Hola. Yes, that is about the extent of my Spanish-speaking abilities now that I have been here almost four weeks. Not really, I've learned a few more things, but most of the words I know are some sort of construction tool so I'm not exactly conversational. Lots of things have happened since my last blog, but if you read my first blog I made no promises about how often or consistent my blogging would be. If you want to complain, go for it. I'm in a different country so I won't be able to hear you anyway.
So in order to stay in some kind of chronological order, LAST week we didn't have an official group, just a group of three lovely people who set three days of their week-long vacation aside to work with us. The week looked pretty normal other than the lack of a group; the interns and staff continued work projects at each of the homes and had some great bonding time with all the kids. Since there weren't a bunch of people to be fed each evening, we got to mix up our traditional meal schedule which is the same every week. The highlight? Brinner. Duh. (That is breakfast for dinner, in case you have lived a deprived life to this point, you are welcome for changing your life). Our team worked great all week and we were thoroughly exhausted by the end of it. After a gracious couple days to sleep in over the weekend, we were recharged and ready to face the next week.
I might be repeating myself for the next little bit, and again, feel free to complain, it won't bother me even a little bit. For those of you who don't know, while at Michigan State I was involved with Riverview Church. Two spring breaks ago I came down to Mazatlan with a group of 52 college students as a part of the second group to be in Mazatlan, and so began my love for this mission. This week another Riv group is here, and it has been wonderful. I only know a handful of the people, but just knowing that we all come from the same area is comforting. And I've been really sick of listening to that nasty Ohio accent. This group works so hard, even through some pretty ridiculous challenges and I thank God for each of them. I've been sitting in on the debriefing sessions at the end of every day (something I haven't done yet this summer) and it is so cool to see God at work in the group members. As much as I love having them here, I can't wait for them to go home after being here and make a crazy impact on the Lansing area.
Ok, story time. Yesterday we were working at Racho de los Ninos, the special needs home. All of us were busy with our tasks, going about our own business. Except one of the other interns, who needed to wait for another job to be completed before she could begin. While she was hanging out with a few of the kids in the house, the caregivers started unloading some groceries. She went to help, and the smallest girl in the home tagged along. Now, when I smallest, this girl is TINY. She is probably less than three years old and super small. Well she was too small to carry any of the bags that actually contained groceries, but rather than leave her un-involved, one of the caregivers gave her an empty plastic grocery bag to carry. Which she did wonderfully. I didn't quite grasp the beauty in this small gesture until debriefing in the evening as we talked about things God was teaching us about Himself. This story is an exact portrayal of our relationship with God. He has a good and perfect plan (getting the groceries inside) and really doesn't need our help (carrying an empty plastic bag). He is all-powerful, He created the heavens and the Earth, He can snap His fingers and things pop into existence. However, He loves us so much that He allows us to be a part of what He is doing. Even though we are flawed, messed up little punks, He extends to us an offer to be a part of His good and perfect plan. And even though we often resist, screw up the plan, or whatever the case may be, His will is done exactly and as perfectly as He planned. Even though most of the people who come here with Back2Back are not construction workers, buildings and walls have popped up all over the place. Even though most are not social workers or counselors, the paths of children's lives have been drastically altered. That is God's doing, not our own. Pretty cool what He can do through us if we are willing to let Him work and trust that His plan is better than our own.
Hopefully that makes sense, I don't proofread things, so it'll just stay the way it is.
I'd love for you to continue praying for me and what God is doing here. If you have anything you'd like prayer for, this isn't a one-way thing. Get a hold of me and I'll do a little praying myself. In the meantime, get to bed on time or someone might just drop the People's Elbow on you.
THE PEOPLE'S ELBOW!!!!!!! :P
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