Here I am, back in Guatemala City again. It’s been eleven months since I was here last, and a total miracle that I was able to come this time! Back in September, when I was barely getting used to life in Uganda (side note: does anyone ever really get used to life in Uganda?), I told my new friends that I loved Guatemala and I was determined to somehow make it there with the MTI students again this year. Upon my return from East Africa, I inquired about the Guatemala trip, but at the time, I was jobless, broke, and trying to figure out how to be an American again, so a trip to Guatemala with an $800 price tag was out of the question.
Pastor Raymond and I talked a few times about me coming in and doing some teaching and missions prep with the first years, who would be going to Guatemala and Nicaragua, and the second years, who were venturing off to Sri Lanka. We never got me on the schedule, though; things are pretty crazy this time of year. Then, a week before the teams were to embark on their journeys, Pastor Keith called and asked if I could join the team going to Guatemala, as the other leaders going suddenly needed to back out. Another leader was needed because all of the students were in teams on different flights, and there was a leaderless team of 18-20 year olds with no travel experience. Within two days, I had the green light from my employer, as well as a church-purchased ticket to Guatemala City! My God loves me, what can I say?
After several delays and spending the night in the terminal of Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, I was so happy to arrive and see the familiar faces of people I love. I felt like I was coming home in many ways. Our flight delays had ruined my plan to surprise Alejandra, Eduardo, and the rest of the Elim Central crew, but I was just glad to see them. I wonder if outside the Body of Christ, people feel as connected as I can with these people who have a language and culture completely different than mine, that I only spent one week with nearly a year ago.
That’s the focal point of what God was showing me on this trip, and in this season of life: everything, everything in life comes down to relationship. We’re not designed to be isolated and independent. If you go back to the beginning, pre-Genesis, before the world was formed, God had a thought, a desire in His heart, to love and to be loved. That’s why we were created. Then, after the fall, which separated us from Him, Jesus came to restore what we had destroyed. Creation. Incarnation. Death. Resurrection. All about one thing: relationship. And not just between me and Him, but between me and every other part of the Bride He is preparing for Himself. We’re interconnected, interdependent.
I have a lot of acquaintances in Guatemala now. But I also have a few friends. You know, we Americans throw the term “friend” around so loosely, it’s no wonder we’re so terrible at this thing called relationship. We don’t know how to do it. We live our lives in front of shiny screens and in shiny boxes on wheels, always improving our ways to effectively isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. And then we wonder why we have so many problems.
Back to my Guatemalan friends. There’s one in particular that means a great deal to me. She is amazing. From the now two weeks I’ve been in her presence, I don’t really deserve to have the quality of friendship I do with her. For whatever reason, though, it was God’s design for us to connect, to be able to share dreams and hopes and fears, and to pray for one another. Distance does a lot to show you what true friendship is, because it can’t be about what the other person can do for you or how they make you feel. It requires work and communication. I wonder what my friendships here at home would be like if I was as intentional in communicating and trying to relate and understand as I was with a good friend in another country, whose first language is Spanish? Wow.
You know, we didn’t build an impressive building, see a ton of miracles, or save a village in Guatemala. But I made a lifelong friend. And two churches came together to work and serve and pray… that alone would be considered a miracle by some today. And in the years to come, even though it may be ten or twenty years down the road, this relationship between two churches will grow, and the Bride will grow more and more glorious. We will learn to love and serve together. To love and serve each other. It won’t be about names or money or impressive stories. It will be about new experiences for some, and deepening relationship for others. All in all, it will be about life, and living life together, just as we were designed to do.
The buildings crumble, the paint eventually chips. Our good intentions often cause more problems than solutions in the long run. But underneath it all, a Body is being built up, and a Bride prepared, and we will spend eternity together, worshiping the One who designed us for this purpose.
