A couple of things I´ve been ticking over lately...

Its actually quite a task to just list a couple of things... my mind and body is on 'go-fast' setting as we get ready for moving to Guatemala in just a month.  As I write this, it is currently 2:12a.m.  I should definitely be tucked up in bed, making the most of these precious hours of sleep and the fact that our boys are fast asleep.  However, this is the time of day that I start to think - or perhaps the only time I can hear myself think!  So anyway hear goes, a 'couple' of things...

1. That 'calling' thing ;)

I've been thinking about that famous word so often heard in the Christian world... Calling.  What is that??  I guess I realise that for me it has definitely been a process.  I never had a lightning-flash moment where I just knew that I had to go to Guatemala.  Rather, it has been a series of events and circumstances that have woken up a longing in me.  Let me try to summarize them:

• Growing up hearing stories about my Grandparents as missionaries in Peru and stories of relatives in Brazil - and being totally fascinated.
• Hearing about a cousin´s gap year in Uganda - and being totally inspired.
• A sudden urge to want to study Spanish, so that I could one day travel to Latin America - and just knowing that I needed to learn the language.
• Having my first taste of short term missions on visits to Moldova - and my eyes being opened WIDE to a whole other world and level of poverty.
• Getting that one line from a song we sang in Moldova stuck in my head - 'til this very day... "Let me comfort those who suffer with the comfort you have given" - and somehow knowing that was one of my goals in life.
• Dipping my toes in the water when I visited Peru and Ecuador for 4.5 months - then coming home and dreaming night after night about returning during the following year.
• Going to Latin Link events, hearing about people's experiences in Latin America - and just feeling like a little (but hugely important) bit of me came to life!
• Studying nursing, qualifying as a nurse - but having very little desire to nurse in the UK.
• Finishing at nursing school and the very next day jumping on a plane to my first nursing job, in a Patzún, Guatemala, as a volunteer/short term missionary - and absolutely loving it.
• That moment on the camioneta ('chicken bus') when I somehow felt more at home in Guatemala than I ever had anywhere else.
• That smile from ear-to-ear that Guatemala brings out in me :)
• Ok, sure - meeting my man, who is Guatemalan! - and sharing his same heart to help the people in his country through health care.
• Spending 6 years living in Spain - and the whole time feeling that it was a lead-up and preparation time for our return to Guatemala.

And there are probably way more things that I could add to the list... but you get the idea, right?

2.  This one's shorter:

"Not a sacrifice, yet a privilege".

See, I've naturally had quite a few moments where I start to think about all the family, friends, places and things - food even! - that I'll be leaving behind, both in England and Spain.  But I read on a friend's blog some months ago, that it really isn't a sacrifice stepping into God's calling, even if it will undoubtedly involve uncomfortable, or culturally difficult moments at some points.  Its a privilege.  

privilege

 

advantage, benefit, birthright, claim, concession, due, entitlement, franchise, freedom, immunity, liberty, prerogative, right, sanction      

- www.collinsdictionary.com (thesaurus definition)

Its a massive privilege for this little family to be used as a teeny part of the huge plans that God has for that little town of Canillá, Guatemala.

Right, time to sleep!

Hugs,

Naomi.