The road to Guatemala...

I guess I need to explain why I am going to Guatemala in the first place. You see if I'm being honest I never had any interest in going to Guatemala. What I did always have was the desire to travel anywhere and everywhere I could. I am that girl who has a world map in my apartment with a few green pins in it marking the places I have been (my after college backpacking trip actually makes Europe look pretty impressive) and tons of red pins marking all the amazing countries I hope to travel to. I often dream of just traveling around the world experiencing different cultures and taking photographs of everything I see. (This dream is why about once a month I buy a $5 lottery ticket. I won $200 once in college... it was an epic day.)

Another desire that has been developing in me throughout the years is the desire to serve through Christ. I was born into an amazing Christian family that taught me from a young age the importance of loving God and serving through him. I grew up around a family of several Methodist ministers and strong Christian women and knew from a pretty young age that I loved mission work. My father is the Youth Minister at our church (it is pretty funny typing that because again if only my mom is reading this she probably knew that already), so I was always active in our youth program. For one of my VIM forms I filled out a couple of months ago I had to count up the number of mission trips I have been on and I am pretty sure I have been on 33. Pretty impressive for a 25 year old, but it is only because of the church I grew up going to and now work at. Our youth program does an amazing job of instilling the importance of serving and I am most grateful that I grew up learning that lesson.

Now get excited because here is where those 2 maybe random points come together. For the past few years I have been having this deep desire to go on an international mission trip (traveling plus serving... told you it would come together). Through my job at the church I do a lot of research of different countries that are in need or just different organizations that our youth can donate to. One main mission focus we have lifted up to the youth the last couple of years is Haiti. Since the earthquake we have held benefits, donated to, and supported Haiti through UMCOR. When I heard last year that my church was going to go on a mission trip to Haiti I was in. It was the opportunity I had been searching for. I was going to be able to experience what we had been teaching our youth about first hand. Unfortunately that trip to Haiti got canceled because the leaders were worried about the team's safety. Now that wasn't going to stop me, so I found another Haiti trip to sign up for through another church. 2 days before we were suppose to leave for Haiti that trip also got canceled. After that I signed up for 3 more Haiti mission trips and one by one they all got canceled. I was upset and mad because I had this desire to go serve and wasn't able to.

I know you have been waiting for it... This is where Guatemala comes into the story. :)

One day at work I was complaining that I wanted to go to Haiti, but couldn't find a team that was actually going (which I'm sure my coworkers could tell you how annoying I probably was with all my constant Haiti talk) and I heard about a mission trip to Guatemala through my church. When I first heard about it I wasn't too interested because honestly I had my heart set on Haiti. However the more I heard about it and met the people who were going I decided even though it wasn't what I was originally looking for I would go. Honestly I just remember thinking it's better than nothing and I was tired of getting emails about canceled Haiti trips.

I won't bore you with all the details of that Guatemala mission trip (at least not in this post), but to put it simply it was life changing. I was surrounded by great people and just fell in love with the culture. By probably the second day I remember talking to Tammy on the bus about wanting to move there. I felt so close to God that week and realized that I was never meant to go to Haiti (or at least not now). Sometimes I picture God sitting in Heaven saying "Really Kelly, stop signing up for all these Haiti trips. I'm going to cancel them all until you get the point" and it makes me smile. He obviously knew that I was meant to be in Guatemala and that going for the week would instill in me the desire to be there longer to serve.

The day I got home I knew I wanted to go back as soon as I could. I got to work finding a place to work and live and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly and easily it all came together. Maybe I will wait until my next post to explain all about Salud y Paz and VIM. I just realized how ridiculously long this post is. You get a gold star if you actually made it to the end. :)