Ismael and I regularly meet to discuss the situation in Solola. We always start with and update about Juana so I can understand her situation better. I realize she has become my "poster child." Ismael says that there are 15 more families in Solola who are in the same or a worse condition than she is. All, or almost all, of them have similar stories to that of Juana.
But there comes the problem of how I learn about the needs of 16 families when I live all the way near Antigua. It is a 2 hour ride from my house to hers, and that's if the bus driver is driving a little wildly--most of them do, though--and Ismael's parents are waiting for me with the pickup when I arrive in Los Encuentros. As there is no longer any need for me to live in San Antonio and as all of my work is slowly pulling on me to move to Solola, I imagine that sometime this fall I will be moving to the area and getting down to business. I will ideally be able to visit each family once per month, and work on setting up a sponsorship program for them. I will start to work with the leaders in Solola to try to bring tourism to their area (which is what they say they want; although, I have cautioned against this.)
It will be a change from everything I have known up to this point. For the most part, I will stop speaking Spanish and take up speaking Kaqchikel. (For those of you who were curious about those Kaqchikel classes, I bought a book off Amazon which I'm going to use with Edgar's assistance. It was a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more logical considering my situation.) I will likely find a new church to attend; although I haven't ruled out spending the weekends in Antigua. New neighbors, new place to buy bread, new place to buy everything. Let's just say, it's going to be interesting.
God has given me all sorts of new experiences here, and sometimes I can't help but wonder if Guatemala is it for me. Although I love where I live and what I do, some of the things I go through make me lift an eyebrow and ask, "God, this is...weird. Are You...? Do You have something bigger planned for me? Because, if not, this is weird." I recently watched the movie "Taken," and a line that resonated with me was "I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills." Mine is a set of skills that God started putting in me long before my birth and has only continued to cultivate as I've grown.
Anyway, it's big. It's exciting. And it's the update.
No comments:
Post a Comment