fresh starts

Thursday, June 4, 2009

This blog marks a new chapter in my life. A new, awkward, post-grad, slightly depressing, transitional chapter where upon being asked "how does it feel?" I reply "i don't know". Ask me that dreaded question, "what do you plan to do now?" and I will be inclined to respond with one of the following: baker, farmer, or fireman. Sounds like the career plans of a 5 year old visionary. Clearly, I am awesome. And if I had my way, I would be all three. My good friend, Paul Bloomer, shared with me his life plan to have a different job for all the different seasons so as to not be stuck doing the same thing all year long. So if I had things my way, I would want to bake in the winter, farm in the spring and fall, and fire-fight in the summer. Or you could look at it this way: a healthy balance of creating, cultivating, and saving lives. I'm sure this would all be so much more cool and inspiring if I was being 100% serious. But who knows? Perhaps one of these days I'll become the world's first professional baker-farmer-firefighter (BFF), unless there already exists such an incredible human being in this world...

Nicaragua in 1 month. I watched this video that was made 3 years ago by a previous team that went on a short-term missions to the same location. Not sure what to tell people when they ask "what are you going to be doing down there?" because we honestly don't really know. But what we do know is that there is nothing to be worried/anxious about because God has some awesome plans laid out for us down there already. No pre-conceptions, no expectations. (But just between me and you Lord, I'd rather not get malaria <3). Another thing we know is that we'll be working with the 40-some street children being cared for at the orphanage/feeding center that was established in 2006. The common circumstances behind most of the world's orphans are twofold: either their parents have abandoned them altogether or their parents are unable to support/raise them, so they bring them to an orphanage or the government in hopes of giving their child a better life. Our mission: to be servants to these kids and to share with them the supernatural love of Christ. To love no matter what unexpected things may arise. To love despite the fact that multiple children have urinated on you in the course of a single day in addition to the fact you've contracted some sort of stomach virus, garnering you the nickname 'Pukes of Hazard' (all of this was experienced by my team leader, Jessica, during her missions trip to Ethiopia last year. Woman is a trooper). I want to love like that.