man in the mirror

Alrighty party people I know I haven’t written in a hot minute so I apologize. Most of you probably haven’t realized or cared, but I’m mostly apologizing just to be nice. But for real, this is for all the generous people who support me and who are doing this journey along side me. I couldn’t do this without all of you so thank you!! 

I haven’t picked up the pen in a very long time soooo this might be a tad chaotic because it’s coming straight from my brain but here it goes. 

Well we made it to Guatemala a little over two weeks ago, and oh my, let’s start from the beginning. So getting off the plane excitement filled the eyes and hearts of most people around me but I’ll be honest there were tears in my eyes. Why? Who’s to say. Maybe because I love America. Maybe because I miss my family. Maybe because this was the sealed stamp that I was actually traveling the world with a bunch of people I met two months ago. Who’s to say all I know is that I was not excited. But nevertheless God was gracious to me once again. You see, normally I’m the melt (sad one) alone, but this time my emotion rock hard teammate was also the only one bailing her eyes out lol. So although she’s gonna hate to read that I was low key thankful I wasn’t the only one with sad emotions about leaving America. Point 1. God is good even when you don’t realize in that moment. 

After the first tears of being here were over we started to get situated onto our ministries. Sooo little behind the scenes for you. There are about 6 “teams” of about 7 people in each and that’s who you do your ministry’s with. Sooo let me tell you about it! My teams ministry’s are the best but I swear I’m not bias. 

On Monday’s and Friday’s we work at a school scooping cow poop. I know that doesn’t make sense and I’m sure you think I’m kidding but I’m not. We have been helping prepare the school to reopen after Covid, and part of that is taking care of their cows. They have a program where they give cows to people in need so they can make an income for their families. so I’ll give you a little picture in your head. Imagine me and my yellow slide shoes (of course) scooping poop and getting pulled by cows twice a week. I’m not even being dramatic but there is definitely still remnants of who knows what in my toe nails, because I will always refuse to wear cowgirl boots no matter the consequences. Okay I’m done grossing you out it’s just too funny not to share. 

 

On Tuesday’s, we go to a small village and play soccer and give a bible lesson to all the kids in the village. Yeah, it’s as sweet as it sounds. Their little smiles are exactly the way I picture Jesus when He looks as His children (us). So much excitement, so much love, so joyful, and so accepting of all of us even if we don’t deserve it. Man, we have so much to learn from kids. No wonder Jesus loves them so much in the Bible they have reckless faith without any doubts or fears. Okay I’m done, but those kids are precious. After that, we get to go into an orphanage and do the same thing. The crazy part is those kids are the same, and have so much less, but yet are full of love. It’s wild. 

 

Wednesdays!!! 

Wednesdays are one of the best because it’s hot, sweaty, tiring, with sounds of bricks being stacked while little giggles are coming from all sides, holding endless amounts of flowers. Okay thats what comes to me head when I think of Wednesdays but I’ll explain. 

So we drive around an hour (no joke the prettiest hour of my life) up to a village that is on a mountaintop. side note Guatemala is beautiful. So there we have been hauling bricks to help them build their home. It might sounds like we are helping them but no joke they have definitely taught me way more then the help I’m giving them lol. Let me tell you. So we are working with one home in the village but every home there has taken it as if we were helping all of them. We carry bricks from one home owners house to the other who is actually the one in need of the bricks. How many people in America would let there neighbor dump a pile of bricks in their yard for a few weeks? Then, at lunch time they always feed us I swear a gourmet meal, prepared not by the home owner we are working with but another neighbor. It’s wild, how much they care for one another here. When I picture what the Lord talks about in Galatians about caring one another’s burdens, and celebrating in one another’s joys this is what I picture. All I’m saying is the generosity and gratitude in their hearts is something I strive for. God is at work. So you might be confused by the flowers lol. So imagine, shoveling rocks into a wheel barrel to push down a quarter mile thin path under the Guatemala sunshine passing through some cows mooing at you there are about 8 little girls giggling at you from all sides. Running, jumping, dancing in the dirt as they stare at you and talk to you in Spanish as if we were fluent. Full of joy they give you all they have running from home to home they collect all the wild flowers around. As we push wheel barrels from one home to another, you won’t pass through without seeing those smiling eyes with hands behind their backs. Without doubt you’ll end up at the other home with at least 13 flowers that were hiding behind there backs that they throw in your barrel or put in your hair, or in my case my mouth and me being me just to entertain them decides to eat it just to hear their laughs a little louder. Or I could tell you about the time when a little nugget (kid) and I cracked open walnuts with a giant rock for her to eat. Or the time I made all of them follow in a line and do a dumb dance they refused to do at first. This all might not make sense but words can explain a glimpse of the the Fathers heart there kids so deeply express. So anyway, enough about Wednesdays. 

Thursdays

We have a bible study in the morning, and then we all go out into different villages in Guatemala and just start talking to people God puts in our path. It’s been a privilege to sing down the streets making people come out of their homes just to see what crazy person is making an awful screech down their road. But jokes on them that’s all apart of the plan to get them outside to tell them JESUS LOVES THEM. I swear it’s not as creepy as it sounds. But I do think they will be banning my harmonica from me soon lol. 

 

 This is exactly why I hardly write, because as soon as I start I can’t stop, I write a book every time and I’m sorry. But let me just tell you really quick what God has been teaching me. WATER THE LAND.  “He opens the rock and water flowed out; it ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word with Abraham His servant; and He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. (psalms 105). (little catch up) Here the psalm outlines Israel’s history to the calling of Abraham and Gods promise to bring him through the wilderness into the promise land. But what God has been so clearly teaching me is that water flowed out. It wasn’t nicely streaming, but FLOWED. I picture water running everywhere. That’s precisely how I wanna be. Uncontained, gushing water filling the earth spreading the truth about Jesus. No matter where I’m placed I pray that nothing will take the wild love of Christ pounding in my chest. The desire to be different, the desire to water the dry land, and the desire to be crazy for His word is worth every second. James 1 “But prove yourself doers of the world, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was”. Each day I wanna be able to say looking in the mirror I see more and more of Christ’s character, but in order to do that I have to be a doer of the word, with continual refining. (Or as Michael Jackson would say “I’m starting with the man in the mirror). Watering the land isn’t easy, but jumping right in is totally worth doing if it allows me to see more of the Fathers eyes. 

After writing a whole book I just want to say, thanks for reading all of this and supporting me in prayer and finances. I seriously need all the prayers I can get. God has brought me this far because of all your prayers, so thank you!! Also, there is a lot of spiritual warfare, crime, and danger in Guatemala, but Gods beauty outshines it all. So thanks again for making it this far, and Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or ways I could be praying for all of you!! 

Last thing, this week is thanksgiving and not being home for us all is going to be a little rough. With that being said please pray for God‘s comfort, and do me a favor and love your families a little extra hard for us this year. Also if you see mine give them a fat hug for me because theres none like it :))

Make me your vessel. 

All His love. 

-Nomes 🙂