Hope in Guatemala

These first two weeks in Guatemala have been much busier than I anticipated. Between learning a new job, trying to find a place to live, exploring a new city, and brushing up on my Spanish I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to process the beginning of our journey. I feel so grateful that we've been embraced into our new community. Everyone is so kind and welcoming and helpful. We have a lot to learn, but we're enjoying the process.

I wanted to share a few pictures of my favorite moments at work this past week:I wish I could tell you each of their stories. Perhaps one day. But these are the people I am privileged to interact with every day. Sometimes I visit them in their homes, sometimes they come to our organization and I sit and talk with them as they share their story.

The other day we went to visit several elderly people in their homes and their living conditions were terrible. Most had no electricity and no running water. They lived in one room huts made of wood or mud and slept on straw or an old blanket. It was my job to go with a Guatemalan doctor who volunteered to examine them and I recorded notes. I stood and watched and silently prayed over each elderly person. They had all lived long lives of hard labor. And now their bodies were aching from the years of carrying heavy loads on their backs or bending over cultivating the ground. Their lives of hard labor seemed, to me, unfair. And now as they age they reap the consequences of poverty and it seems even more unfair. Many of them have gone blind and their skin is tough like leather with scabs and bleeding sores. The doctor explained that this is common for people who spend their entire lives working under the sun.

I still think it's unfair. Why do some people work so hard their entire lives, only to be left alone in a shack of dirt blind and in pain? I will not see the day in this fallen world when everything is fair and just. Instead, I seek some source of hope amidst it all and I work to increase this hope among our sisters and brothers. He is indeed our hope. Hope for a better future, hope for justice in a fallen world, hope for dignity amidst poverty. Please join me in prayer for the impoverished that I am attempting to serve. I know so little of their lives and I can understand it even less. But I serve a God of Hope and I trust that He cares for His children better than I can.