A Journey of Hope

"Caminos de Esperanza - Journeys of Hope" was the name of the mission trip I just came home from. And it was truly a journey of hope, in more ways than one.

Building a school gives hope to children who otherwise would not have the opportunity for an education, in turn giving hope to their families and their community. Hope was evident in the ready smiles of the local men who also worked on this project, in the woman who brought her daughter to the construction site to ask when the school would be open, and in the friendly waves from the people along the road we traveled to and from work each day.

But hope was something I needed, too. Discouraged and disillusioned by the conflict that has been present in our congregation since last fall, I was becoming cynical. The church and its mission, it seemed, had been derailed by one issue and the place that used to be a joy for me to come to each day became a constant reminder of this unresolved problem. The desire by the majority to disassociate with people who shared my understanding left me feeling personally rejected by my community.

Thanks be to God for leading me to a place where I could do work that was positive, with people who were positive. Thanks be to God for the new skills that I learned which enabled me to focus my thoughts on the task at hand and to have a part in the progress being made. Although it wasn't clear to me at the outset of the trip why I had come to Guatemala, each time I got on my knees to cut another tile, I was shown.