Present-ness

I am learning what it means to be present.

Last Friday, we finished up VBS at the People's Covenant Church in San Juan. Although we had done some planning before it actually began, much of the program for each day was organized the day before or that very morning. As a self-proclaimed "checker" and list maker, it was challenging for me to be so flexible. It was good to be challenged to operate in a way outside of my comfort zone...and the week was a success! We had a far greater turnout than anticipated and some of the kids said it was the best VBS they had ever attended.

This week we have been able to rest. We didn't make plans or have places to be, but I have been incredibly blessed by just living in the present this week. One awesome example of this was last Friday. After having packed up all of our stuff and moved out of the San Juan church, we headed toward the apartment of a Merge full-time staff member who is out of town. Upon arriving, we discovered that the lights were out. We tried for awhile to determine the root of the problem, eventually giving up and going to sleep on the cool tile of the otherwise oppressively hot apartment. We woke up exceedingly uncomfortable, and got in the car to seek out air conditioning. We joked about our homelessness, as we didn't know where we would stay that night. Thankfully, we were welcomed in by a couple from Dale's (Ex. Dir. of Merge) church in Mission, even though they weren't expecting us for another couple of days. I have felt so much hospitality and kindness from this couple, and being in their home this week has been an encouragement to us all.

Hurricane Alex made our lives a little more interesting yesterday, but thankfully, passed through Mexico without doing too much damage. We got some nice wind and rain, though, and secured furniture just in case. It was kind of cool to feel this sense of peace, despite the chaos of the storm. I got really excited at one point when the windshield wipers were swishing exactly in time with the music on the radio....I've never had that happen before. :P It seemed like the world was in harmony, somehow, and I just loved that moment.

I'm not sure when we're crossing the border and moving back to Pilar Esperanza. It could be any time in the next three days. But I am growing to be at peace with this feeling of not knowing...I have space to trust when I stop fretting and micro-managing.

My next update may be a while from now, so I'll give y'all a brief run-down for the weeks ahead. I'll be at Pilar for the next week and a half, then I take a bus and three planes to Ecuador with one of my fellow staff members. On the 16th, I will be with a group in South Quito, helping them minister through work projects, worship, and cell group time at a church. On the 25th, we travel to Lumbaqui (which includes a 3-hour boat ride!), in the Amazon. We'll be helping the team with some sort of work and evangelism projects. The next team arrives on August 1st, and will be doing work projects and a children's program in La Magdalena. My final team gets to Ecuador on August 10th and will be doing some work projects, a school program, and a youth program.

That's about it for now! It's going to be a crazy, busy rest of the summer, but I'm taking it one day at a time and I look forward to all the adventures still to come! :)

Peace.