When my parents told me that we were going to go to Guatemala for 2 weeks, I was more nervous than excited. Two weeks seemed like a long time and there were parts of me that were not ready for commitment like that. I was nervous about all aspects of the trip: the food, the sleeping arrangements, the weather, the schedule, and much more. It all seemed like a lot and I didn't know if I was ready for it. But once I got there, much of my nervousness melted away. The days went by super fast because our schedule was very tight and fast paced, and there were things constantly going on. The food was still a struggle at times, but I always got enough to eat.
For the first few days we did mostly home visits and other things to help around the community and I felt out of place. Everyone on the team was older than me and smarter than me and I felt like a tag-along. Once the Vacation Bible School started though, I finally got into the groove of the trip and enjoyed myself.
At the VBS, there were so many kids and they were all so full of love. As soon as we would arrive, all of the kids would run up to us and give us big hugs and greet us. Keep in mind, none of us had ever seen any of these kids before and there were over 100 of them. From a North American perspective, this was weird, but for all the kids it was completely normal. They were all overjoyed to see us and clearly had been looking forward to this day. I could only understand bits and pieces of what they would say to me, but I knew the basics and it was so fun to introduce myself and talk to them in Spanish.
Once we started running around and playing games I started to see how much these kids really needed us there. A big portion of these kids were probably malnourished, and some had suffered abuse or neglect. I didn’t know the specifics of what was going on in each of these children's homes but I could tell there was a lot of hurt. Despite this, every single one of them was always joyful and all they wanted to do was worship God. During times of worship they would sing their hearts out and jump up and down; so excited to worship God.
Throughout the trip I kept thinking back to those days at the VBS and I kept thinking about how joyful and worshipful those kids were despite all of their problems. My worries about my trip seemed tiny in comparison and I realized that even though these kids were several years younger than I am, I wanted to be like them. I want to be more worshipful and passionate about God. I want to be less anxious and sad and more joyful and energized. I want to be more selfless and I want to trust God. I know that these kids can do little to nothing about their problems and so all they can do is trust God and rely on him. I want to be like that.
Jake