Truth In My Travels

Warning: My goal with this post is to give you the open truth and raw emotions of my travels over the last few months. So, here it goes…

I’m not in Costa Rica anymore. I’ve actually been in Guatemala for the past five weeks and will be here for a few more before leaving for our next destination. 

Reflecting and processing everything that has happened thus far on the World Race and everything God has taught and is still teaching me has been much harder than I anticipated. Truthfully I didn’t even recognize how much had happened for me in Costa Rica until after we left, especially our final week in the country, which was an all squad debrief time. 

Upon arriving to Guatemala and to our ministry host, New Generation, in Chichicastenango, we were asked to complete a 10 day quarantine. This time was filled with some manual labor around our compound and immediately getting to jump in and be prayer warriors for our host family going through a very tough and emotional situation. 

On the morning of our eleventh day, the day we were supposed to begin ministry out in the community, one of our team members contracted COVID, resulting in us completing an additional 10 day quarantine. Thankfully not a single other person from our team got sick. Praise the Lord! 

In the midst of our quarantine, these 21 days inside our compound were filled with more time to reflect, process, and read the Word than I’ve ever encountered before. Those that know me, know I’m normally not one to dive into feelings and really reflect on my life happenings but I couldn’t be more thankful for this time to do exactly that. I’m extremely thankful for the solitude that I’ve found in this place, the tough but extremely fruitful conversations, and all the sweet time with the Lord and my teammates.

This time also brought to light how far behind I was in compiling my pictures/videos/blogs to show how the Lord has been moving through me and our group so far on the Race. To be even more honest, it shined the spotlight on how little effort I actually put in to vividly portray our time on the Race and the incredibly beautiful ways we’ve seen the Lord going before us, walking beside us, and closing doors behind us. For that I apologize. 

I’ve quickly discovered a hesitation to be using my camera during ministry. Out of respect for the people we’re serving and interacting with, I’ve shied away from filming people in our first interactions. Often our interactions with people are singular, then leaving me with no photos or footage to share. Additionally, I’ve seen how my instinct is almost always to jump in and help wherever necessary rather than documenting what’s being done. While I certainly don’t see that as a bad thing, I believe I can find a better balance. For example, always needing to be the one to jump in and work takes away opportunities for others to serve, the very reason they’re here in the first place. I’ve begun to find a sweet passion in being able to capture the joy my fellow team members have in serving our Lord and I believe it’s important to show that. After all, it’s not all about me anyways.

I’m thankful for the lessons the Lord has taught me and the growth I’ve seen in myself as a result of pursuing Him more deeply and intimately. Some of these things you may have seen in posts already. Some are still to come. Some, frankly, just aren’t meant to share. 

With that said, I’m extremely excited to begin sharing how the Lord has been using myself and our team here in Guatemala! Stay tuned.. there’s much more to come??

Much love,

Micah