La Vida... Automatic or Manual?

This is a post of thanksgiving. God placed a challenge before me for the month of April and it has brought me insight, understanding, confidence, and much mobility. I learned to drive in Guatemala.

This involved three aspects:
a) understanding the traffic rules,
b) learning the streets and city layout,
c) and most fundamentally, learning to drive stick-shift.
 ***This may seem a rather simple task to some of you-- indeed many of you have accomplished much more challenging and complicated things in your lives. But for me it was a big deal.... Remember I'm only 22 and God has blessed me with a pretty protected life from stress and challenges!

Anyhow, I learned a number of things through this challenge that I would like to share with you, I hope you are edified by them.
 a)  Driving through life in an 'automatic' car is very different than driving the 'manual' life.  When driving manually, every action is a conscious one. This is a metaphor for my life in Guate- culturally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically... I have been forced to become more conscious of my daily 'driving' and need to think about the pace set by my decisions, as well as the consequences and the benefits.  Life is not auto-pilot, and decisions are often much more challenging.
b)  Processes are not only about arrival at an end goal.  So often we rush to get results, focused solely on the end goal. I tend to do this so much that I forget to appreciate the process. Yet without the process of learning to drive I would have missed the lessons of patience, humility and trusting the Lord in uncertainties.  Not to mention the process of understanding myself better!
c)  Avoid tunnels and bridges. They usually take you to places where it is difficult if not impossible to turn around.  And for those of you on the ground here in Guate, I can testify that there are very few 'retornos' on the Aguilar Batres.  VERY FEW.
d)  Studying your surroundings is essential. This is survival - your surroundings can prevent you from getting lost (or crashing!). This is also a metaphor for my life here in Guate, I am learning how to be sensitive and adapt to a new culture. Seeing the way that others act, look, speak, etc... It is survival.  I was immensely encouraged tonight by a woman who told me she appreciated my mannerisms and actions- said they were considerate and could see I had adapted to cultural subtleties.  It's a slow process, but I am trying!!
 e) Guatemalans typically use different landmarks than Americans... Instead of this grocery store or that street sign, it's the bridge, tunnel, tree, or overpass. Things without names. I am learning to see with different eyes.  It's a gift from the Lord, actually. I'm not referring to looking for different landmarks along the road. I mean learning to see differently: learning to see other people with different eyes; learning to see God with different eyes; learning to see myself as God sees me.

Along these lines, I'd like to share a passage that has been in my mind lately:
 In Genesis 16, Hagar learns she is pregnant and flees from her mistress Sarah, who is mistreating her. In the desert, the angel of the Lord visits her. He calls her by name and asks her what she is doing. He gives her a promise and reminds her that he knows her needs and will be faithful to her. He also tells her to return to her mistress. At the end of this conversation, she has the privilege of naming God.
"She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One who sees me.'" (v.13)

I, too, want to 'see the One who sees me', and remember his promise of faithfulness in all circumstances- distress, injustice, desperation, fear....
He is faithful.

<><

Flor del Año

The other day a gal who has grown up in a rough neighborhood of Villa Nueva, Guatemala, was giving me a botany lesson. There was a team constructing a bedroom for her and her siblings, and it just so happens that their land is on a hillside, overlooking the whole city of Villa Nueva:

Right outside the window, this plant was growing:

It's a weed, not grown domestically, and not very well-liked because it gives off a less-than-desirable odor. She called it 'Flor del Año' (Flower of the year). I can't seem to find any info online about it by that name, but maybe someone reading this might be able to help me out with that.

Anyhow, its beauty struck me... ever since I first saw it along the side of the road last summer I have wanted to pull over and take a picture. It seems to grow even in the most desolate of places, bringing a ray of beauty.

María is a flor del año. She has grown up on a slope of the city, in an overcrowded home, with an abusive father. She is poor and lacks self-esteem, and on her own has no resources to accomplish her dreams. What she has goes to her family, and she is helping to care for her younger siblings and unable to find work or pursue studies at the university. It's not the life anyone would carve out for themselves.
But she is growing in the Lord. From the 2 hours I spent talking with her, I could see that she trusts God  to protect and provide. And I can see she is a source of hope to her own family. But that doesn't mean it's easy. That doesn't mean she is treated as the princess that she is to the Lord.  She is simply a bush growing on the side of the road, not worth stopping for.
But to me, she is like a ray of beauty in a desolate place.. and evidence of God's grace and faithfulness.

