A perspective from the team

So today and yesterday I went to a tiny village in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. After a year of waiting, I was thrilled to come back and see the children and families I saw last year when I came on this same trip. Even though I knew what to expect, I was shocked by the things I saw in the village. Garbage covers the ground and the the stream that holds the water they drink is polluted and filled with litter. the children are filthy and malnourished and extremely difficult to look at. They crazy thing to me though is how content they are and how easily they smile. As soon as the kids see ours vans coming, they run towards them and crowd outside, yelling our names. I want to cry when i look at them and see how skinny they are and how much they need a good bath and some new clothes... most of them don't even have a good pair of shoes, if they're lucky enough to own a pair. But they just keep smiling and happily enduring the hardships that they probably aren't even aware of. The people here are just so compelling... I wish I could explain each child's personality and just how enthusiastic they are as a whole. Not only are these people content when they are sick and starving (we americans aren't even content with clothes from a year ago or supper our mom makes if it's not our favorite), but they are also quick to forgive and give second chances... over and over and over again. Today when I was helping building a house for a family, the woman took me aside and we went to her sister's house where they were making tortillas. They, of course, offered to let me try to shape the dough into a tortilla shape just for the fun of it. They make it look so easy! I did a horrible job and the dough kept sticking to my hands and then tearing when I tried to get it off. I expected her to smile politely and send me on my way, but she instead handed me another and another and another tortilla to shape, and ultimately break. I couldn't understand why she would keep letting me ruin her food when she could obviously do a much better time and in a much more timely manner. I think back to how it is in the states where we get frustrated when someone doesn't get something right the first time... much less the twentieth! We are so concerned with ourselves and having the perfect life and making everything without blemish, yet we are not content!! We are easily frustrated and torn down and we let petty things make us angry or depressed, though we live comfortably and are always full and with a clean set of clothes. These people have almost nothing to their name, yet they walk around with a smile on their face and positive attitudes. What is wrong with this picture? We come bringing shoes and homes and clothes to these people, thinking it will make a difference in their lives, thinking that we will make these people happy by giving them things...after all, we're so happy and grateful for all the things we have, right? Wrong-- we never have anything good enough and we're always comparing our homes, phones, paychecks, bodies, clothes and a billion other things that only make us more depressed. No wonder the United States is such a depressed nation... we look for joy in material things that will let us down and fade away. These people in Guatemala are more content and pacified with their lives than I've ever been. I think this mission trip will do more in the lives of those who come expecting to change and better someone's life-- to get that warm and fuzzy feeling we need to feel better about all the other bad things in our lives. But that's not it at all. I've come to realize that happiness and peace can't be found in anything but Christ and a relationship that will withstand an economic recesession or not getting to go shopping every weekend. In two days the guatemalan people have done more for me than we could ever dream of doing for them. Sure, they need clean water and shoes and a place to call home, and we can help them with that. But that's not going to determine how they live their day to day life. They've taught me that friends are more than a person to go party with on the weekends and that extended family aren't those people you dread seeing at Christmas and feel like you have to lie to about how you love school and yes, your brother and his girlfriend are doing fine. It's about your friend sticking by you even when you stink or you're annoying. It's about living with your husband's cousin's house for 2 years until you find a place to live. This is community at it's finest and it's necessary to our lives. Obviously, the answer isn't having a huge house or an unlimited supply of McDonalds. The answer is Christ and his love for us despite our selfish selves. If we can look past the material things in life and focus on loving him and the people around us, our lives can have so much more depth and meaning, even if our stomachs aren't full and we don't have shoes on our feet.

-Donis Maxwell
Team member Guatemala 2009