Guatemalaisms

Si Dios quiere (if God wants)
Primero Dios (literally, ´God first,´ but understood as ´God´s plans first´)
A ver que dice Dios (we´ll see what God says)
Si Dios me presta la vida (if God lends me the life)

These are a few of the many super common Guatemalaisms that I have come to love this year. Why? Because I love the way that in making any plans (See you tomorrow, Let´s have lunch, I´ll be right back...), most Guatemalans will add in ¨See Dios quiere¨ or ¨Primero Dios¨ -- reminding me that, no matter what plans I feel I can make and commit to, God always has the last word.

For example, my fellow YAV, Katharine, got appendicitis about 5 weeks ago and had to have an emergency apendectomy here in Guatemala. Everything turned out pretty much fine after about 2weeks straight in bed healing. She had classes to teach and exams she´d planned to adminster, but nope! Didn´t happen, because God´s plans came first.

I feel that God has been constantly teaching and re-teaching me this year that my life is not my own, my plans are not my own, and that God is bigger than anything I can even imagine. Lots of stuff didn´t turn out the way I thought it should this year, but that´s okay, because God gave me different / even better adventures. As I finish my last 3 weeks here, and prepare to be thrust back into the US, to my parent´s house in Alexandria for 3.5 weeks, and then to start brand new adventures in San Antonio, I´m trying to adapt the ¨Primero Dios¨ mentality. I have things I want to do to round off this year, and things I want to do once I back to Alexandria-- but the Primero Dios mentality tells me that I can make plans, of course, but need to gracefully accept when they don´t quite turn out as I had expected, because God had something better in mind. Grace in flexibility - Yes, world, that´s a hard one for Juli to learn.

Hope you have a great weekend, world. See you stateside in about 2.5 weeks (primero Dios)
bendiciones, juli

Also, for more on Katharine´s all-star-ness, read her blog! http://www.katharinecurles.blogspot.com/