December 01, 2011 | Guatemala

Happy Birthday Mom!

This Sunday is my mom’s birthday, and I want to share a story for her. A few weeks into the trip, our team went to an elderly lady’s house and talked and prayed with her. I told my mom about her and every couple of weeks, my mom for some reason asked about her. I didn’t really know what to tell her because since that day, I hadn’t seen or talked to the lady. A few weeks ago during ATL (ask the Lord what He wants you to do), Joel, Taylor, Emily and I went to the elderly lady’s house to visit her. She was very happy to see us and welcomed us into her house. She told us that her son recently fell and as a result, had a neck injury. We prayed for him and then later prayed for her. We talked, read a passage in the Bible, and sang some Christmas carols.

The lady’s living conditions are not very good and she doesn’t have much money. Her house needs some fixing up, but I don’t have the skills to do that. I wanted to bless her, but I didn’t know how I could. After praying about it, I remembered my mom and how much she was asking about this lady. I knew my mom’s birthday was coming up and I knew that I didn’t have a present for her. But I also knew that my selfless mom would rather give than receive, so that is what I decided to do. With the money that I would have spent on a present, I went to the market and the mall and bought a basket full of food and goodies for the lady.

Emily and I went to the lady’s house last week and gave her the basket which we told her was a present for her from God. Tears filled her eyes when we told her it was for her. She kept saying “thank you so much” and “God is so good.” She later went on to tell us that she was having a lot of health problems. Her whole body was aching and the medication that she needed the pharmacy didn’t have yet. She asked us if we could pray for her. We sat down, laid hands on her, and prayed for her. When we finished, streams of tears came rolling down her face. We gave her hugs and then continued talking.

A couple minutes later, she went outside and came back with a basket. Then she started putting the things we had given her into her basket. When we told her that the basket was for her too, she got the biggest smile on her face. Then she pointed to the Christmas platter in the basket and said, “for me too?” We responded with “yes, it’s all for you!” She was so happy and it was so good to see her smile!

Then she cooked lunch for us. We had soup, tortillas, and rice, and it was delicious! We talked a little longer and then left, telling her that we would come back and visit her.

These are the people I am going to miss. This is why it is going to be hard to leave. An elderly lady who feeds us before herself, little girls who meet me at the park every week and greet us with huge hugs, kids at the orphanage who love you like family, Pastor Roni who treats us like his children, patients at the hospital whose parents don’t visit them, and the tienda owners who threw us a party this past week because they wanted to bless us… These are the people that have made Guatemala home to me the last three months.