This time 4 years ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about my NLCH kids. I’d returned from my summer internship in August, and from that point on, every time I looked at a clock, I’d think of what the kids from the Home and the students from the class I worked with should be doing. It took a long while to realize that not automatically thinking of them when I saw the time, didn’t mean I was forgetting them…so I thought about them and prayed for them constantly. My heart’s biggest desire was to return to NLCH after graduating, I simply had no idea where the funding would come from.
This time 3 years ago, I had just returned from my first visit to NLCH since the internship. I loved every minute I had with the kids and felt immediately at home. I was living in Xela, so I wasn’t actually at the Home, but I was thrilled to be in Guatemala, only 5 or so hours from the kids I loved so much. And though I couldn’t be with my NLCH kids every day, I was settling into life in Xela and falling in love with my first class of first graders.
This time 2 years ago, I was very-well settled into life in Xela. I loved the city and I loved my job, but having just returned from another trip to NLCH over Guatemalan Independence Day, I was wishing I lived closer. Still, I knew the Lord had called me to stay in Xela for another year. Hard as it was, I tried to remain grateful for the 3-day weekends and longer holiday breaks when I could travel to Guatemala City (Villa Nueva, actually) and hang out with my kids. The rest of my friends from school planned trips to the beach, Guatemalan ruins, Belize, El Salvador, Mexico…the trips sounded great, but I wouldn’t have traded that time with my kids (busy and tiresome as those trips were) for anything.
This time 1 year ago, I was struggling with culture shock. Moving to Guatemala City was just what I’d begged the Lord for, but the more I tried to settle in, the more I realized the city was practically a different country when compared to Xela. (Xela did try to separate once and become it’s own country…maybe that has something to do with it…) Work was busy, stressful, tiresome, difficult…and driving…well, that was a pretty stressful challenge, too. I was making it out to NLCH once a week at best. I was frustrated and disappointed that the whole reason I’d moved to Guatemala, and then to the city, was to spend time with my kids, and I was hardly getting to do that at all.
Now, today, I started writing this only as I was waiting on the rain to let up so I could drive home…to NLCH. The Lord has be so faithful and blessed me beyond belief by finally opening the doors for me to live in an apartment at the children’s home. In fact, I now live in the very apartment I stayed in during my first visit back after I'd finished my internship (refer to the above paragraph about this time 3 years ago). I’ve changed grades at school, and I LOVE teaching kindergarten. But even more than that, I love going home to my NLCH kids each day. I love seeing them all out playing as I pull up. I love when they run to the car and offer to help me carry things inside (well, except when they fight to help me…that’s less fun). I love when my sweet little Alejandro who is mostly mute, runs to my car to greet me and immediately starts trying to sign and/or talk to me. I love dropping my things in my house and then going out to play with the kids. And I love that when I’m too exhausted to go out to play, I can relax in my apartment while still listening to (and even watching them) play with one another outside.
I don’t know how I ever lived so far away from these kids. Even just a night away leaves me missing them terribly. These kids (and fellow missionaries at NLCH) make up the best stand-in family I could ever ask for. Every day I find myself overwhelmed gratitude that God chose me to serve Him here, and that he has so graciously opened the door for me to live here at NLCH. Just over 4 years ago, the Lord gave me a promise: "...I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place." (Jer. 29:10) I rejoice in sharing how He has done just that. What a faithful God we serve!
