Butterfly

The other day some of the kids came up to me after school with a wounded butterfly they had found. They were all very excited about it and I was able to snap some neat pictures. It was really cute, because even the boys were all being very gentle with it. I explained to them that we needed to be very gentle with it because its wings were broken and it couldn't fly anymore. One if the kids asked me "If we feed it some juice will its wing get healed?" I sadly explained that there was nothing we could do to heal its wing and that it would probably die soon. The kids gently played with it for a while and then let it sit on a leaf until it couldn't move anymore. They then buried it and sprinkled flowers on top of its grave. Kind of sad that it ended up dying, but it was nice watching the kids caring for the injured butterfly. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

December?? What?

Wow! I can't believe that it is December already. The month of November passed so quickly and I realized that it had been a while since I posted a blog.

Things here have been steadily going along. I am starting to settle into my role at the school a little more, although I still have frustrating and hard days. I am beginning to realize more and more that God had a completely different plan for me here than I was expecting. It is still kind of hard to accept at times, but I am trying with all my might to lay aside my selfishness and pride and just serve God with all that I have in whatever He sets before me. Easier said than done, I know. Throughout my life I have grown accustomed to being good at whatever I do, and being recognized for the good things that I do. Now that I am in a situation where I feel incapacitated, unequipped, and frustrated I can no longer rely on my own "skills" or "goodness" to skate through this. I have been forced (kicking and screaming at times) to lay it all down and let God carry me.

God has given me many affirmations over the last month of His extreme love and care for me and reassuring me that He has this all in His control. He spoke to me through a young 12 year old who came down on a one week outreach. On the last day of her stay, she quietly slipped me a note that said "Psalm 139. ask God for more insight." After I read the Psalm:

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! ....
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

...I realized that this situation was more than just me being unhappy in my job. This is something that God had planned from the beginning, something to refine my character. This was a big punch in the face.

Another confirmation that I got was this past weekend where the local church put on a weekend confernce. On the last night the speaker was talking about how God equips us with the skills we need to do His work. During his talk, I had a little Haitian girl sitting on my lap, playing with my hair and whispering in my ear. As I looked into her beautiful, black eyes, my heart was overwhelmed with love and at that very moment the speaker said, "God equips those He has called." I remembered what God had called me to here: LOVE. He called me to love His children. Even when it is hard, even when they disobey, even if I would rather be doing something else. He has called me to love. And He has equiped me with such a capacity to love that I am almost bursting at the seams with love for these children.

Praise God for His faithfulness to those He has called.

Simple Pleasures

As many have heard, I've had a bit of a rough go of things here. I often go through my day frustrated and come home exhausted. Then the next is just the same, frustrating and exhausting.

This past week, God blew a breath of fresh air on me and I was so blessed.

It is often the little things in life that speak the most to me. So I have a roof deck. Nothing fancy, just stairs leading up to a flat, concrete roof. But it is pretty amazing nonetheless. In the daytime the view is beautiful, mountains, fields, rooftops with laundry hanging on clotheslines. I go up there often to sit and take a deep breath. Well, this time, I decided to go up at night time. I brought a blanket, a candle, my Bible, and a Handy Snacks pudding cup. Needless to say, it was amazing. The stars were beautiful, there was a soft breeze blowing, the candle light was just bright enough to allow me to dig into the Word, and the pudding cup was the icing on the cake.

And God met me there. It was like He was reaching down, giving me clarity, strength, and allowing me to breathe deeply.

Sharing

I recently had an interesting experience at school. It was during recess and several of us were all sitting around eating the snacks that we had brought from home. I think I was eating a cookie or something. I decided that I was done and didn't want anymore so I asked the kids if anyone wanted it. They all instantly shot up their hands and began shouting "dame, dame!!" (Gimme, gimme) Normal child reaction. I decided to give it to one girl, Alba Nelly, who was asking a little more politely. She took the cookie with a huge grin on her face, because she had obviously won the prize. It was what she did next that surprised me. Instead of quickly devouring the cookie she broke it in half and gave the other half to another child. She then took the half that remained and broke it again in half to share with someone else. She continued breaking the cookie in half and sharing until everyone at the table had had a piece. Satisfied, she sat down and ate the small crumb that remained in her hand. Oddly enough, she was not sad that she ended up with the smallest piece, she still felt like she had won because I had chosen her to distribute the wealth. She got to share what she had with her friends, a real honor in this culture.

It was so beautiful to me to see this wonderful virtue of community and sharing so apparent, even in a 6 year old.

A Different Style of Worship

This past Sunday we had a real treat at church. A popular Christian Reggaeton artist came and did a special concert. (For those of you not familiar with this style of music, it is kind of like rap with a latin rhythm and lyrics in Spanish. Pretty rockin' and very fun.) So anyways, Ariel Kely came to our church and it was amazing. The place was packed with kids in baggy clothes, baseball caps and gold chains. I would say about half of those in attendance would probably never set foot in a church, but got word of a reggaeton concert and decided to take a chance.

The concert/worship service was great, Ariel has an amazing testimony: he used to be very hard into drugs and was a successful backup dancer for many famous rappers until Christ turned his life around. Now he raps for Jesus. His music is really fun and we were definitely rockin' out, but his lyrics are what is really impressive. They are so blunt and straightforward addressing a growing population of young people chasing empty dreams.

I love it that God can use all types of people to do all types of things to bring him glory. From doctors to construction workers, and from preschool teachers to rappers, He uses the gifts He has given us to preach His name.

Beauty School

I have earned quite a reputation as a haircutter here. I've been here a little over a month now and I think I've already given over 10 haircuts.

This past weeks Daisy, the leader of the Women's Social Work site, asked me if I would come to her site and teach the ladies how to cut hair. Several of them are interested in starting a salon but don't know how to cut hair. So I went and tried to explain to the ladies that never formally learned how to cut hair (so I I don't really know how to teach cutting hair) but I just learned by practicing on brave souls.


I demonstrated a basic layered cut and then another lady tried it on one of the girls there with me looking on. Overall it was pretty successful and the cuts turned out great. I plan on going back a few more times to demonstrate and help the ladies learn the basics of cutting hair.

Tired

I am officially tired. Now I know that working with kids is tiring, no matter who or where you are. But it is even more tiring because my brain is working double time in another language. Today was especially hard as a few of the kids are very disrespectful. I know that it takes a while to earn respect, but it is just very frustrating when I speak to a child in a stern voice and they turn and laugh in my face.

Plus I think I may have a parasite in my stomach.

And I got some weird allergic reaction on my lips from eating mangos.

It seems the honeymoon phase is over. Real life has set in.

Please pray for me. Not that these trials would pass, necessarily. But rather that the Lord would give me strength and patience to face these trials.