Amigos

Today was a great day filled with many God given moments of down time. Our Canadian culture seems to want to rush everything, and get things done as fast as possible. Today, we felt there were times where God forced our team to rest and enjoy our time with the wonderful people we were building houses for; rather than rush to complete the house on time. We are so thankful for the people we got to spend time with today, the children we got to talk to and the memories we made!

We headed off early this morning at seven thirty to build our first two houses. My group had a lovely family with some older boys that were so excited and willing to help. The work got done so fast with their help! It was awesome to see how much they wanted to be a part of the building process. As we finished the house, the homeowners niece came home from school and ran to the house. You could tell she was so excited! She ran around inside the house and was talking very quickly. It was a great thing to witness. There was so much joy in her eyes!

Our next house is especially dear to my heart! This family was a house full of ladies. There was the mother, Wendy (20 year old), Lesly (16 years old), Dulce (10 years old), and a little five year old girl named Lindsay. When we arrived at this house, we realized we had forgot all of our paint at the school. The ladies on the team did as much as we could, and then we had to wait for one of the workers to drive back to the school (about 20 minutes away from the village) to get the paint. This allowed for us to spend some down time, playing with the kids. I had a ton of fun playing with Dulce and Lindsay. Even though we couldn’t speak to each other, we had a blast and laughed a lot! Once the paint arrived they were such great little helpers – although, they made a huge mess of blue paint all over themselves! After awhile, Dulce pointed to me and then to herself and said, “amigos?” I said “si”. Lindsay and I even played peek a boo in the house. I would lift her up and carry her to the windows of the house, and she would look at everyone outside and say “hola!” It was so funny. That game lasted for quite some time! How sweet! My name in Spanish is pronounced “Hoostina”, and so Lindsay would run around trying to find me yelling “Hoostina, Hoostina!!” In the matter of four hours I built the sweetest little friendship with these girls. I will remember and cherish our time together. I pray that God blesses their sweet family abundantly in their new home. (Check out our celebration fireworks!)

After a hard days work the team came home to the B and B and ate dinner. We decided not to waste any time and headed out for an evening stroll through the Guatemalan streets. It was great to see the bustling city at night. We went to this quaint coffee shop downtown, grabbed a coffee and headed to the park to enjoy the warmth of the evening. It was great team bonding. Our team leader, Len, has actually taught me a lot during this trip. He has a huge heart for these people! He has been coming to Guatemala for over ten years now. He is the architect who designed the houses we are building! Tonight, two little girls were bugging him as we were walking around. They were trying to sell him some of the scarves they had. He told them ‘no’ so many times, but they wouldn’t go away. Instead of getting angry or frustrated, Len asked them if he could buy them ice cream. The girls looked shocked and surprised, but were so excited! That ice cream meant the world to them! What a sweet act of kindness that not only showed these poor and broken girls Jesus, but showed me Jesus as well. I hope one day I have a heart that is this selflessly in-tune with the Spirit. I saw Jesus at work tonight; I saw Jesus at work today – making friends, serving, laughing, and loving people.

“By this we know that we have com to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him; the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 1 John 2:3-6