Carlie

Hola, from Guatemala! Feliz Miercoles! (Happy Wednesday). Today was a gift. The opportunity to serve presents itself in so many forms. It can be found in medial task like washing carrots, stacking cinder blocks, or even stirring cement. Relationships with people and with God grow with every chop of a knife and every new Spanish and English word learned. After today I’m not sure who is more blessed the community or us. At the beginning of our workday our group split in two. Four people stayed to work in the community soup kitchen while the rest went to the Misteco property to continue progress on building the house. At the soup kitchen we started with the easy task of cutting chicken, ginormous carrots, celery, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and last and the stickiest of all squash. The squash lingers dried on your hands even after hours of scratching and washing. Even though it is the same utensils and the same appliances it was a different experience built through comraderies with Gods love. While the soup was cooking, we had a chance to build relationships with field partners. We practiced and botched our Spanish, learning and imitating laughs and stories, while they practiced their English. We supported each other’s language journeys while forming a lasting bond. The reason we are here is to “build relationships first” which is hard for a task-oriented culture, but we are on the mission called on by God.

Up at the Misteco house the group made great strides. Even after one day of learning, everyone found a place and generated a well-oiled machine. Even with the great efficiency a question was asked to our field partners, how long would it take you to do this if someone wasn’t helping? The answer was it isn’t about the amount of time it is about the conversation. Even though the team is fast we couldn’t possibly compete with someone who does this every day. But it isn’t the point. We are learning patients through example and building relationships first.