked by what we were asking. It was really helpful to have a native Guatemalan with us to translate for us and who could explain to us what had happened and how she felt. So we went into the rest of our time with a different perspective and mindset.
- On Friday, our ministry, dar para dar, has a sabbath! So we got to spend hours on prayer mountain just with the Lord! Being able to encounter the Holy Spirit at 7500 feet elevation in the mountains 🏔️ 🤩
- Saturday, we had a free day!
- Sunday, we had house church!
This entire week is Holy Week, so almost every team has no ministry this week in honor of Holy Week, because Guatemalans hold Holy Week to a higher significance than other cultures would. There is a whole bunch of precessions going on this week in the city and we might get to go and see them! They all have such a significant meaning that I can’t wait to be able to explain later!
Please be praying for X Squad as we step into the high honor we were called to walk into. During debrief, it was explained to us that at this point in the race is when we would start to wind down but our leadership team is charging us with the task of ramping it up so we can finish strong. We are here for a reason and we want to make a lasting impact on Guatemala. We want people to know Gods love for them and how merciful and graceful He is that they would be lead to repentance. We want people to encounter Jesus!! But it’s up to us as a squad to receive that encouragement and apply what we’ve been taught. So please just pray for a motivation and determination that is so powerful that we know that it only comes from the Holy Spirit, that the Lord would work in us in RADICAL ways that we wouldn’t even expect. To Him be the glory forever and ever, amen. 🙏🏼
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