the team sporting our new "el pancho's es bueno" surf shop shirts - thanks joe and allison! this was the last day of midyear... a time of learning, challenge, renewed vision, and just plain fun. it was awesome because we all got to know one another better by just hangin out and having great conversations on the porches, by the pool, in the ocean...you know. Salvadorian style. This week was really good for me personally as I was challenged to share my faith more boldly with students - and to simply have more faith! It also brought some clarity as to why each of us have difficulties on our team... It took some soul searching, self-analyzation, and reality checks, but we came home and worked through our issues to feel more united and joyful about the next four months. (four months! 6 months done. how crazy is that?!) i realize this is a little out of order.. but i just really loved this time. and these pictures!

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week one highlights

Kristen and Beany being super excited to pass out Vida Estudiantil stuff the first week of campus!! wooot!
Students stopping by the table... we got a lot of contacts and had some awesome conversations
Our first event was a success! Free pizza lunch and raffle the first Friday of school - tons of students showed up for the food, music, and conversation. We were so encouraged by the turnout and amount of students that expressed interest in wanting to really get involved in the movement! Praise God for his faithfulness ...
Manning the table
We're going on week three now, but the first week was such an awesome way for us to reach out to students, promote our group, get our name out there, and make new friends. Our Spanish improved tons that week just because we were talking to so many students about the ministry. In general, students are Christian and/or Catholic. We really don't hear many other answers. Some students blow us off, some pretend like they don't care, some just stare at us - but there are many students who we've had a chance to get to know better over these past few days and are starting to form relationships with. The Lord is definitely raising up students to help launch this movement on Matias and keep it going after we leave. 4 1/2 months to go... and we are SO excited for all that God has already done!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support all! God is working here in mighty ways... I love and miss you!!

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meet Lupe

we met in costa azul one afternoon as i was tromping around the grounds taking pictures... i turned around to see her curiously watching me from a safe distance. i said hello, asked her name, age... all the normal easy beginner spanish sentences, and she instantly started talking.

she introduced me to polly - the neighbor's parakeet, then pancho, her own families parakeet.. and then mentioned the sunset. so we headed to the beach for a stroll on the sand and she told me all about her favorite animals, how the sea snakes in the bay are dangerous, sharks in the distance and even a story of a girl that drowned at the beach. sounds a little morbid, but she lives a hard life and still finds room to marvel at God's creation.

at 9 years old, the girl easily told me about her life, her school, her family... i understood probably 75-80% of what she was saying. everytime we hang out with some locals, i'm reminded of how much i love kids. they're so simple and straight forward. they give you perspective you could never get from someone your own age. they just want to have fun! so... thanks lupito! te quiero mucho chica y espero que nos vemos pronto!

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desire for the abundant

The question seems to be plaguing me these days... what is my desire? Does anything in my life align with it? What did I just live these 24 hours for... or rather, who?

I'm painfully aware of how selfish my desire really is - that it is oftentimes so far from being an abundance of the Lord. Not that I'm desiring material things; I simply compare, count my losses, and try to avoid the lonely bout with self-pity...scheming ways I can be more the person I would love and sometimes long to be.

I'm forced to count my blessings. My team, my job, my provision, my 'circle', the list always goes on...leaving me humbled and on my knees with hands lifted. And so God clears the clouds: Just because I'm not able to check the next life goal off my list right now doesn't mean my life is falling apart. It means I'm living it. Not prophetic, I know. But to come to grips with simply being on a journey - that I am in a so called "in-between" stage of life can be life-altering. It changes my perspective. It leaves me at peace. God doesn't call any of us to be in a place of having it all figured out and under control. I can honestly say that's one of my favorite things about following Christ - being able to rest in the truth that God's got it under control. I have my responsibilities yes, praise God, but I'm not the boss. I'm the one in a spot to minute by minute be desperately depending on the one who knows infinitely more and has a (really much more creative) greater plan than I could ever come up with for my life.

In reality, the questions and the worry, the doubts, fears ... and the life goals will just keep on coming. You check them off and rid yourself of them only to stumble upon the next beast around the closest corner. And living for that - that will leave you confused, frustrated, and plainly bitter. I am called to live in abundance! To trust Him with every crack and crevice. We're not a people meant to be lost... And to truly live like that - how could you keep it to yourself? We're to live the abundant life and bring others along for the ride.

I'll still question, of course. I'll always want to know more, to check off just one more thing from my "life list," it's how God made me. But if I can switch that innate desire to have it all figured out, the constant pressing to arrive at the next big thing - and turn that into desire to simply know God's truths, his promises, his goodness - to just REST in those - what a joyfully abundant life I could live! I would be free to enjoy today for what it is, to live for knowing God more - and desiring Him more.

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