This morning, I woke up in Nicaragua.
I never thought this day would get
here. Even Friday, as I was packing and
shopping and running around with Mom to tie up all the lose ends and finish all
the things I’d forgotten about, it hadn’t set in that I left the next
morning. Every day leading up to the
trip felt like two or three months before the trip started, even if it was only
two or three days. It’s insane how
quickly this trip popped up.
I got to Taellor’s House last night, to my
new home for the next three months, and the homesickness set in. It’s weird to be so far away from my family
and to know it’s going to be for so long.
On campus, I was always a quick drive away from my family (or a quick
walk over to Dad’s office). Here, I can’t
get hugs from my mom or tell Molly goodnight or go visit Dad in his office at
work.
But what I’m learning is that that’s
okay. It’s okay to be homesick and to
miss my family, and it’s okay to be nervous about the next three months. It’s what I do with those feelings that
matters. Am I holding on to the worry
and the uncomfortableness and helping them build homes in my life, or am I
focusing on looking to Jesus and why He brought me here? Am I letting my negative feelings sit and
fester, or am I talking to Jesus about them and finding my peace in Him?
Peace.
That’s a big word for only five letters.
I still have little idea how to define peace, but God’s been teaching me
what it’s not. Peace is not equivalent
to joy or comfort. It has nothing to do
with my circumstances or how I’m feeling at any given moment. Peace is something that comes only from
Jesus. I’m still working on learning
just what that something is, but (at least in my opinion) ruling out what it’s
not is a pretty darn good start to allowing God to show me what it is.
Anyways, back on my original train of
thought. I was pretty homesick last
night. But as soon as I pulled myself
off of my bed and stepped outside, it was as if all was well. Simply smelling the Nicaraguan air and
feeling the Nicaraguan heat took away so much of my homesickness; I can’t
really even describe it. God really is
good, calming my fears and worries and doubts in some of the most unexpected
ways. He’s pretty cool.
Today, I visited the homes in the village
where Project H.O.P.E. has been building for the first time. I’d been to this village once before, but I’d
never seen the homes or the work and building PJHOPE was doing there. It was pretty amazing. Tomorrow, I’ll get to head to the worksite
with the team that’s here now and see them in action. For the first time, I’ll get to see what the
majority of the teams who work with PJHOPE do.
I couldn’t be more excited.
In short, today was an amazing first day
in Nicaragua. I cannot wait to see all
that God does in the next three months.
Hopefully, they won’t fly by as quickly as I (sadly) know they will.
Also, I didn’t cry at all on the flights
yesterday, so that was awesome.
Okay, well, that’s all for now! ¡Hasta luego!
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