Today was it…the last day of our mission trip. They said it would be hard today but I really had no idea how hard it would be. I expected to maybe cry because I would just love the kids so much but other than that, I thought I would take away some nice memories from the trip and move on when I got back home…I thought I would want to go back home. There’s a saying my sister told me after she went on her first mission trip: “You leave your heart in the first country you go on a mission trip to”. Boy was she right. You see, I didn’t just fall in love with a few kids this past week, I fell in love with Guatemala-its people; its culture; its spirit. It’s so different here than in America. The people here hardly have anything and they are so happy and content; people in America have everything compared to people here and we as Americans always find something to keep us in a bad, self-pitying mood. I think I always knew I was like that but it never really hit me until this past week. My whole perspective on life and what it’s all really about has completely changed and I actually sorta dread going back home-it will be the hardest thing I have ever done and I know many team members feel the same. As I was thinking about it, I was reminded of a book a couple of teenagers wrote called “Do Hard Things”. Okay, I admit I haven’t read the whole book but for me, the book makes a huge difference in my life just by thinking about the title. Everyone has things that are hard to them, some stupid, some serious. Well, I’ll bet you’ve never heard this one before but it is going to be extremely hard to go back home….at this point I want to stay a stranger in a foreign land on a crazy schedule instead of going back to my familiar country where everything seems to be in the same routine. I know that for several team members, including myself, the ‘do hard things’ mentality will apply directly to leaving the place we have fallen in love with in only one week. Saying goodbye to the kids today was the hardest thing I have had to so far in my life. When you ask God to break your heart for what breaks His, He definitely takes you up on it so don’t try to be all holy with God and ask Him to challenge you because, trust me, He will. This trip has brought sixteen strangers with not much in common to begin with so close we can talk to each other about what’s really on our hearts and we know the other people understand. Pray for us team members, that we will be able to share what God has shown us this week and that we will be able to apply it to our lives. We’ll be back tomorrow; this week has been absolutely amazing and I will never forget it. (Sarah Pappas)
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