| a.day.in.the.life
First Semester Experiences Second Semester Experiences |
What has God challeneged me with by being in a new culture, and immersed in a new language? When you sit at home thinking of immersing yourself in a different culture you never really think about all the stuggles you are going to face, and then when those stuggles come you sit back and say to yourself, "What happened?" Well, I've found myself asking "What happened?" several times this semester, and someone always answers. God's shown me a lot about who I am and what the world holds for me through the good times and the bad this semester. I know I've wanted to go home several times, but as I sit here three weeks away from being home I can honestly say I've enjoyed learning what God has taught me and I wouldn't change my experiences I've had here. It really gets me excited to see what he will show me next and where that's going to take me, because who doesn't want a God who allows them to live on the side of a volcano? Maria Boadway
What have you noticed that God has been doing in your life since being immersed in a new culture, a new language, a new country etc.? God is always at work in some way or another, and I´ve really seen it here in Guatemala. I have loved learning about this new culture, and have enjoyed communicating more and more with people as I learn more Spanish. I love the family I´m staying with in San Juan. I have felt so loved by them, they help me along with the Spanish and explain words when I don´t understand them. I enjoy playing with the kids, and sharing music with my family. Every day when I wake up being a part of this family it just makes me smile. In this family, I have experienced the kind of joy that doesn´t come solely from ones own efforts. God has definitly been with me and this family, and has given me a joy that makes me almost want to burst at the seams sometimes. I have seen God working in this country and in my life many times and in many different ways. This has been the experience of a lifetime. Stephanie Dueck KNOWING YOURSELF disclaimer Okay let me say, that my thoughts are very disorganized so this article will reflect that. ==for starters==One giant step to knowing yourself is knowing your passions, the passions which drive us to live with limits, to live life to the ultimate max! Seek God and you will find you are seeking your passion. We partook in knowing ourselves in Columba on a coffee plantation, which grew a lot more that coffee. I enjoyed the location thoroughly. It was a great place to know your ´self´. One day we went on a tour of the facility and afterwards we drove then hiked to a glorious waterfall. GLORIOUS! The location is all well and good but somewhat beside the point, so let us move on to activities. Prior to this week of self awarness we took internet tests. I personally think the internet is a dying craze. These tests attempt to tell a person who they are and what sort of spiritual gifts they have. I believe them to be a good aid in understanding yourself but the results are far from perfect. So we discussed these results at length. We also did a lot of other useful activities, but i´ll cut to the chase. For me, putting my passions down on paper was difficult but very rewarding. I realized on of my great loves in life is simply people. I love being with people, having relationships, and talking with peeps. I also love to encourage people when they think they cannot accomplish a goal. This realization led me to believe (and rediscover) that I would love to be a high school teacher. During this week of prayer and soul searching I also realized how much I want to be a father, not just any father, the greatest father of all time! I would have to say that one of the best things we did was ´speaking into eachother´s lives´. We took time to pray and meditate about our friends in our small groups. We wrote down what we noticed in them, their gifts and strengths as well as what God loves about them. It was such an encouraging exercise. There is a lot to be said for encouraging and heartfelt words. ==closing thought== To know one´s self sounds pretty simple. We live with our ´´selfs´´ everyday. Therefore we must know ourselves pretty well. But when faced with the question ´who are you … who are you really´´ its kinda hard to answer right away. Find your passion find yourself find God. (cue glory music) This year has been the most awesome year of my life! Guatemala... there is so much to say about it! It is so beautiful. There is a lot of different plants and flowers. The people are so warm, welcoming and loving. Many places we went to in Guate people blessed us by their service to us making good good, welcoming us like they had known us forever and loving us so much more than we deserved. In these people Jesus' love and grace shone to us in everything they did for us. Almost every kid I saw was cute, so cute. You just wanted to hug them , to give them what they needed, to take away all the poverty. Over all, just to love them. I could see Jesus' pain for them. They just needed love, the love of Christ. Myriam Croteau |
