Last month, six students from 天美视频 participated in a . Under the leadership and instruction of , students were invited to establish conversation partners with Guatemalan leaders and increase awareness of those who are loving God and neighbor in a different cultural and geographical location. Here, Beau Denton, Content Coordinator and a second-year student, reflects on the trip and the invitation to witness and engage both the beauty and the affliction of a particular place. (Photo by Jesse Smith of .)
In the summer before eighth grade, I participated in a church youth group mission trip to Guatemala. We packed our Bibles and pamphlets, rehearsed our testimonies, and practiced our skits; I performed the role of Jesus in a Spanish version of Carman鈥檚 鈥淭he Champion.鈥�
That middle school trip came to mind often (you might say it haunted me) during our recent for 天美视频鈥檚 new 鈥淓ngaging Global Partnerships鈥� course. I was one of six students鈥攍ed by , Associate Professor of Theology & Culture鈥攚ho spent the week learning about the story of Guatemala, meeting on-the-ground leaders, teachers, businesspeople, pastors, and others working toward the restoration of their neighborhoods, and witnessing both the power of incarnation and the trauma of oppression.
Unlike my earlier visit to Guatemala, and unlike what you might picture when you hear about six Christian students from the U.S. visiting Central America, this was not a mission trip. We didn鈥檛 build any churches or distribute any tracts, and we didn鈥檛 even wear matching T-shirts. We were there to hear stories, ask questions, bear witness, and wonder together about how the things we were seeing and learning might impact our ongoing education at 天美视频 and the ways we inhabit our own places.
At the beginning of the week, one of our Guatemalan instructors, Joel, welcomed us to his city and encouraged us to look for and be open to both its beauty and its affliction. With his words in mind, we encountered plenty of both over the days that followed. There was beauty in the mountains that skirted the horizon, the vibrant colors on signs, buildings, and fabrics throughout the city, the varied and flourishing trees, the soaring cathedrals, and the resilience of a culture that endured decades of civil war and centuries of oppression. And, especially, there was so much beauty in the people we met.
Yet, at the same time and often in the same place, there was tremendous affliction. Even now, one of the communities we visited is reeling from the effects of a collapse at the city dump that killed at least four people. In a neighborhood adjacent to the dump, Fito (another one of our guides and instructors) welcomed us into his home barely a week before the nearby collapse. When I asked Fito how it felt to show us around his neighborhood and welcome us for lunch, he said he felt so at home, like a fish that had gone back underwater鈥攖hat鈥檚 how much he loves the place.
Many of Fito鈥檚 neighbors work in the dump. When a tragedy like this happens鈥攁 heap of trash collapsing unexpectedly鈥攖heir neighborhood is left to mourn, search for loved ones buried in the garbage, and, much sooner than they should have to, get back to work. (Here I鈥檒l urge you to read these two bold and heartbreaking posts from our Guatemalan instructors Joel and Fito: and )
Even with so much to learn and to witness, we could not stop at passive observation. Through their wisdom, their example, and their many difficult questions, Joel and Fito challenged us to wrestle with the beauty and affliction in our own homes, to wonder how the dynamics we were encountering were similar to or different from dynamics in the United States. Their deep love for their country insisted that we not resort to voyeurism and judgment, but instead look at our own lives and our own settings with curiosity, courage, and honesty.
Because, after all, Guatemala is not the only country suffering from vast economic inequality, gang violence born out of systemic marginalization, widespread sexual abuse, and dangerous political and religious leaders.
In those moments, when something we saw registered like a punch in the gut by reminding us of our own country and our own homes, 鈥淓ngaging Global Partnerships鈥� felt like much more than a fancy title. The people we encountered and the things we learned will have a direct and lasting effect on the way we pursue therapeutic work, ministry, social entrepreneurship, and the daily love and care of our neighborhoods. For that鈥攆or the people we met, for the beauty and affliction we witnessed, for the good, ongoing work we learned about, for all of it鈥擨 am so very grateful.