This past May, I went to Guatemala and stayed there for a month. While I could write a book, I’m going to try my best to summarize the best parts.
I went to Guatemala through my school’s missions program. A little rundown of how the process works: I applied to go on a trip in October, and the application process allows you to write down five countries that you see yourself going to. At the time, I didn’t have much of a preference, I just knew that I wanted to go on a month-long trip and preferably for it to be in Latin America. I put down a few countries all over the place, trusting that God would make whatever needed to happen, happen.
But I knew it would be Guatemala. I don’t know how, but I just did. So, a few weeks later, I was placed on the team with the best leaders in the entire world, and there were five of us.
At this point, doubts started creeping in out of nowhere and I began to feel insecure in my placement. Being completely real and honest here: it can be easy for some people to look at missions as a competition of who goes the farthest away, who has the biggest challenge spiritually, physically, who’s living conditions are the worst. And it simply is not that way. At all. Missions is about saying yes and if God calls me to the next town over you better believe I’ll treat it the same as if i were going 9,000 miles away. Just my opinion.
So back to my doubts: in the beginning, thoughts came up about if I should have used my opportunity to go somewhere “cooler,” “more risky,” and I even became worried about what people would think. Were people going to assume I wasn’t bold because Guatemala is only 2 countries down from the US?
Insecurity continued pouring into my mind, and I admittedly fought this battle all 6 months, until May. When those doubts went away, the enemy found new ways to get inside my head. I encountered depressive, unmotivated thoughts, and questioned whether I was mentally and emotionally in the right place to even go at all. The weeks leading up to departure were some of the hardest I had experienced in my life.
But, yes, Jesus came through and I stood against every thought that told me I wasn’t supposed to be on this team. And then 7 more people joined. We had six guys and six ladies, a perfect balance. We all hit it off from the beginning, and it was an honest blessing to have a team where we established friendship first. These individuals would end up helping me reshape whole thought patterns, identities, and showing me the most immense love I’d yet to fully experience.
During missions training the week before we departed, we began to establish vulnerability with each other as we shared deep feelings, thoughts, experiences from our pasts. We found common ground and also learned how to empathize with one another even when we didn’t relate. We saw God move in ways we had never seen before and we realized the importance of making the Holy Spirit a priority over our own plan. We experienced heaven together. We interceded for each other, spoke life into one another, and saw life change in each of us. The twelve people that arrived for training that week were not the same ones that boarded the plane to Guatemala.
If I could describe an abstract of what I learned during these five weeks: a glimpse of what the Kingdom of heaven looks like.
The kingdom is patient. Accepting. Quick to listen & learn. Passionate. Bold.
The kingdom loves generously, freely, and openly.
We had to be each other’s safe place. We had to act with the mindset that no conversation was too little, or too big, to have. We had to make it a priority to be there for each other at the end of each day, no matter what.
So we landed in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and being honest, we faced some hard spiritual battles during the first few days. We began to practice humbling ourselves, serving each other and our contacts, and how to continue having kingdom hearts even when things didn’t go as planned. We started to understand the significance of consistency and accountability with one another. We put on the armor of God every morning, together.
We had to be each other’s safe place. We had to act with the mindset that no conversation was too little, or too big, to have. We had to make it a priority to be there for each other at the end of each day, no matter how tired we were. and you guys:
This led to so. much. breakthrough.
Continuously.
Week two came, and then week three, and we woke up every single morning and did labor work. (Yep.) It brought up the questions,
“If God asked you to share his word and tell your testimony and for the whole month and you never found out who was impacted by it, no one ever came up to you to tell you they received salvation because of your story, but you knew were being obedient, would you still do it?”
“If God asked you to do hard labor every single day and you never even had the opportunity to share your story with someone, but you knew you were being obedient, would you still do it?”
It was something we had learned weeks before, but now we had to walk it out: “Bow low in God’s presence and he will exalt you as you leave the timing in his hands.” (1 Peter 5:6)
Getting low. For each other. For our leaders. For our contacts. For the people we encountered daily in Guatemala, and ultimately for the kingdom of God.
I had to learn how to get out of my own way and let what needed to be done, be done.
There were moments during this month where I felt defeated, unconfident, and unsure of my place.
The community that God put around me during my time in Guatemala taught me not only that I don’t have to do life alone, but that it’s not healthy to.
For my whole life, my first instinct when I felt this way was to retreat and isolate myself. I viewed myself as a burden, an inconvenience, to even my closest friends. The community that God put around me during my time in Guatemala taught me not only that I don’t have to do life alone, but that it’s not healthy to.
So I chose to be vulnerable, even when it was uncomfortable. I chose to let people see the raw me, and I had to trust that they would look at me with pure, accepting eyes. and they did. They loved me, they affirmed me and lifted me up in my weakness.
God showed me just how intentional he is by giving me this group of people. It was such a precious gift given to me in a time where i was desperate. For connection, for people who truly cared about my well being and empathized with both my defeats and my triumphs.
The people we encountered in Guatemala showed me the importance of hard work, kindness, kinship, and consistency. I fell in love with the country and its culture. But what I took from my time there goes far deeper than our missional “task”.
FIND COMMUNITY. LOOK FOR IT. MAKE IT A PRIORITY.
That’s my charge for you. Let the Holy Spirit guide your interactions. Be intentional with who you share your life with.
Create openness, safety, & a place where it’s okay to talk about both mess ups and victories. God moves so greatly within the walls of community.
Have relationships with people who are similar to you and completely different. Talk about the deep stuff. Look out for each other. Check in. Create openness, safety, & a place where it’s okay to talk about both mess ups and victories. God moves so greatly within the walls of community. He can move anywhere, but here, in this place, I have witnessed it unlike anything else I’ve seen.
So often, I see groups of friends who rarely reach below the surface in conversation. Don’t get me wrong: there’s a time and place, and you don’t wanna be that person who always gets deep at the most random times (lol, I see it all the time at my university). But establishing vulnerability is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Within community, sharing thoughts, dreams, fears–the world can be changed. There is so much power and freedom that comes out of championing one another in life.
They were my biggest takeaway.
Life in between: the week days, the mundane seasons; that’s where we as followers of Christ have to live.
I love going to church on the weekends, and I will always support short term missions when done the right way. But I want to encourage you: BE the church with your friend group. Life in between, the week days, the mundane seasons; that’s where we as followers of Christ have to live.
I’ll leave you with that! Thank you so much for reading, and if you would like to hear more about my trip, reach out! I would love to have coffee, or even just a conversation over messages. There’s also a space to leave an anonymous comment in my Contact page.
Alex
