Training week

Hey again!

I have officially finished our training week on Sunday. And all I can say is wow, what an experience. God did not wait to start working in our hearts and growing us! I have been learning so much Spanish and information about the culture already. Along with trying authentic Guatemalan dishes that are truly incredible. Not only that but i’ve been learning what it means to take life slow, hard work, and building deep relationships. Hand washing all our clothes and dishes in the “pila” has been a humbling experience.

Day 2 (Wednesday): we had two teachings this day, one about stewardship and the later one about forgiveness. Learning about stewardship showed me that the Lord is preparing me and i must be faithful with little to be faithful with much. It was so sweet to me that we talked about forgiveness the first day because it had been such a huge part of my story. Reconciliation is to be at peace, but this never means justifying the offense. I can forgive others because I understand how much God truly has forgiven me. Do you believe you are forgiven? What does God say about those you need to forgive? There are questions that have been so crucial to me in my faith journey. Our group was divided into two teams which will be serving different ministries during our time here. I love my team so much! I am so excited to serve with them.

Day 3 (Thursday):

This day we had teachings focused on intimacy with the Lord. Our first teaching was about abiding and keeping God as our first love. Everything good comes from His love, and our love is rooted in our obedience and faithfulness to Him. I loved how abide was defined “bringing myself back to the reality of living in His love DAILY”. If we are living in His love then all the fruits of the spirit are granted to us. Lacking one simply means we must abide even more. Then we had worship time and learned more about the true heart of worship. Which is spirit and truth. After this, we learned about the 9 Scared pathways. This was really interesting to me because i’ve never heard about this before. The different pathways are the different ways people hear from the Lord. We got to meditate on the ones that come most naturally to us, and the ones we struggle most in. I really encourage you to look into these and press into the ones that are harder for us. Lastly, to finish off a day packed full of teachings, we learned about having a heart of surrender. This is usually very difficult for people, especially those who love control (me). But there is always reward and deep blessing in surrendering the things that mean the most to us and laying them at the feet of Jesus. For example, these best couple months i’ve had to surrender my uncertain finances, family, fears, distractions, and more to best serve here in Guatemala. Which I won’t lie has been tough. But I’ve learned to trust in the leadership of the Father, and seen the abundance that comes in Jesus. This makes it so much easier to hand things over to Him when we trust in His care for us. What do you need to surrender? And more importantly, what are you gaining in return of surrendering these things?

Day 4 (Friday):

ADVENTURE DAY!!!!! Ah this day was so fun. Our first day off of the base since arriving, and it was such a full day of learning and experiencing the culture. After breakfast we started right in with cultural orientation and we left at 12 to visit Antigua. The base is in Parramos which is about 45 minutes away by taking the chicken bus, which we did. The chicken bus is a school bus from America that they paint. Our first ride we had atleast 60 people on the bus. They don’t hesitate to pack as many people on the bus as possible. Some would climb around the sides, come in the back, or on top. This was a super fun experience for us. Then in Antigua my team did a scavenger hunt through the city. There is so much life there! We got to see the famous arch, the market, ruins, and more. One of the tasks was buying fresh flowers in the market and giving them to someone. I only paid $1 USD for them. (50Q = about $7) I started walking down the street and praying for the Spirit to lead me to who these would bless most, which may sound crazy, but I had the image of an older woman in my mind and Jennifer who was with me had that image too she told me after! All of a sudden i stopped and looked to my left and through a tent there was a small restaurant with an older woman working behind the corner. I just knew she was the one! Her name was Corelia and she was so kind and we both teared up. When we left Antigua, we took the chicken bus back home and I just loved riding through the mountains it truly is the most beautiful place i’ve seen. Back at base, one of the cooks Teresa made us an AMAZING meal and we had our night time session about the importance of community which opened up a lot of vulnerability in all of us which was really beautiful. We also got to celebrate Anna and Kennedy’s birthday (2 girls on our squad) with cake and ice cream. Such a perfect end to the night and the ice cream was seriously the best i’ve ever had!!!

Days 5 (Saturday):

The verse of the day on my phone was Joshua 1:9 today. This stuck out to me because 1.) if you know me you know this verse follows me around everywhere I go for the last year, so much that I got it tattooed on me 2.) I had no service on my phone at the time and still that came through! Just like how Jennifer on our squad just brought a sign with that verse and set it by our bedside. It encouraged me so much to lead worship for the first time Sunday! Which also, if you know me, i’ve always had a huge fear in public speaking, let alone leading worship. Our first session this morning was so incredible and really made me think. The focus was on what it truly means for us to DWELL in the Spirit of God, to DIE to ourselves, and for us to have DEPTH with the Father. To always be going deeper with Him. Then we were given a lot of time to just reflect on how all of this applies to our lives, what it means to be truly sold out to the Lord, and what we are supposed to be doing for His kingdom. In the evening, we learned about the Holy Spirit. Which, life is truly an adventure when we live only led by the Spirt right?! He works IN us, FOR us, and THROUGH us. He wants to turn us not into something different, but to who we were intended to be ALL ALONG. Ugh, SO GOOD!!!! we had a super powerful time of worship and prayer after this and i’ve already been growing so much in these few days and building such close relationships with everyone. It’s truly been so amazing and exciting.

Day 6 (Sunday):

This day I led worship with three of the other people in our squad. That was cray cray. I think this whole time God has just been growing me to say “yes” this week to all things i’ve been scared of. Usually I don’t hesitate to say “no” to the things that scare me, but for some reason i have just been so strengthened and encouraged to get out of my comfort zone. Kyndal, our base leader, prayed for me afterwards and was just super specific and encouraging to me which was so awesome. That afternoon we went to Chimaltenango which is the town over from Parramos. Also super busy and full of life. We went the mall for a bit and then we ordered our own van Back to Parramos in Spanish, i was so proud LOL………

Our team had to leave a little early to head to meet our ministry for the first time, which I was sad to leave early but excited to meet our ministry hosts. We will be staying with them all the next week. They are so, so, so sweet! And funny, and make the best meals! Sumpango, where their ministry base is, is super hilly and we had to hike up two huge hills to get there with all our luggage. Such an adventure LOL. “Reigndom” is the name of the ministry. We work with the homeless, the schools in Santa Marta, alcoholic programs, and so much more! It is such a beautiful city and the people here crave God like no other. They have a rooftop area where you can see the whole village and all the mountains and volcanoes, it’s absolutely breath taking. Although there is only one sink, one toilet , and one shower. And the sink is for laundry, dishes, and bathroom. I’m realizing how spoiled I truly am. We stopped at a tienda and I got a soda. I asked the worker to open it for me and then she poured it into a plastic bag w a straw and gave it back…. i’m truly learning so much everyday haha! Thank you God for this opportunity.

With love,

Becca