Please keep this girl and others living in the 'lowest places' in your thoughts and prayers.
She reminds us that "grace flows downhill... and pools up in the lowest places."

Kim <><

Fire breathing and dancing

Wanted to share 2 videos and some photos from the events I participated in over the weekend.
The first event was an evangelical outreach with kids on the streets in Villa Nueva. This church is committed to Street evangelism for the coming year and this was their first event. Very successful and great discipleship plan for the 2 teens that committed their lives to the Lord. Looking forward to more visits to that community!

VIDEO (click here)

The second event was a 'Health Day' festival in a plaza in the city. The ministry Very Special Arts took part in the program... they work in the arts offering workshops and classes for handicapped persons. One singer, a blind man, sang 'America' and 'New York, New York'.  Then a group of adults in wheelchairs performed 2 dances.  This gives you a taste of the accomplishments and beauty of this ministry. Their members, a very marginalized group here in Guatemala, have many dreams and hopes, and VSA is making them some true!

VIDEO (click here)

As a note, the choreography of this dance demonstrates not only beauty and grace but also the hardships and struggles a severe handicap brings.  We so commonly turn away from hardships and pain in life... or encourage those around us to 'cheer up' or 'move on'.  Yet pain, suffering, and loneliness are realities in our world. We cannot simply brush them off as non-existent, or go on living as though they have not affected our hearts and lives. A handicap affects life. A loss affects life. Pain changes things.
As Christians, we are called to enter in and understand the pain of our brothers and sisters. Healing begins with a knowledge of the specific need. What is more, the scriptures carry a multitude of stories, poems, laments, and examples of suffering being expressed, even embraced. Bottom line, God works in the hearts of people through pain and suffering, not in spite of it. He brings healing and hope without negating the reality of our hearts. 
Very Special Arts is a ministry that is entering into the process of hope and healing in this way, and it is beautiful. They are struggling with funding right now, pray that God provides their daily bread to continue serving Him!  Also pray that both events carried an effective message that keeps touching the hearts of people even long afterwards.  It's amazing how the Spirit works...

Kim <><

Missing Mom...

A week and a half ago I went to a girls juvenile delinquent facility here in Guatemala as an interpreter for a Vision Team visiting from the States. I spent a couple hours playing soccer and talking with the girls.  Two women from the American group shared their testimonies, one about the challenges that resulted from sexual abuse as a child, the other about how God had protected her from sorrows in her life but that she had only been living a lie and did not really love the Lord.
Both spoke of how their past and present were very different because of the LORD's presence in it.

This led to a few testimonies from the girls we came to visit. All are in prison for serious crimes, drug involvement, gang involvement, etc..  Some have infants or toddlers who were born inside the walls where their mothers are imprisoned.  And all of them are between the ages of 14 and 18.
-One girl shared that she missed her mom, who no longer came to visit her. Her family was angry at her for getting in trouble with the law and didn't want anything to do with her.

-Another gave me a bracelet that she made and asked me to pray for her. Her family lived in LA and she hadn't heard from them for some time. 
-Another gal shared through tears about her fear regarding the next day. She was being transferred to a different place but didn't know why or where. She felt like she was being ripped away from the only family she had.
-Another told us that she was hoping to complete school when she got out of prison, and wanted to study medicine. She has at least 2 years more behind bars.
 They were simple conversations, only the beginnings of a relationship, but the Lord spoke so strongly to my heart that these girls were simply that: girls. He also revealed that they were my ministry. They needed a big sister.

What is more, we are no longer being let into the prisons. The bosses in charge have declared that non-profit groups no longer will have access to come and visit prisoners. Period. 
So this trip was our last chance to see the girls. Thankfully, we were able to leave Bibles for each girl, and the Word can touch lives despite our absence.  But the influences each day from all sides are against the Lord's voice in their hearts- pray that the Holy Spirit conquers the negativity, anger, emotional abuse, and tension that surrounds these girls every day. Pray that he gives them trust in HIS ways and timing to bring justice for mistreatment these girls are subject to. Pray that he touches the hearts of the authorities that we might be able to once again enter the prisons and build relationships with these girls.

I am praying that God reveals the reason for touching my heart so deeply during this visit... I have deep convictions about continued work in this particular mninistry in EdT's network, but my hands are tied.

Kim <><

GuaTrivia

For those of you participating in GuaTrivia, here are your answers! 
Kudos to you for wanting to learn about other cultures!! =)

#1 ) d       #2 ) b      #3 ) b      #4 ) c

And feel free to check out other entries in this blog... there are lots of stories!