Over the past 1 1/2 months I've lived in San Juan, her most recent book, "Bittersweet," has been a true companion for me. Two nights ago, I opened the book to start reading and to my delight, the next story was titled, "San Juan." The whole story was encouraging, convicting and life-giving to read about her experiences in the city I'm calling home for the next year. But, there was one paragraph that sums up my heart, soul and time in San Juan so far. I'd like to share it with you.
"It's so easy, when your own world feels a little dark and fragmented, to become increasingly self-focused, only able to see the frustration and pain of your own life. I brought my frustrated, wound-up self to San Juan and realized all at once that I was in the middle of something extraordinary."
I might as well have written that paragraph. It sums up my life for the past month. It sums up why I love Niequist so much. She goes straight to the heart. If I'm going to be honest, I came to San Juan in a daze. The past 2 years have been incredibly difficult, challenging and growing for me, and it's been easy for me to have tunnel vision. To only see the battle that's being fought in my heart and mind. Since I've been here, God has, in many different ways and through many different people, reminded me that there is a whole world out there. That it's not all about me. He's reminded me of the big picture. To open my eyes and look around once in a while. It's become more and more clear to me, as Young Life has really gotten started, that I'm in the midst of something extraordinary. Now, it's a daily fight to get out of my own head and soak in the moments that are happening around me.
Here are a couple moments of extraordinary that happened over the past week:
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| Sophomore girls dressed to their Greek Parthenon theme |
1. Baldwin Spirit Week: The only thing I can remotely compare this to is Homecoming Week in Texas high schools. It's a huge deal. Each grade is responsible for decorating a hallway with a certain theme, and then each day of the week has a different costume theme. For example, today the theme is video games.... so the sophomores are dressing up as Pac Man and the juniors as Super Mario characters. The whole week is a competition between classes, and the kids are all about it. Students were at the school until 9 p.m. each night last week, and all day on Saturday and Sunday working to finish their hallways. Matt and I got to go and help them decorate their hallways and it was an awesome time to hang out with kids. I helped out the sophomores, which is basically a class of 30 girls... got to know all their names and spend hours having a shared experience with them. Looking back on it.... that is extraordinary. That God would allow me to spend time with them, to give me conversations with them and a chance to help them with something important. If you don't believe me that this is a huge deal... check out the pictures from the week!
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| Sophomore girls in their finished hallway! |
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| Baldwin Juniors dressed as Mayans |
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| Matt and I hanging out during Spirit Week |
2. Our 2nd Young Life club: Hands down one of the most fun clubs I've ever been a part of. We met in the San Juan Beach Hotel and kids had a blast rocking out to songs, human bowling, winning prizes and having random dance parties. The whole night was sweet, but during Matt's talk it dawned on me that this could be the first time these kids begin to understand who this man Jesus really is. That was overwhelming to me. That reminded me that I'm in the midst of something extraordinary.
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| Practicing songs before our 2nd club! |
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| Human bowling!! |
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| Robot dance party!! |
God is doing huge things here in San Juan. When I stop to think about it, I'm in awe that God would allow me to be a part of this. That He would trust me enough, think me worthy enough, adequate enough to be doing this. I don't deserve it... to be in the presence of extraordinary... but while I have the chance, I'm going to enjoy every single moment of it.
Thanks for caring. Thanks for praying. More updates soon!
Love,
Lindsay
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