The Heart of Guatemala

In Costa Rica, the saying the locals would always use is “Pura Vida.” So, when we first arrived in Guatemala one of my squad mates was curious on the bus ride from the airport if Guatemala had a saying like that. As she was looking around, she saw “Bienvenidos” everywhere, so she thought maybe that is their saying before I reminded her that bienvenidos just meant welcome. However, now that I have been here for a month and a half, I see that bienvenidos may be a fantastic way to describe the Guatemalan people.

Us Americanos can learn a lot from the people here in Guatemala. I have loved my time here, but it has nothing to do with the pretty landscape, or the amazing climate. It has everything to do with how incredibly welcoming all the people here are. Americans are known to be a cold culture here in Central America. When Americans walk by each other it is rare for them to greet each other. We are not a welcoming culture like Guatemala is.

From the time we stepped foot in this country the local people whether in our ministry or outside have been an incredibly welcoming group. The ministry team has welcomed us with open arms into what they are doing, who they are, their restaurant spots, their homes, and their culture. It has been unreal to just feel in some ways at home just because of the hearts of this community.

Every Tuesday we get to visit houses as I have mentioned before. This is a perfect example of how welcoming these people are. These families live in houses that well are not great. Would open a lot of people’s eyes if you have not been outside the United States. The families still welcome us into their homes to hear about their lives and pray for them. We typically split into groups now but there is still maybe 7-10 of us walking into their homes. Imagine if we tried to knock on doors in the United States to visit and love on people, that probably would not fly.

Today we got to do house visits and split up into three different groups. My group got to visit a family with three of my favorite kids (Katy, Mary Cruz, and Andy). They sell bunnies to people, so they had a bunch of them at their place, so I was trying my best to ask about them and just love on these amazing kids. Later during the visit, Katy who is maybe 11, goes over to her mom and starts whispering to her mom during our conversation happening in a circle. Suddenly I see her whip her head around and start speed walking at me. She has a bunny in her hands and is reaching out to hand it me.  I knew quickly that she was trying to give the bunny as a gift. Not wanting to be rude I of course took it not having any idea what I would do with it.

Luckily, Zach who comes to do ministry with us quite often had mentioned this happening to him already and said the next time it happened he would keep it because he gave the last one away. So, I handed it off to him. Later today we had VBS, so those kids came and immediately were asking where this bunny was, and they ran over to grab it and hug it while showing him off to their friends. How much they appeared to love this bunny made me realize how meaningful this gesture really was. Like wow.. surreal. These three kids and the other 25+ we see multiple times a week are going to be very difficult to leave.

Y’all let’s love better. Especially as Christians let us be known for being a super welcoming group of people. Love on people well. Welcome people into your lives, even your homes if it came to it. I am learning a lot from all these amazing people and am really trying to soak these last 3ish weeks up.

Love you all! Jesus loves you a lot more!

JD