Today was a “building houses all day” kind of day. Our team built a total of four houses! It was a lot of work in the hot sun all day long, but it was so great. Thankfully it wasn’t steaming hot all day long – only for the second part of the day! Our team leader, Len, had the brilliant idea to split us up into building teams as follows: everyone under the age of thirty five on one team, everyone older, on the other. That left two problems… The first was that everyone on my team (the under thirty fivers) was super new to this house building thing, whereas their team had all been to Guatemala before. The second problem was that no one on our team spoke Spanish. That made for some interesting challenges communicating with the family and with the few Guatemalan workers that came with us, but it also made for some great laughs! I am pretty certain it was a race to see who could build their houses first – and my team totally won both times! Victory is ours!
I want to share my two favorite parts of today. The first was a little three year old girl we met while building the first house. You could tell that she was the princess of her house. She was so excited when we got there that she ran inside and changed into a beautiful little dress. She had the most hilarious personality. She could not understand that when she ran up to talk to me that I had no idea what she was saying! Her mom thought that was very funny. I would always just nod and smile at her and say “wow!” She stood and watched me work for a long time, painting the trim for the windows and doors. Not long after, she said something to her mom and they ran to go grab something from their house. The little girl came out with her own little tiny paintbrush! She really wanted to help – it was the sweetest thing. We painted together, and you could tell that it made her very happy that she could help build her house.
My next favorite story happened when we were just finishing up on house number two! A little girl had been peeking at me through the window of the house across the street and waving for quite some time. Finally she made her way outside. I had a bracelet in my bag and I wanted to give It to her – so I walked across the street and put it on her arm. She had the biggest smile on her face! After we finished building, painting and dedicating the house we were working on, we had some time to kill. I was walking up and down the street with my camera, taking photos and just taking some time to look at everything. This sweet girl walked up to me and gave me a bouquet of grass, flowers and weeds that she had picked. It was the cutest thing! She gave me a hug. It’s amazing how much you can do for someone and they for you when you can’t even speak. I will treasure that moment forever! Actions speak louder than words… And, in this case, actions mean so much especially when there can’t be any words.
One of the biggest challenges I am finding on this trip is that I cannot communicate freely. There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to ask the kids questions, or speak to someone and you honestly just can’t. But they know that. It makes a hug, a gift, a smile, or a hand on a shoulder in these moments mean so much more. God keeps reminding me of this verse this week: “Commit your actions to The Lord and your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3. I know that God is working through all of these moments because each moment has been laid into His hands.
Refined Joy 