The Love of God Transcends Cultures, Borders and Language Barriers
First Baptist Church Wilmington NC
Here I am again, my fourth time in Guatemala…
This time is special due to being able to witness our amazing youth serve the Guatemalan people and share God’s love. It has been inspiring to me to see our students come together to build houses and love on the children. Yesterday we completed all 16 houses and dedicated them to the lord. Nothing could stop us from finishing them, not even a broken down van or metal cut the wrong way.
It is always bittersweet to turn over the houses that we have put so much love into and say goodbye to the families that we have laughed and made connections with during the week. Each team had a helpful translator to lead us in an understandable last conversation with the families. Once we were done putting the finishing touches on the houses we shared where we are from and why we came. Even in a country that on most days worships 7,000 saints, today we all were focused on the one true saint from the Bible, Jesus and his love for all his children. There were tears, thank you’s, hugs, and prayers exchanged. We left each family with our blessing, a bag of food, toys for the children, and a lock for the new front door to their home! It was hard to say goodbye.
We then loaded up the vans, including the replacement van, and headed to the food distribution site. After a very bumpy ride to a far off village the group lined up with smiles and food items in hand and we were ready to hand out a variety of food items to the villagers. As they flowed through the line our kids shared smiles and hugs while filling the bags with noodles, sugar, rice, oil, and more. It always gives me chills to see how a smile and a hug can communicate God’s love despite the difficult language barrier.
Seeing how large the world is and how love can transcend borders and cultures always brings me back down to earth. It reminds me to get out of my head and to stop stressing about day to day tasks. To focus on the main purpose of life; which is to better God’s kingdom in every way we can and to soak up all the love and joy that comes from God and from my brothers and sisters in Him, no matter what country they live in!
