Yes, I know, I've been slacking and not writing blogs. I feel a little, teensy-weensy bit bad about it, but not only do I suppress emotions like that, I also have a plethora of what I deem excellent excuses. I'm home now, back in the great state of Michigan and the blessed cool weather it brings. I cannot describe the joy I felt when I walked outside at the airport and my sweat glands did not go into overdrive. But before I get ahead of myself, let me revisit the last couple weeks in Mazatlan.
The last week and last group was a church from North Carolina. They had crazy accents, and by the end of the week I felt myself talking real Southern-like. It was great. This group was one of my highlights of the summer. I was asked to lead one of the small groups in the mornings; one high school kid and four college guys. I had been briefly clued into their stories before they arrived, and they were so very different from my own past. How could I relate to them? How could I provide help and wisdom for situations and lives that I knew nothing about? You know how when someone asks a really hard question no one knows the answer to, so someone just says "Jesus" because that pretty much covers all questions...well He really was the answer to those questions I was asking myself. I got to know the guys in my group over the course of the week way quicker and in much more depth than I got to know anyone else in any group all summer. How? By talking about Jesus, and what He had done in their lives and my own. Situations I have no experience with, Jesus could provide the wisdom and all I had to do was be available for Him to work through. Every morning before small group I prayed for wisdom. Things would come up in small group or throughout the day and somehow I had a Bible verse in my head. Now, remembering references is a serious problem for me, but not for that week. It could only have been God. Even with all that going on, my own insecurities had me worried that I would say something "wrong" or give bad advice, especially in very specific, tough-issue discussions. However, my team of fellow interns and staff continued to encourage me and note the difference they saw in me and the guys in the group over the course of the week. The highlight was hearing that one of the guys volunteered to pray for the group before leaving at the end of the week. All week we had talked about leading spiritually, and so during small group I made each one of them pray at least once (they were a bit shy). Hearing that, by the end of the week, one of the guys stepped up and led the group in prayer was such an answer to my own prayer. I continue to pray for those guys and am so excited for what God will continue to do in their lives.
My last day before getting on the plane home, we went to the Salvation Army home for the last time. As a very task-oriented person, it was an incredible day of wrapping up projects. It sounds so ridiculous, but for anyone that has been tasked with digging a footer in Mexican dirt (rock), finishing is a big deal. I got to spend most of the day in a hole with some of the other interns and guys from my small group, talking and digging. We also mixed up a bunch of concrete by hand so we could pour the last footer of the summer. A fitting nail in the coffin of a long summer of work projects. As much of a highlight as that was, interacting with the kids for the last time outshone it by far. A previous group had brought a ton of backpacks, so we loaded them up with school supplies and let each kid pick one out. They were SO PUMPED. Naturally, the tiniest little ones picked the biggest ones instead of the ones meant for little kids. I had one of them on my lap while she unpacked all the school supplies, and she made sure to show me each and every item and where it belonged in the backpack. She was so proud and I was about in tears. I tried to help her carry it over to where they were taking a group picture, but she insisted on carrying it herself. My heart just about melted into a puddle in the dirt when she put it on and walked away: the backpack was so big all you could see from behind was her feet. It looked like a backpack with feet walking around. Precious. Then they gave us all hugs and climbed into their van to leave for the weekend. I'll never forget the image of that van pulling away and a bunch of little arms sticking out the windows waving goodbye.
I was going to talk about all the things that struck me as I returned to the States and home, but don't think I will. I'd rather the last thing you remember in this blog be the same as my last image of Mexico; those beautiful children of God.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying for me and Back2Back this summer. May God bless you and keep you. I love you all. Amen.
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