In 2017 I went to Guatemala for seven weeks with an organization called Global Shore Opportunities. Those 7 weeks in Guatemala marked me in a way that I can't fully explain and ever since I've left I have been dreaming of going back. There are so many things about my trip to Guatemala that resonate so deeply with me. I think one of the things about Guatemala that I never let go of, was how much at home I felt there. I have lived in Canada my whole life, up to now I have lived in four different cities, yet I never felt as at home in any of these places the same way I did in Guatemala.
It was the simple things that made a foreign place feel like home to me. It was the way that people would say good morning to each other every time they passed one another by. It was the way that people would greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks. I loved how most people had a skin color that was close to mine. I loved how smoothly the Spanish language rolled off of people's tongues, sounding like music to my ears. I loved how hospitable and warm the people were, how they welcomed me a stranger into their home with joy. I loved the way the mountains would greet me every morning. I loved the sound of roosters in the morning, the company of stray dogs and the smell of fire. My heart felt a special connection to Guatemala for all of these reasons and since I left in 2017, I kept thinking of ways that I could go back, but it was never the right time because of my school schedule and life events outside of my control. Yet, I kept holding on to the dream of one day going back to Guatemala. At one point, I thought of giving up on this dream because it felt like it was never going to be the right time. And on many occasions I questioned the validity of this dream. Did I create an unrealistic picture of Guatemala in my head and that's why I wanted to go back? Did I feel such a strong connection to this place because it was the first country I traveled to outside of North America? All of these doubts had some level of truth to them and I think it was important for me to ask myself these questions but rather than embracing this dream that I had, I was trying to undermine its validity. Now, 5 years later I will be going back to Guatemala. I leave in three days. It's crazy because I first wrote the draft for this blog post in December 2019 and it is now July 2022. Dreams do come true even if they seem small and even if they don't happen in the timeframe you had in your mind. I'm writing this for myself. To remind myself to keep holding on to my dreams even when they feel like they are too far away or unrealistic. It's so easy to question ourselves and wonder if our dreams even matter because they are taking so much longer to unfold then we ever imagined. But I strongly believe that God places small and big dreams on our hearts. Dreams give us a glimpse of a future we can't yet see but God can. Dreams allow us this unique opportunity to practice faith, to continue believing in what we can't see hoping that one day it will become our reality. I've had many dreams in my short life and many more I have for my future and every time a dream or prayer of mine comes to be, I stand in awe all over again. Our dreams matter to God and they should matter to us too.
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AuthorRecent Brock & Queen's graduate and Third Year Teacher! I love to talk about life, justice and faith. Archives
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