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It’s the simple things: clean water, health, a safe place to sleep at night, education; and even more important than all of that: a community of relationships that help us navigate life. Right? We all need it.

The team at ACD devotes their time and talents to moving the needle of these basic issues in the lives of children in Guatemala. Everyone’s life is changed along the way, especially anyone who gets near the realities of life.

Migration is an issue. We know that too. The current culture in Guatemala has become: finish 6th grade and then find your way to the USA. No one tells you what that means, what risks are involved, what it’s going to be like when you arrive or what happens beyond the journey. And there are not many voices reaching other options. ACD is in this conversation and educating the little ones so they have choices and are prepared for life success in Guatemala. It’s is a beautiful gift – and it takes being “all in”. This is joyful but very tough work.

Children have dreams and someone needs to hear them. Hope comes when we believe something could be different. We humans will go to amazing efforts when a glimmer of hope is present. So – if there is no hope that life will ever be any different, and there IS hope that somewhere else you might have a chance of: work, water, safety, health, peace…. then you will risk your life to find it. It’s not hard to see how the cultural shift has happened. And who will help the little ones envision a different future? Who will encourage them to dream and then care enough to help them prepare to reach those dreams? Who will give their time and talents, gifts and love day in and day out? In this little spot of Guatemala, the team at ACD will. For us to be allowed a close up glimpse into their lives and the families they serve is an honor. They change our hearts and grow our spirits. Who would we be without them? It sobers me to even imagine.

The Lord hears the cries of the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

I will attempt to offer a glimpse of reality. It is only a glimpse and my knowledge is always incomplete.

Water in this community comes from one spout on the main road. All water. So you walk and carry it back. Every day. For every water need. For months there is no rain so you do this in heat and dust and dry conditions. A bit like walking in the desert.

Cooking in this community happens over open fire inside the home. Smoke is a daily presence. Respiratory illness a norm. Cooking all day to feed the family is the work of the day. Getting water. Making food. Cutting wood. Carrying everything on your head or back. Every day. Every generation.

Homes are made from tin and wood. By hand and a machete. Sometimes plastic if tin or some other material is available. What you want is a house with solid shelter. What you have is more like a shed or barn.

Vegetables grow well here when there is enough rain. Big beautiful vegetables! Water must be carried in these poor areas where there is no irrigation. Farmers tend the crops. Agriculture is life. The fertile ground in the shadow of Santa Maria’s grand presence is a gift of God. The land is life. Water is life for land and food and all creatures. But water is not always available; droughts impact life & death; creatures suffer.

So the walk through the desert and paying someone to get you to a place of hope and peace is really not a big decision; it is survival and not wanting to wake up tomorrow to something you don’t imagine or think or dream can ever be different. Because it hasn’t been different for any generation before you.

And so…the trek begins. There are two priorities once you arrive; if you arrive. 1. Work to make enough money to pay the coyote who got you there (even if it cost you all of your dignity and spirit).

2. Work enough to send money “home” so they can start building a house.

And this is what brings hope that something might be different. A home means shelter. A home may have water near. A home, water and land may mean growing crops that someone will buy if the drought doesn’t kill them first.

When I spent a month here in 2011 my Spanish teacher shared that she had spent 2 years in the USA to earn enough money to buy a home. That home made all the difference for her family. And “family” included 3 generations who had a home because she bought it. With USA earned dollars. As a teacher. Legally. She had 2 things going for her: education and a skill that was needed. It changed the course of direction for 3 generations, and all those that follow.

It’s not an easy fix, and certainly not as simple as I may be painting the picture. Suffering is never easy. Solutions are often slow and small. But someone has to be willing to make one decision after another that leads to change.

The mining company that is getting rock from this land is part of the issue. They could put back into the community, something that improves the life of the people who are affected by their mining. For example, help the community have easy access to clean water. They could put some protections in their operation so when the rainy season comes there are not mud slides that literally displace communities that will be completely abolished with one slide. They could engage with living wage jobs, make infrastructure improvements (roads; water; etc.) … but instead, they mine in the poorest of communities where the people have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

And so…trying to get to the USA ..land of the free and brave sure seems like a better way than staying. Land of mountains and valleys and rivers and wildlife and parks and beauty and …peace. Even in the bad days, we have peace as part of our way of being.

The ACD staff team is “all in”. But they are not the only ones. These children have begun to dream. They tell us they want to be teachers and doctors and wildlife managers and engineers. They are also going “all in”. And one day… life will be different around them. Hope is rising. God is stirring their hearts and surrounding them with a community of people who will take the journey. And this journey is filled with Hope.

Here is an article recently published that shares about the situation in Guatemala.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/guatemala-hunger-famine-flee-north

Here is a link to ACD’s website:

https://www.acdguatemala.org

Lemoa is a sacred spot in Chichicastenango. It’s a retreat center belonging to the Metodista Iglesia. A small lake, giant pine trees and a stillness that brings peace. The Annual Conference gathering is here this week and we have come to participate today. Here we meet new friends and connect with old ones.

A highlight for me today was a conversation with the young adults who God is stirring into relationship and service.

They shared the story of how they organized themselves into a group of 9 youth and then they began to reach out to others and invite them to come join them. They serve together. They pray together. They keep inviting others and they tell us that “God is creating a connection”. This is what the God of heaven is doing! Even though they are in different places, the desire to connect is strong. Their peers are responding. “I see a new generation rising up to take their place!” What a joy to encourage and pray with them. We hope to connect them with our students at Franklin First UMC this summer.

