So, I´m in Mexico now. Saying goodbye to Guatemala was ridiculously hard, especially after last week. I learned a lot about a lot of things during my week of service. For example, I learned what generosity really is. On Sunday, we hiked to a small aldea in the middle of the jungle for church. While there, we visited with a family of 9 people who lives in a one-room, dirt-floor house and still fed us breakfast and lunch. There were 7 of us total, so this family who had nearly nothing gave us 14 meals in total. After returning to the town that was home for the week, I moved in with my Qéqchi family. I had 4 brothers (only 3 were there, though, as one lives in another town that is rather far away), 1 sister, a mom and a dad, a sister-in-law, and a nephew, and though they had little more than the family from Sunday, they offered us just as much. They fed and housed us for a week and, within five minutes of our arriving, they were begging us to come back and stay for "Un mes! No 2 meses! No 3! No! Un año!" Thursday night, my brother gave me the gift of a beautiful bag and was delighted if a little confused by how excited I was over it. There are millions of stories that I could tell from this week and of this family, and, if you asked me for them, I wouldn´t even know where to begin, though I´d be delighted to give it an all-star effort. But, I can tell you that I miss this family so much I could cry right now...and have felt this way since we left Saturday. Sorry, I´m rambling. What my initial point was, what{s wrong with us that we so often have so much and give so little when people who have so little willingly and lovingly give us so much? Profe challenged us on Sunday before we left for Mexico to still be open to joinging and seeing God in our Mexican families. Background: my family here in Mexico is better off financially than my family in the States. It´s very hard to go from cold bucket baths and dirt floors with mice (but bastante love and welcoming! Even though I was only there for a week, I really felt a part of my Qéqchi family--my brothers called me sister, asked me to send them pictures of my graduation in May, and told me that I have to come back and spend every summer break with my family in Guatemala) to hot showers and my own room and not wonder what´s wront with the world. But, I´m not one to let a challenge go unmet, so it´s time to take a deep breath and dive in again. Are you ready for this, Mexico? :)
Speaking of being ready, one other challenge that I´ve encountered is processing things. I have so many thoughts and questions running around in my head and no time to process them! Profe calls it "letting your soul catch up with you," and I have no idea when I´m going to do this! Without having time to process Guatemala, I´ve moved on to Mexico. And, by the time we get home, I will have twice as much to process and still no time because May will bring with it hard-core NCLEX prep. Así es la vida, supongo! More adventures to come! :)
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