Breaking the Language Barrier

I have never realized how much a smile could make such an impact on my life.  I noticed this today as we were attending mass in a village town up in the mountains. This village was an hour away from Santo Tomas and we traveled by standing in the back of a pick-up truck on a mountainous roads saying hola to everyone we would pass… so awesome! Being in Santo Tomas has been difficult to communicate due to my horrific Spanish speaking skills; however, it was nearly impossible in these mountain villages because they use their native language called Quiche, nothing like Spanish. As I was sitting in mass, listening, looking, and taking everything in, I realized a smile was unable to leave my face as I caught eyes with these beautiful people.  After mass, we took pictures of all the children who were just in awe of us crazy “gringos”, which they call white people in Guatemala. They would let us take the picture and then their faces would ignite with happiness when we would show them the pictures on our digital cameras. It was so amazing that even though there was a language barrier, we were able to still communicate and have a great afternoon with one another and impact each others lives.

Everyone I meet here is so friendly, patient, beautiful and just radiates with God’s love.  My life has been touched by these people so immensely already that it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been in Guatemala for three days. I’m so excited to find out what God has in store for us for the days ahead!!

God Bless,

Rebecca Loberg