Ann's Lane....

Terrific feedback and memories from our good friend Ann...


So it's been two weeks since we returned from Guatemala and the 4 of us can think of little else. What a profound experience and as we had anticipated - life changing. That said, an anticipated experience reminds of this: when parents are expecting a baby, they anticipate that they will love their child more than anything, but they cannot imagine how much or really what that kind of love represents until they experience it first hand. So - the experience in Guatemala was kind of like that - we expected something, but we could not have anticipated that there were many emotions that would change in hue and intensity. A few of those feelings for me were sadness, gratitude, compassion, dispair, fear, self-evalution, God-ness, joy and of course, love. We knew that it would be an important experience, but I'm not sure any of us could have imagined how important. We've each said it is importat that we capture (or try to capture) these experiences. I've been slow to do so, but it's time I try.

Bridgit's video captured the images of what we saw and with each image is an intense memory. When we arrived and for the 4 days we were there - it was sensory overload: smell, sights, sounds and cognitive accompaniment of wondering 'what can we possibly do to help?' It truly was overwhelming - bars on the doors - self inflicted injuries - unusual behaviors - autisim - Spanish that I couldn't understand - non-words that I couldnt't understand - hands reaching through bars for a brief moment of contact - but ulitmately I was overwhelmed by the universal language of love, touch and kindness. It was in a sense 'shock therapy' for us to re-caliibrate our brains and try to become more aligned with what's important - I'm thankful that those children and adults can remind me how much we are all alike and how much we need each other. Again, we were and are overwhelmed with the question: 'what can we do?' Jaime for sure has answered the call and is navigating through custom and politics to help - and we are blessed enough to have stumbled (coincidence? - probably not) onto the work he is doing. We're hopeful that we can support his efforts and if you visit, I don't doubt that you will be overcome with the desire to help as well.

While I continue with my own spiritual journey and while I struggle because of an early and regular exposure to religious legalism - I trust that I'm being lead to discover more about what God and what Love really mean. There are New Testament words that continue to play frequently in my mind and I believe them...they probably sum up my response to Guatemala:

Suffer the children to come unto me for such is the Kingdom of God.
To him who has been given much, much is required.
All things are possible for those that love God and are called according to his purpose:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

A.L. 2010