my story continues...

It has been over a week since my last blog….and I am finding it hard to summarize the last 10 days. I’ll start with camp. We had soccer camps for the girls in Cristo Rey village, a very small village about 25 minutes from Corozal last week and then again, this week with tomorrow being our last day. There is a lot I could say about camp but to summarize, it has been great to meet and get to know some of the faces of the village. They are, in a word, precious. They have smiles that make you want to tickle them, faces that are rich in history and they hug you like they have known you forever. While most all of the kids are fluent in English, they tend to speak Spanish, especially when they don’t want one of us to understand them. :) It is a good thing hugs and smiles are a universal language. Some of you have asked me how I can do soccer camps when I do not play soccer…that matters not since I(along with Courtney, a fellow “coach” from Texas) are in charge of the younger kids where we mostly play Duck, Duck Goose; Mother, May I; and hot potato. I have loved my time with the younger kids and have found that all they really want and crave to do is to be outside and play. It is there time where they do not have to do chores, help their moms in the kitchen, watch after a younger sibling…but they really can just smile, kick a ball, run around and have fun. I’ll be sending pictures of the kids in the next few days.

Last weekend, after our first week of camps, the Sports Servants group decided to hit “the islands” over on San Pedro/Ambergris Caye for a weekend of fun, relaxation and sun. It was amazing. When we first arrived, the weather was overcast but that didn’t stop us from finding lounge chairs and relaxing with a book. The next morning, we awoke to a beautiful sky and so 5 of us went snorkeling, with our guide “Chocolate.” It was easily one of the top five favorite things I have ever done. Snorkeling is something I had only done one other time in my life, but snorkeling on the second biggest barrier reef in the world is something I shall never forget. That and the fact that we swam belly to belly (literally) with HUGE stingrays(about as big as a truck tire) and RODE on top of nurse sharks. I know, it sounds crazy, but Chocolate did it first and so we quickly followed. The stingrays felt like felt and silk and the sharks, like an SOS pad.I don’t know if it was because Melanie and I looked like we needed one on one attention or if it was because he usually did this with his clients, but he grabbed Melanie’s hand on one side and mine on the other and for the entire 3 hours, he swam with us by his side showing us every under the sea creature, corral and life. It was amazing and I only wish we had had underwater cameras. I have a feeling my memory, though, that will never leave me…if only you could look inside my brain:).


That is a brief summary of what life has been like down here for the past 10 days…but something else I wanted to share is how I have seen God’s goodness and yes, to continue the theme from my very first blog, God’s hugs. Before I left, I wrote how I had been feeling God’s hugs through each of you loving me, in the encouragement, support, His distinct pull in sending me down here, etc. but since I have arrived, I feel like a day has not gone by where I have not seen His hand in my life down here, whether they are in small ways or large ways. Whether it is through meeting friends of friends who take us under their wing, or seeing the moon through the window on the ceiling in our apartment, or seeing the sunrise at San Pedro(I’ll have pictures soon) to walking down the beach and looking up and seeing 2 hammocks perfectly placed in two trees, asking us to lie in them:). I know God is present and with me in Nashville, but here I feel so much that He is not only with me, but walking ahead of me, paving the way. The Nashville group leaves this weekend, so come Monday, I’ll be here solo. Although a bit apprehensive, I know I’ll be ok as I feel safe where I am staying and know that God is here to hold my hand through this next step. I will soon begin working on projects for Mac and for Kimberly, and just this week, I’ve met with two principals at two different schools who are eager to have more help. That said, there are going to be things for me to do, but what I am curious about is where God is leading me in my story. If you look back over your own life, you can probably think of pivotal moments or turning points where something changed or happened and your life was redirected; whether that is a child being born, a marriage, going off to college—whether big or small, there are times when you can think about those moments in your own lives…well, I feel like I am in the middle of one of those pivotal moments and I don’t mean in some crucial, amazing, monstrosity way; I just mean I feel like these next 2 ½ months of being on my own are going to be a time that I look back on and remember, so distinctly. A time when my story gained more depth and width and height, a time when God guided me forward, without, at times, me even knowing it. I continue to be ready for where He has me; the past two weeks have been with friends I have known and now, it may with new friends I have recently met or have yet to meet.

Thank you for all of your emails and words of encouragement and support in me; it means so much that you are not only interested in my life down here, but supporting this part of my story.