And the craziness continues...

So today is the first day of my favorite month.... partly because of March days in Austin... mostly because of March Madness. Yes, that’s correct. I base my favorite month selection off of Cinderellas, last second shots and One Shining Moment... which still makes me cry every single year. To me, March is the beginning of spring... the start of new life. I love spring... I’m not sure completely why, but I love the color that comes back to the world. I love the anticipation of sunny days with cool breezes... there’s something adventurous about it. So let’s just say... I’m excited to see what the next month holds. 

I’m not dogging on February though. It was a great month, especially with Young Life, and it did it’s part to close out strong in the last week. In March, we would call that “playing hard for 40 minutes.” Please bear with my basketball references throughout this post. Back to February... 

The last time you heard from me, Matt and I were sitting in the airport on our way to Richmond, VA for the Commonwealth Regional Retreat. It was an incredible time! We arrived in Richmond on Thursday night, along with all the other staff from the Caribbean islands (Bermuda, Bahamas, St. Croix and St. Thomas). On Friday, the Caribbean staff hung out together, along with the regional director of Virginia and the Senior VP of the Northern Hemisphere of International YL. It was a great time of fellowship, encouragement, prayer and equipping us to help YL succeed on our island. On Friday night, the hotel was invaded by 900 volunteer leaders, staff and committee members from the Commonwealth region. It was slightly overwhelming, but so so encouraging to worship in such a huge group of people. The conference ended on Sunday morning, and Matt and I left so encouraged. It was so good to be together as the Caribbean region- get to tell stories of what’s happening with YL on the islands, laugh together and share meals together. 

Caribbean YL Staff from Bermuda, Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Croix & Puerto Rico! 

On Sunday night, Matt and I hopped a train to Washington, D.C. to spend 2 days there. It was really fun to see the sights, go to museums and even do a little contact work! We booked our flight to D.C. a couple months ago, and it turned out that a group of high school students we know from PR were in D.C. on the exact day we were for a model U.N. competition! It was incredible how God worked that out and gave us a cool opportunity to hang out with those students in a different context outside of Puerto Rico. 

Potomac River from the Key Bridge

A fun surprise we woke up to one morning in D.C.! 

We headed back to the island on Tuesday night, spent a couple days catching up on work and hanging out with kids, and then my great friend Kim Ray came to visit! It was so fun to have her here and get to share with her what my life is like on the island! Matt and I took her straight from the airport to a high school basketball game, so she got her feet wet right away with what YL looks like here. For the next 4 days, Kim and I explored the island, went to the beach, the bioluminescent bay, El Yunque, Viejo San Juan and even tried a little salsa dancing! It was such a blessing and encouragement to me for her to come in to my world and to share that with her. It was also fun to see how God planted opportunities for us to run in to kids while we were hanging out doing everyday activities- again... it was really cool for kids to see me in a different context other than at their school. 

Kim & I at El Yunque

Rockin' the YLPR beach tank! 

Kim headed back to Texas yesterday and I’m following her today. Currently, I’m sitting in the San Juan airport waiting to board my plane to Houston, and then heading to Denver for Wilderness Ranch training this summer. The air conditioning is currently out in the airport... so let’s just say I’m excited about the Colorado cold at this moment. Hopefully, I won’t get in the habit of writing too many updates in the airport... 

Please continue to pray for Matt and I. We’re in the process of getting camp finalized and inviting kids. Pray for favor with schedules, parents and that kids would want to come! God is doing great things here with our relationships... it’s times like this when our schedules are crazy and we’re on-off island, that we need to trust Him in that. YL is His deal... I’m blessed to be a part of it. 

I love you all... thank you for praying, for caring. And you’re welcome for keeping the March Madness references to a minimum. 

Love,

Linds