Look a Little Deeper
As I sat on Marta Julia’s bed listening to her try to speak through overwhelming sobs, the one word that just kept coming back to my mind was impact. It is such a simple word, but when you are trying to live out the word, it is filled with so much. I was provided with six weeks to impact others and six weeks to allow myself to be impacted. It is so easy to look around and think, “I am not making a difference. I have no impact.” But look a little deeper. Look a little further and allow yourself to see the impact you are making and then allow yourself to keep impacting others, over and over again.
About halfway through my trip, I was journaling and something hit me and I couldn’t stop my pen from writing it. “It is not just Marta’s family that we are blessing. It’s Lazaro and his daughters, and Jorge and all his family who are sharing one house. It’s Mynor, his family, and even his pet wolf. It is Santos and her kids. All of these people are impacted because of us. They now have steady incomes and, to us, it’s nothing at all. To us, it’s a ride to work and a trip to the bathroom, but to them it is dinner on the table that they probably don’t even have. It just overwhelms me the impact we are making.”
Now let me explain. Lazaro was our foreman. He has a wife, six daughters, and one son. He once showed us his home and introduced us to his precious family. We have been able to provide him with a steady income two years in a row now. We have been building a house alongside him, but we have also been building trust and friendship. Jorge was our assistant foreman. It was the gratitude of his family that made me realize how many people we were impacting. We had never met Jorge’s family before, but one afternoon his wife, sister-in-law, mother, and grandmother all came to visit us. With cokes and bread in hand, they offered us as many thanks as they could. We weren’t just building a house with Jorge. We were providing better lives for his family as well. They had so little and yet they still offered us their gratitude and their goodies.
The list keeps going. Mynor, our driver, was impacted by us. Every morning, he called our translator, eager to know if we would need the truck that day. Thirty minutes prior to us leaving every afternoon, he would call and make sure it was time to come get us. We provided a steady income and even new relationships. We would take turns sitting in the front seat with Mynor, and I know the girl that sat down in that passenger seat and said “is there anything I can pray for for you” made a great impact on this kid. He even told us he had a pet wolf, and maybe we fed his wolf for six weeks — I don’t really know! But what I do know is, those daily rides with 12 girls packed in the back of a pickup truck changed Mynor’s life.
The impact we made that surprised me the most was on the sweet lady, Santos, who ran the bathroom. All she had to do was take our money and let us use the stalls, but she also allowed us to form a relationship with her. Every day we would talk to her. Even though we spent, at the most, 5 minutes a day talking with Santos, the smiling faces, hugs, and laughter began to add up. On our last day, she bought us all ice cream and took an individual picture with each of us. What felt like such a small impact to us was so large to our dear friend, Santos.
Never underestimate the power of a hug, a smile, a laugh, or a little love. It goes so much farther than you can ever imagine. It seemed so easy to love the people of Guatemala, but my challenge for myself (and anyone reading this) is to share kindness with everyone around us. The impacts we make can be made right within the walls of our own homes, the shops in our towns, the streets of our cities. I dare you to make an impact. Allow yourself to make small impacts and let them continue to grow more and more. You have so much power to make a difference in the world around you. I promise no one is too small to make an impact. I am so thankful for a summer to learn this lesson and to live it out.
Erin Lamb Para Servir Intern