Caught in a Whirlwind

It was upon us before we had much time to react. Five students were helping me collect trash around the children's home when I glanced up to see a whirlwind of dirt and leaves coming straight at three of us.  I called out a warning to the kids and then closed my eyes as it surrounded us.

 

It really wasn't too bad and only lasted a few seconds - at one point I peeked over to smile at one girl resolutely holding her skirt down.  The kids on the outside laughed at our predicament, and we laughed with them afterwards, as we tried to dust the debris from our clothes and hair.

When I returned to Oaxaca last month and truly began my new role as the assistant administrator, I hit the ground running.  My days were full of meetings and tasks - trying to answer questions I knew nothing about, chipping away at the mountain of emails I was now receiving, and doing what I could to support the new administrator - all the while continuing in my role at the school until the new principal was ready to replace me.

Add moving a school into a new building and moving myself into a new apartment, and it felt like a genuine whirlwind.  I did my best to hang on and keep moving forward, but wasn't sure where everything was landing.

While I still don't know where some things ended up, I finally feel like I'm getting a bit of a handle on my new job, and I'm so thankful for that.  People ask me questions now and it surprises me to hear confident answers coming from my mouth.  I also no longer have to work 10 hour days just to keep afloat, so that is quite nice too.  I even have time to blog again, here and there :).

I'm still "dusting off debris" in some ways, but I finally feel like the whirlwind has passed. I've been given plenty of opportunities to adjust to new jobs and situations in life, and I've learned that even when things seem insurmountable, if I just hang on in faith long enough, things generally settle down again and I can walk forward with new confidence.  And I praise and glorify God for that.

Happy Valentine's Day

On Friday, I went with the school on a field trip.  We were visiting a school that we first met a year ago, around Christmastime.  This small elementary school has 30 students and two teachers, one who also acts as the principal.  Their buildings are made of tin and wood, and the view from the schoolyard is of the city trash dump.

We began the day with some ice-breaker games led by their teachers, followed by a few games our own teachers brought.  Below, the children play a game having to do with foxes and hens.  The person at the front of the line is the rooster, and has to protect their hens from the foxes - if I understood the game correctly :).

The mothers there also prepared a meal for us.  It technically was called a snack, but with tamales, tostadas, taquitos, oranges, and drinks, I would say it was a meal.  And I was once again humbled by their generosity.

We encouraged the students to invite someone from the other school to eat.  Some didn't exactly excel at this, but others surprised me.  Pictured below, one of our girls who struggled a lot with anger when she first arrived (and still has her moments) sat and chatted with a girl from the school we were visiting.  Precious moments.

The kids had all prepared cards for each other.  A cloud of dust was raised in the school yard as the students looked for the person they had made their card for.  Kind of like pen pals, but with a personal touch.

And what's a party without a few piñatas?   To save time, we didn't blindfold the kids, but we did inform our students that this was a gift for the other school.  Without complaint they all stood to the side and watched the candy frenzy when the piñatas broke open.  There are certainly challenging times, but we've got some good kids here at the children's home :).

And, of course, a group photo!  The day seemed to go smoothly and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.  But the new principal of our school and I were left feeling a little uncomfortable with how our abundance contrasted with their needs.  So we both are praying for wisdom and guidance in possible further steps to develop a deeper relationship there, and I invite you to support us in prayer as well.

This is love: not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us 

and sent his Son 

as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 1 John 4:10

Love Does

Perhaps I shouldn't recommend a book I haven't finished yet.  However, a small group from my church gifted me the book Love Does by Bob Goff, and I'm really enjoying it.  I read half of it, and the stories and the storyteller inspire me to live life more fully.

In one chapter, Bob Goff recounts the story of how his friend Rick went door to door in his neighborhood playing a game called Bigger and Better.  He started with dime, knocked on a door, explained that he was playing a game where he trades for something bigger and better, and he walked away with a mattress.  Asking others to join him in this game, Rick traded his way all the way to a Dodge that day.

Bob then quotes C.S. Lewis:

"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the sea.  We are far too easily pleased."

I happen to read this during my own "holiday by the sea" - but to get to the beautiful sand and crashing waves, we had to drive past very poor places.  Were there children along the way who would have leapt at the offer of a trip to the beach?  Probably so.  Would there be kids who prefer to continue playing in the dirt?  Maybe.

I feel so blessed to have found work that I enjoy, serving the Lord, in a beautiful place I love to live.  Though times can indeed be challenging, I feel that, in many ways, I am living my "holiday by the sea."  I'm so thankful for this, and hope to continue to stay attuned to God's leading because His plans are good.

But are there areas in my life where I'm still sitting in the dirt, making mud pies?  Where God has so much more in store, but I remain limited by my experiences or expectations? What adventures await, if only I let go of what controls me and let Christ more completely mold and define me?  How can I live this brief time on earth more fully, the way God intended it to be?

Bob concludes this chapter saying:

 "Religious people say that Jesus stands at the door and knocks.  I agree.  But there's more.  Jesus invites us to stand at the door of His house and do some knocking too.  And when He opens a door, He wants us to bring all of the faith we have to Him, even if it's just a dime's worth.  And He promises that He will trade up with us - because He Himself is what we have the chance to trade for.  And what we'll have to give in exchange for knowing Him is everything we've accumulated during our lives and are standing on the porch holding on to."

Let us stop being satisfied with the things this world has to offer, and lift our vision to see the amazing things God has prepared for us.

Wonders of Creation

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.  Morning by morning new mercies I see.  All I have needed, thy hand hath provided.  Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

This weekend  I was blessed by the opportunity to visit the coast with my friend, Jo Ellen.  The last time she and I visited Puerto Escondido together was in 2009, as I was coming to the end of my 2 years of service in Oaxaca with Covenant World Mission.

As I wrote in my journal early Friday, I was thankful for a beautiful morning at the beach without a single plan for the day ahead - but I was also feeling a little guilty enjoying it when most people I knew were working. However, I felt like God was telling me, "I created this, Laura.  Enjoy it.  Delight in it."

Sunday morning I grabbed a few pieces of fruit and headed out to sand to watch the sunrise.  This beach is known for its good surfing and you can usually see surfers out catching some waves at dawn and dusk.  However, another amazing thing happens in the early morning hours.

There are birds that fly along the waves as they form on the long beach.  It is almost as if these birds are riding the waves as well, although I think they are riding the winds that cause the waves.  It is wonderful to see them come up the coast, floating just above the emerging wave, nearly touching the water with their wings, but pulling up just as the wave crests.

Maybe there's some biological explanation to why they do this, but it looked to me like God's creation was enjoying in the wonders of their Creator.  And I marveled in watching them.

But it wasn't just the birds that amazed me.  As I sat there watching the ocean, I began to notice that it wasn't only sand churned up in the mighty waters.  Occasionally I would catch sight of diamond shaped fish on the underside of the waters, riding the waves as well.  Those were harder to catch on camera, but in the picture below you can see the sand churned up as the wave grows.

Birds, fish, and men, all enjoying in the wonders of creation.  A beautiful way to spend a Sunday morning.  And something I would like to be more intentional about doing in the future - taking delight in this marvelous world God created.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Psalm 37:4