The new Volunteers in Mission (VIM) Coordinator, Lourdes Mroczka, (LuLu) is here and she is awesome! She is a missionary with the Global Missions of the United Methodist Church. She is from Mexico and has served in Nicaragua, USA, and is now assigned to Guatemala. She gave an incredible report today about transparency, accountability and working collaboratively with many churches. Very encouraging.

The Call to Worship brings people in from their lunch conversations. The Bishop has taken his place. Presenters are sitting on the sides. The business of Conference takes place. Sometimes it helps perspective to see how other cultures express their faith and live their rhythms.

Dinner at Hotel Santo Tomas tonight with an FSU team working on their Masters in Urban Planning. Guatemala is their learning ground. Very good to see these students learning and becoming the leaders of tomorrow. God sure is changing our world. I hope our eyes and spirits are wide open.

Much good happened today. So grateful.

It’s a K9 Welcome in Guatemala!

It has been so long! I knew the volcanoes and mountains would be shouting “Bienvenidos!” before the airplane finished its landing. And I was sure my spirit would dance as I walked through the airport and felt de colores de Guatemala wrap around me like a blanket of friendship. I knew deep in my mind that it would feel different because I am different – but also so much like a second home.  Well…it was all of that, and a little something more! 

Usually there are officers with machine guns at several places in the airport and they may have been there today, but I didn’t see them because there were so many officers with K9 partners. Seriously, this is all new.  I must have passed 8 officers with dogs between deboarding and baggage claim!

So when this one female officer and her K9 partner were close to me I just thought the dog liked me. (I clearly was not thinking).  I stood and watched the belt full of bags rolling by and the dog came up behind me and nudged my backpack. I still didn’t think a thing…at all! I just thought the dog was cool.  But I also wasn’t giving them any attention; I just thought they were doing what they do, and we’re not supposed to distract them from their work.  I was watching for my bags; one of which was full of meds for the clinic.  I was focused on retrieving that bag; I didn’t even turn around. 

And then, in the nicest voice she could offer, the officer said, “do you happen to have any food in your backpack?”  And I said, “yes; do you think he smells it? I have all my snacks in there”.   She looked curious, “like what do you have?” “Well, my fitness bars, some peanut butter, almonds…that kind of thing.”  The dog was looking so hopeful at me. I was still clueless. 

And then she said, “Do you have any fruit?” I didn’t understand her at first and then I repeated…. “Fruit? Yes…I’m pretty sure I have an apple….”   She asked if she could see it. 

I opened my pack and there it was. My big beautiful apple that I was saving for after the flight. And then I remembered! And she was kind to say, “you can’t bring fruit into the country. There are diseases….”  Her K9 partner sniffed my apple and got his well deserved treat; actually he got several treats. He was very young, so I think he passed this “on the job training case” with flying stars!  She took my passport and went away, taking the dog with her. It was my first time to ever be sniffed out by a K9 officer. I’m glad my suitcase full of meds hadn’t come out yet!

Good grief; It’s been too long!  I had forgotten the fruit checkpoints and soldiers and inspections that I’ve experienced many times out on the roads here. I was grateful for the grace and had a great conversation with a different officer who returned with my passport and explained that the disease alerts had become really intense.  I shared that although I’ve made this trip about 18 times in the last 9 years, I totally was not thinking about the rule of no fruit. I brought meds for the clinic with no search. But the apple….  It’s great to be “back”. 

So K9 officers have been added (which I applaud and welcome) but let me share what is still the same endearing experience. The drive to Chichicastenango held enchanting scenery of hills and crops and forests and farmers working in their fields. Traffic was intense and the smell of burning rubber as the trucks took the declines was so familiar.  Tension and clutches screeching as everyone climbed the mountains, navigated the curves and swerved to miss the vehicle that just stopped in the middle of the lane; not budging.  

And then…we came upon a festival! I love the celebratory nature of this country.  Two live bands setting up. Cooking pots over fire. Every roadside stand with flashing lights. A food truck – Guatemalan style. And a giant firework display that will keep the whole village up all night.  What is it?? Cesar rolled down his window to ask the truck full of people about 2 feet away from us on the highway.  

“Es bendiciones de la semilla!”  It is the Blessing of the Seed! Of course.  It is planting season, so it begins with this blessing of the seed. Food, music, fiesta and prayers. All night. And then planting can begin.   And now that it is late at night, the trucks are pulling the hill outside Hotel Santo Tomas and it sounds pretty much like they are driving right through this room every time. Yes, I am back in Guatemala! 

There is a reason it’s been a while. I had to set aside several things in order to finish school and keep work and life moving forward. There are seasons when we just have to adjust priorities so we can do something else that requires our attention, and this was my season.  For the past two years and ten months I’ve tended to my learning and experience so I can share from a well that has been a bit more deeply primed. I’ve followed through one of Paul’s missionary journeys to Greece; visited the Holy Land with colleagues; spent my days in community ministry with the YMCA and finished my doctorate in ministry.  

And now…in such a very short time really, I am back.  Different and better. Grateful and ready. Amazed at all God has done with the church in Franklin, Tennessee; with Guatemala; and with me.  The journey just never stops, friends.

So, if a K9 officer nudges your backpack, turn around and see if he’s looking for something you forgot that you are carrying. His nudge might be important; a gentle reminder you didn’t even know you needed. That dog may have saved me from a much different experience on the road tonight. A very special kind of welcome! Grateful.