Amazing Trip | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Amazing Trip | Previous Challenge Entry
By Diane L. Johnson
02/04/16
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My daughter and son-in-law travel a lot for their ministry, Refine Us. I’m not kidding when I say that she’s an expert at packing. Why she can fit more stuff in one suitcase than I can in my closet. She’s organized, practical and precise. I know that practice makes perfect, but she does have the gift of organization. I wish I had it. She surely didn’t get it from me.

I haven’t travelled very many places in my life, but I have been out of the States a few times. Once I went on a cruise to the Bahamas and the other time was on a Compassion trip to Guatemala. Both trips I enjoyed immensely but for entirely different reasons. My cruise was an adventure, a vacation, a divorcee taking new risks – I was “going” places. The other, my Compassion trip, was also an adventure, but there was a purpose of mission. Yet when I reminisce about the trips, I have realized that the moments I remember the most, are the impoverished people. When we docked in the Bahamas, there were many children begging in the streets and crowds of people at the market place. I had so many mixed emotions. It’s like you think when you on vacation, you are away from the real world. We also had a bus “tour” but it was no Disneyland. It was absolute poverty. Heartbreaking. So one moment you were filled with excitement of seeing new sites, and then the next was sorrow.

With the Compassion trip, which was a few years ago, I was ready for the sadness, the sorrow, the heartbreaking. But something amazing and surprisingly happened. The Guatemalan people lived in very poor conditions. Many “structures/homes” had dirt floors. Some actually had boulders sticking up out of the floors. Many were shacks with tin roofs. There really weren’t any paved roads in the neighborhoods so you had to be careful you did not trip. Yet, with all these hardships, the Guatemalans were the most joyful people I’ve ever had the privilege of being with. You thought you were at Disneyland. I was transported from poverty to the true purpose of living. Joy. Happiness. Content. Appreciative. Giving. You could not see Jesus more even if you were back in time walking with Jesus. They were amazing. The experience was amazing. It was the best trip in my life.

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