Beauty Lies in Perspective
I’m not gonna lie, this 6 week internship was one of the most challenging things i’ve ever done. Just the amount of work and activities we did, it really took a tremendous toll on me, more than I had expected. I said to myself at least 20 times, “I should’ve listened to mrs. Genia more and gone to the gym.” After realizing this and looking back on every single high and low from the trip, (including the three small, yet terrifying earthquakes) I can say to myself and others, it was all worth it and I don’t regret a single second.
The family we were building a house for made such a tremendous impact on my life forever. People would say to me before I left “oh, you’re gonna come back a changed person, I can’t wait to hear how this trip will change you, etc.,” but i can’t say that I am changed because of what we did or how we made an impact but by how I now see things in a complete different way. A new perspective. I remember praying that God would let me see things different when I got back and boy did he. After experiencing the simplicity of life in Guatemala and seeing how not everything is always as big as we make it seem in our everyday lives, it really messed me up. But in a good way, i think.
If you asked me my favorite part of the trip or asked me to tell you a few stories, It’d be super hard to sum up everything I’d like to share in a few paragraphs but I want to share one moment from the trip that is super special to me. Most of us came into Marta Julia’s temporary house to wait out the rain one day. She was playing a song that she told us she listens to when she feels alone. She went on to telling us how she feels as if she has been abandoned by everyone but God, including her family. She kept saying from here and throughout the trip how we are her only family now and that she fears the time when we have to leave. In this moment, I and almost everyone in that room couldn’t help but just cry with her. All I could think about was how stupid our problems that we make seem so big, are actually just a grain of salt compared to the troubles Marta and so many others face, every single day. Sandra, the youngest daughter, and I are best friends now. She instantly connected with me in a special way and I miss her so much. She would say my name for no reason a hundred times a day but I would respond anyway every time because I knew I would miss the sound of “Cawwie” on repeat once i got home.
Every person who impacted me, every memory made with the other interns that I now have life-long relationships with and all of the laughs and jokes we shared with our translator, Hilda, will forever be in my memory and now something I can live out because of these amazing 6 weeks. In my blog I wrote before the trip, I mentioned wanting to show people that there is hope in this life. As I do wish that I was able to succeed in that, this trip and every person who impacted my life, has given me a new hope in this life. After experiencing what I did and seeing what I saw, how could I ever take a single second of this life for granted?
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:39
Carrie Crutchfield
Para Servir Intern