When you consider a place home, it takes up space in your heart. A spot that can't be replaced. This becomes even harder when you consider the people you have met; the people whom you now consider family. Nothing can really be harder for me than saying goodbye and knowing I may never see you again. You may have just been present for a period of my life. A great period that was influenced immensely by your friendship.
It's hard to pack up and say goodbye to these people that have truly changed my life and shown me what it means to be living for Christ. Now nobody's perfect, that's for sure, but we're all trying. Sometimes I tell myself it's time to grow up and realize that people move on and people are changing; that they have somewhere else that they need to be. That doesn't make it any easier though. It was hard saying goodbye to friends in high school. It was hard saying goodbye at the end of this past school year. It's hard saying goodbye to my friends here. And it's not going to be any easier heading home, seeing people, and having to say goodbye all over again. Though knowing that what I am doing is what is right and knowing that where they are at, is where they are supposed to be is comforting. I need to keep that as my motivation; knowing that I have all of these people whom I love and care for and vice versa. Relationships are incredibly important and I've been learning that from God for the past year. I know that in any time of need I always have my family and friends no matter how far away I am.
As you can see my summer here in Mexico is coming to a close. We are heading back to our home states. It's hard saying goodbye to those who are leaving to continue on in school. It's going to be weird not living with 12 people and seeing them constantly. These past couple weeks have been pretty busy. We had a group of only 6 people and then we had a group of like 40 the next week. We built about 15 homes. Over this entire summer though, we've built about 120 homes. That's insane! The people we build houses for are incredibly grateful and it really shows you what life is about; serving. When we focus on ourselves, life is so meaningless and boring and challenging because we are never satisfied in ourselves, but in God and in service to others through Him.
My time in the word has been spent in Mark and Isaiah. It's been good being in the old testament and the new. In Isaiah, I've been reading about Hezekiah and his faith in the Lord as the kings of Assyria are threatening and destroying the land around them. Even in their fear of destruction, they know that above all God has control. In mark, I've been reading about Jesus' Crucifixion and thinking of how impactful that is and how important it is to each and every one of us. Being put on a cross for death would be incredibly painful and He did it for each one of us and covered all of our sins from past to present to future. With that, we focus on being more like Him and taking our focus off of ourselves and placing it on Him.
Today we had our staff prayer and we went around saying our highlights of the summer. There are so many, I couldn't even list them all. Some include heading out camping on the cliff in La Bouf, climbing Mt. Abejas, playing settlers, staff retreat, and just the crazy antics that happen almost every day. I'm feeling really sentimental in knowing that I wouldn't trade one staff member that I've had the pleasure in living with for anybody else. Any time spent as a staff was some of the best times I've had here. I look forward to the fall.
I look forward to returning home tomorrow and seeing everyone that I've been missing so much! You all are incredibly important and I can't wait to be with ya'll sharing crazy stories and making even more memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment