Curbing the curiosity: Guate-great!

So, I'm starting to lag in the blog area a little bit- sorry about that. I'll try to do better =) Let's see----last week we were in Guatemala where we met up with I think 30 something women coming from the states, the Dominican Republic and even those who live in Guatemala for the first ever SI women's outreach. It was awesome to see so many women from so many different walks of life and places to come together under a common cause. And, I have to admit, that a women's outreach is something that I've been vying for for a while now....or at least since the men's trips have been up and running! =)

For me, personally, this trip presented sooooo many differing aspects, it was exciting and challenging for me. First of all, my mom came on the outreach, so getting to spend time with her was a HUGE plus! Also, it was fun to have all of us women who are a part of SI Costa Rica be there together. There were also a number of women on the trip that I already knew, from the Central Valley or from our training that we did in Colorado back in September, so it was kinda like a little taste of home...in Guatemala. It felt even more like home because about a year and a half ago, I was a summer intern in Guatemala for SI and lived there for about 2 months helping out with the summer teams, so it was really fun to get to see my old host family and people that I hadn't seen since then. It was great!

Having been there before also presented some challenges in this trip. When I was an intern, I had my responsibilities and knew what I had to do and how to do it---after the first outreach or so. But coming back and being part of an outreach, rather than the one facilitating the group, and being at a different site than I'd been before created a slight identity crisis in my thinking. I wasn't sure what I was doing or how to do it, which is how I've felt in Costa Rica these last few months. But I think it hit me harder in Guatemala because of my previous experiences there. This trip I was a part of the Health Care site, which at this time, involved us going into a small community, El Gorrion, and to survey every home with questions as to their living conditions, health and the community as a whole. This would provide a basis for future work in this community, revealing the real needs, as seen by the people who actually live there. An amazing idea! We split into 3 groups and took separate sections. I was the translator for my group. I was glad to be able to serve in this way and I loved being able to talk to these people and hear what they had to say.

However, I know that this was only a small outreach, but in this and in these last few years of my life, I feel like God keeps stripping me of what I think to be my titles or "what I should do," and places me in situations where I feel pretty useless because I have no medical background....or being at an agriculture site, never having built chicken coops before.....or not really knowing how to run a kid's program or VBS and being put in charge of it....or working at a plant nursery, having very very VERY little knowledge of anything green. And I know that all that knowledge comes with experience and you can't expect to get it exactly right the first time, or second. And part of me loves having that variety of opportunities and changing it up and whatnot. But the other part has a strong desire to find something more specific that I can really excel at and really pour myself into that. BUT I also know that in our weakness, God is strong and that He will use me as long as I make myself available and in doing such things as these, where I feel super inadequate, I'm forced to lean and rely totally on God...which is where I should be all the time.....so, this is my current struggle. And I realized that in Guatemala and see that it continues now that I'm back in Costa Rica. In this realization, I know that I have to choose to have the right attitude/response, no matter what the situation. So, I'm working on that.

Even now, being back in Costa Rica, I feel this pressure (probably self-inflicted) of choosing a direction or focus---especially when people inquire as to my potential site, which is a legitimate and good question. However, I feel I always draw a blank when it comes to answering. I want to serve God where He would have me be and I know that He wants me in Costa Rica, but beyond that......we will see. I'm excited, a little anxious, but mostly excited to see how it all unfolds!

Sorry if that all kind of jumped around, but it was all to say that Guatemala was great and thought-provoking. And now, after having been home not even a full week, Krysta, Aiyla and myself are off in a few hours to meet a team at the airport to take them to the jungle for a week. And this I love!!! It's exciting, but I am a little nervous, because Krysta and I have been on plenty of jungle trips, but we've never lead one completely on our own before, so please keep us in your prayers! I'll let you know how it went when we get back =)

Oh, I almost forgot! We got a P.O. Box here in Costa Rica = a more secure way for you to send things, if you want!!! We're pretty stoked about it. So, here's the address:

Cailah Pritchard
Apartado 946-2400
Desamparados, Costa Rica
America Central

Hey- thanks for reading! And for now, I'll leave you with some pictures from Guatemala (courtesy of Erin Janzen =)