Blessings and things I will take home with me.

"To me there is no safer place to be than to be broken in the hand of God" - Jennifer Soderquist

I have talked a lot about the hard things here, the injustice, the brokenness. At first it is very hard to see anything but the painful things here, but that has begun to change. See, it is when we are most broken that we are most able to see God. And it is in the midst of this brokenness that I have experienced the deep love of Christ through his Church.

It has been a great joy to be able to serve the church here, but I am convinced that we have been far more blessed by the people we serve than we have been able to be a blessing to them. Much of that blessing has come from the children who attend the day camp. Let me tell you some stories.

We have one boy in our camp who needs a walker to get around, but he has the best attitude and so much enthusiasm for life. He insists on playing duck duck goose and similar games with the other children, and when he really gets going, I have to work to keep up with him. He has been such a joy for all of us. There was this one day though, that he was getting very tired, and we were getting ready to go to worship. He told his leader that he didn't really want to go; worship was boring. So his leader promised to sit with him and that he would have fun, because it was one of her favorite parts. So we're partway through worship and he's just sitting there, tired out, when the music for the song "Every move I make" comes on. For those of you that don't know it, it goes like this:

Every move I make I make in you,
You make me move, Jesus.
Every breath I take I breathe in you.
Every step I take I take in you,
You are my way Jesus.
Every breath I take I breathe in you.

All of a sudden this young boy gets really excited and tells his leader that he has to stand up. He gets so excited about this song and just sings his little heart out. Watching him praise God enabled us to understand the song in a way we hadn't before. For him, every move he made, he really did make in Christ. Every step he took, he took in the strength of Christ. What an example to us!

And then one of my girls had a lot to teach me about running the race well and not giving up. This little girl would fall down and get right back up and keep on going. Well, one day we were playing capture the flag, and I sent her to get the flag from the other side. The game was disintegrating at this point, but she ran straight to the flag, grabbed it and came back as fast as her little legs would carry her anyway. She didn't stop running until she was finally tackled three quarters of the way into her own side of the field. She bumped her head pretty badly and was crying, but a couple minutes later she was up and running with me to the cabin before worship! If only we had that kind of perseverance.

We also took the kids canoeing one day (which is quite an experience with many kids who are very nervous around so much nature!). One of the other interns had another sweet little girl in her boat that day that was helping her to paddle. They were both working hard for quite a while, with the camper pointing out beautiful things from time to time. Eventually she put down her paddle altogether and just sat to look around. Her leader (the intern) kept paddle and working hard to keep the boat going, until the girl turned around and told her to stop. At first she didn't want to; she felt the need to keep going, to get to the finish quickly. But the little girl continued to push her and told her to rest and enjoy the beauty around them. Her leader realized then that the little girl, who was only 9, was leading her this time, and had a valuable lesson to teach. Children are so good at seeing what we so easily miss. It is no wonder to me that Jesus said "let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

The kids bring us all sorts of laughter too, like the little boy who thought that when we sang "We wanna see Jesus lifted high" we were actually singing "we wanna see t-shirts lifted high." It took us a while to figure out why he kept lifting his shirt up so much!
And let me just say that there are few blessings as dear to me as children hugging me and hanging on my arm with a death grip, wanting to sit by me on the bus, slipping their hand into mine, and begging me to come back next year. I am going to miss them all so much. I've been fighting back the tears all day as I said my goodbyes.

The children aren't the only ones who have blessed us though. I have been amazed by the unconditional love we have received from the churches here. We came as short-term servants, and they could have just been nice to us and thanked us and sent us home again, but they welcomed us into their lives and homes. They became our beloved friends.
When the other two Nueva Vida interns went to the church outing and didn't bring any food, they were given more than enough by so many people. (I couldn't go because I was sick, and I was so upset when I heard all their stories!) They drank tons of one family's horchata (a drink made from rice), and the family responded only with joy about sharing it with them. We have been embraced by the community there and invited to join in their activites and watch futbol (soccer) with them. Just today my junior leader's family took us out for tacos and then brought us to their paleteria to show us how they make their ice cream and to give us some for dessert.
They have given us so much, and yet expect nothing in return. We have experienced unconditional love here. To me, that is a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

And finally, we have been blessed by the teens and young adults in the area. Many of them are wise beyond their years. There is one young man I'll mention who has the ability to see God's hand in everything. To him, a simple trip to by plants for the garden easily becomes a blessing. He was given a good shovel and a free lunch, and then us interns stopped by to say hello and see how his work was coming. He told us then that those three things made his day such a blessed day. And he has this amazing faith that God really is moving and working everyday in our lives. He understands some things that I have yet to learn. And this sunday, when the offering plate was passed, in it sat a carrot; the firstfruits of his garden. I am constantly challenged and encouraged by this young man.

Most amazing to me of all is that even though I have only been here six weeks, I know that I will always be welcomed here. I have made some dear friends and I cannot wait to come back and visit, and, God willing, serve with them some more.

Things I have learned/ will take home with me:

• I love the people here, and I love this city. Yes, we are different from eachother, but those differences make us whole. I have seen a side of God that I never knew before by being here, in relationships with the people in the community. And even though we may all look a little different, ane even though we have different cultures and backgrounds, we're still all pretty much the same, and we're all still part of the same family. These are my brothers and sisters in Christ.
• I have rediscovered my enjoyment of photography. Which of course means I rediscovered my need of a good photo editing program. *cough*photoshopcsforchristmas*cough*
• Christianity is a journey. We don't just work at our faith until we get to some undefined point of being the "perfect" Christian. We will always be learning and growing and stumbling and getting back up again. Our job here is to worship God and live out his kingdom on earth.
• Characteristics of God's Kingdom: Downward mobility, redemption, sacrifice, upside down (last shall be first) , Deep justice (not just service and quick solutions, but dealing with the causes), Authority, counter-cultural, surrender
• You don't have to be able to fix it. Sometimes you just need to walk through it with people. See the post on El Roi
• There are things I have seen and learned and experienced here that I will never be able to explain. Some things you have to see to understand. I will probably offend people by accident. People may think I'm crazy for how my life changes. I have gotten a glimpse of how Jesus must have felt when he taught the crowds time and time again about the kingdom of heaven and they just kept not understanding.
• Rest is necessary. And the weird paradox is that as you take time out of your busy schedule to rest, you will find the time to order your life and get everything done without killing yourself or your relationships. It's ok to say no. Burnout doesn't help anyone.
• I apologize ahead of time, Betsy, because you will probably have a rather weepy Bethany on your hands the next few months as I let the emotional shields come down and I really start processing this summer.
• I know longer know where my life is leading, or even where I will be come January. And I'm really ok with that. As I told the children today when they begged me to come back next summer; I am here this summer because this is where God told me to go. If you want me to come back, you'll have to take it up with him. My life is the Lord's, I will go where he sends me. There's no turning back anymore. I've surrendered my dreams and my plans and now "to live is Christ and to die is gain."
• I have become a coffee drinker. To the point where I need to invest in a coffee maker when I get home.
• It's okay to be uncomfortable.
  
• There's tons more, but I think this is enough for now!