A Smorgasbord of God’s Goodness

Friends and family,  I am about to dump a smorgasbord of snippets from the last basketfull of days on you… Because I love you 🙂 Prepare yourself.

Today marks our 10th day of being in Guatemala to serve, to love, and to live freely in community with other Jesus-lovers. There's been a lot of sweat, laughter, tears, singing, praying, and dancing… And all of those more than once, in fact, quite often. God's been taking each of us through our own journey as individuals as he refines us to be more like Christ – more dependent on Him, more in unity with Him, more in love with Him, more willing to serve. Already this first chunk of days has blown away expectations and been such a beautiful struggle for me.  

God has led me to worship Him and sing and dance freely, without worrying what people think.
— At training camp we were encouraged to let God do work in our hearts and to be open and willing to do anything for Him, to give up anything because He knows what's best for us. And because following Him is life at its fullest, richest, best! This led me to jump and shout and dance til I could barely walk because my legs were so tired. 

God has led me to pursue openness with my teammates, being genuine and transparent about my life (God's story in me) and struggles.
— Julian, one of our team leaders, has a favorite quote that he shares with our team often: "Transparency leads to intimacy." This has been so true as we become more open and transparent, while encouraging our teammates and spurring each other on toward love and good deed. God has blessed our team with increasing unity. 

God has led me to pray, sing, and spend time with "estudiantes" students at a local high school school, "viejos" (the elderly) at a nursing home, and "basueros" (people who literally live in and make their living from trash dumps). It has been joy-filled, sobering, and beautiful. 

My goal in the coming blogs will be to highlight specific experiences, challenges, and praises as I continue to do life in Guatemala with Jesus and my 22 teammates. 

I love each of you and will be writing soon. 

Your friend, brother, son, and servant, 
Joel