As I sit here and write about this place that I love, the Lord overwhelms me, and it is my most earnest prayer that I can convey what Jesus does here well. Magdalena, Guatemala – God wrecked my life here, and He continues to charm me and show me His miracle-making abilities every day I spend here. At home, in the United States, it is easy to lean on our abilities more than Jesus’. It is easy because we wake up, go to work, make money to support ourselves and our families, put food on the table and clothes on our bodies without ever really calling on God for assistance. Before Love Guatemala, I lived in survival mode. It was merely MY abilities that got me from one day to the next, and I survived just fine – what a mediocre way that was to live. I came to this place that is overflowing with need and poverty, and here, I found more joy than I have ever known. Joy because the Lord is always good, and the Lord is calling us home one day. This truth, the power of the simple gospel, is what provides this town with Joy.
God has called us to be hopeful people. What could these people possibly have to hope for? A house made out of metal instead of sticks and sheets? This kind of hoping can not, never has, never will lead to joy. It leads us to disappointment, and then we become terrible hopers, cruising through life in survival mode, blind to the majesty and love that is our Father. We are called to a hope that our minds cannot even fathom. We are called to live eternally with a Father, who loves us and stops at nothing to get us. Jesus came down and split time in two. He didn’t come to live, or to be praised; He came to die, to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth, out of pure, steadfast love. The Lord is not a figurehead here. Here, He is an unending song. Here, the mountains and volcanoes bow in reverence. He is called on to meet His people’s needs and Love Guatemala School’s needs every day because there is just no other way, and He shows up. He provides. He sustains. He’s moving mountains and answering prayers before we even speak. All things I used to hope for were (and always will be) inadequate. This abyss can only be filled with the immutable Jesus.
The people of Love Guatemala live enthusiastically, not in a “what the heck, why are they always happy” way, but a “holy cow, Jesus is here in all situations, and I get to live with Him forever” way. They understand the unexplainable hope to which we are called. They understand that Christ has called them out, set them apart, and chases them so that they may live in heavenly places with Him one day. Love Guatemala teaches many practical skills such as cooking, carpentry, art, English, but they immerse all of this teaching in Truth. They share scripture, our written communication with the God who created everything under the sky. Scripture says that Jesus, our Lord, wants us, pursues us, died for us so that we may live for and with Him. Scripture says that we are His glorious inheritance, that this Earth is temporary, and our life with Him will be beautiful beyond our imagination and forever. Love Guatemala gives the Word, gives hope, and changes lives.
P.S. If you’re in survival mode, please come witness some miracles and some true joy – trust me!