It was Sunday night, we were about to hear our ministry assignments for next week, and I was stoked. That was, until found out I would be doing manual labor for a week. I walked into our room, ready to have a serious talk with the Lord. To show him how disappointed I was, I even started tearing up.
"Are you serious, God? Why?"
—-I have a plan.
"But the work's hard, it's…"
—-Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these… you did for me.
Matthew 25:45
He began to mold my heart of stone into clay, and with a new day came a new attitude. On our way to Parramos, our host began to tell us how the people in this area are living off of $2 a day, what people spend on a can of soda in the United States.
And as we arrived, situated to the right and left of the work site were homes made of dirt floors and caved-in roofs, and the hosts' words rushing back to me.
(Rejoicing that one of the rooms was finally filled!)
We began to pick up our shovels, hoes, and rakes and began to level floors in what will one day be medical and dental clinics. While hoeing, I talked to one of the leaders of Loving Arms, the ministry heading this project, who told me that when these people need medical attention, they go into a clinic in the next town and visit a nurse who only comes in once a week. Nurses in Guatemala are only trained for a year, graduating with basic medical knowledge. If they need a doctor, they have to travel into Antigua and spend an average of 250 quetzals, 250 quetzals they don't have.
(The local kids who ran after us as we were leaving.)
Suddenly, I wasn't surrounded by dirt. I was surrounded by people who needed these clinics, making everything worth it. And with each shovel of dirt, we're one small step closer to making a huge difference.
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