After two days of training I thought I had it figured out.  Yea, right!  First thing, I lose my trusted interpreter.  Then I am told I will be teamed up with someone.  OK – This will take me outside my comfort zone for sure.  I was just getting comfortable with the process.

Then it struck me like a blow to the head.  This is exactly what I have been training on.  Growth takes stretching.  Did I mention the presentation also would be reduced by an hour because of our schedule for the day?  This all happened within an hour of our presentation.  Solution … Adapt and Overcome.

I couldn’t have asked for better results.  Anai was able to work with two of my team mates and they both let me know later that she had done a great job for them as well.  Our translators did a great job and allowed me to meet some more great young kids making a difference in their Country.

Oh yea, what happened to me … Well I ended up teaming up with my roommate, Bob DiGiacomo and we teamed up with some of our closest friends on the team, Bob and Nancy Kittridge, to go speak to two groups at a local fire station.

I was the only one of the four of us that had not served in the fire industry but compensated with telling stories about working close with our public servants.  I was accepted right away.

Some of these firefighters came from as far away as 5 hours.  You can imagine the typical distractions in a fire house.  Bells, flashing lights, fire trucks blasting out of the station.  We even lost one guy after one of the alarms.  Bell and light went of and away he went – fast.

My first two days of training went without a glitch.  Today was full of challenges and worth every minute of it.  Once we got into the exercises, these guys, and two women, seemed totally engaged.  I didn’t have to understand the language to see that there were some real conversations taking place.

One thing I did with each group this week was ask them to close their eyes and picture their children (or loved ones, but most actually had kids.)  Then after about 10 seconds of silence, asked them to visualize the world they would like their children to grow up in and remained silent for about a minute.  This was a very powerful exercise each time and I think it let the participants know that this was not just another “how to” of “self-improvement” training.  This would be different.

After the training the atmosphere seemed electric as these public servants realized their lives had changed and so will their Country and they will be part of that change.

During the second half of our discussion I noticed that a little boy had come into the room.  As it turned out, he was the son of one of the female firefighters.  You can think what you want, but I know it was a higher power that brought that little guy into our room.

He and I had a great conversation for a few minutes and even though we were only able to understand a few of each other’s words.  We laughed, smiled and high fived just like I did with my kids when they were that age.

As we closed out the presentation, I could not help myself but to walk over and stand with my new little buddy and did my best to get out these words.  “You see this little guy?  This is why we are here in your Country.  You have an opportunity to create that world that you saw with your eyes closed earlier this morning.  Will that be worth the commitment to do what you have to do to make this happen for this child and all the children of Guatemala?  I believe in all of you and I believe you will do it.”

I believe in that moment, every person in that room got it.  Many of the participants wanted pictures and some even wanted email addresses so they could stay in touch with us.

I find it difficult to hold back the emotion as I reflect on what happened a few minutes later as we were getting ready to leave.  I felt a tug at my shirt and as I turned around, there he was – my new little friend.  The future of Guatemala with his arms stretched out in the universal language of “I want a hug.”

I dropped to by knees and embraced that little guy.  The station Chief was nearby and gave me the gift of a lifetime by grabbing the camera out of my hand and to create a permanent record of the defining moment.

Earlier this week I posted the following thought … “How do you put in words something you have never done before, that made you feel like you never felt before, in a place you’ve never been before, with people you’ve never met before?”  Today I received the answer to my question.  You don’t use words.

Guatemala changed this week and “La Transformación está en mí” has just begun!

• Click here to read Day 1
• Click here to read Day 2
• Click here to read Day 3
• Click here to read Day 4
• Click here to read Day 5
• Click here to read Day 6

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Barry Smith    6/15/13   photo by author  © Building What Matters 2013