Ginny's message

Having never been to Guatemala I really did not know what to expect. And during one of our planning session for our upcoming trip Doug told us to “think different”—different smells, different sights, different sounds—different. That was good advice—I was not used to the smell of burning trash especially when rubber was being burned too—a clearly toxic smell. I was not used to being woken up by crowing roosters and grunting pigs. I was not used to seeing chickens, roosters, pigs and dogs running free to scrounge for whatever food they could find. And I was not used to seeing such poverty—many streets simply made of dirt, sparse food, houses put together out of wood and metal, limited medical care and little access to clean water. This made my heart ache.

But in the midst of this different I saw another different, I saw children full of love—who were always welcomed by their parents and other loving adults no matter what was going on—worship, a meeting, a conversation or a meal. I did not see any parents yelling or scolding their children. In fact when we did some writing, drawing and even skits, the children were included just like everyone else. In one workshop when we were acting out bible stories that describe qualities of good leadership in the Bible, one group did the story of the lost sheep and a little boy was the lost sheep tucked away in the middle of a group of adults—only to be found and lifted up and hugged. I saw children who felt loved, included and cared for and families who were so proud of each other. That warned my heart.

I also saw women step into their roles as leaders in the body of Christ. We did a Women’s Workshop and we discussed the fact that each one of us is given gifts by God and when we use them we serve the world through the body of Christ and that makes us feel good. Well, after discussing this idea we sculpted our idea with clay—for example, one woman sculpted an ear because she likes to listen to people, one person a mouth because she likes to talk, one woman a broom because she likes to sweep, and one woman a microphone because she likes to go up front and sing in church. After exploring all of our gifts we talked about how we need to use these gifts because they serve God. When we finished some women heard there was going to be a workshop the next day for the church leader and when asked by one woman who it was for, we said, “church elders, deacons, pastors and anyone else in a leadership position.’ And to that the woman replied, “That would be all of us, all of the women”—and she was right and many came.

And during our last few minutes with our brothers and sisters in El Estor we sang “Unidos” together, and for one of the first times in my life I was speechless and filled to the brim with gratitude for such devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. So I must say that I have known God is everyone intellectually, but there was a part of me that thought I could being some type of knowledge or help to the folks in El Estor, maybe I knew just a little more, but what happened and has happened to many unsuspecting folks through the years, is I discovered that God was not only alive and well there, but that God was so very present that I was keenly aware of standing on Holy Ground.