Saturday, March 27, 2010

Cozumel, a little late ; )

FEBRUARY 7


It was 1 a.m.We needed to leave for the ferry in 4 hours, and I still needed to pack a few things.  I rubbed my eyes and tried to keep the numbers from blurring so bad as I finished balancing the finances from our stay in Cozumel and get my brain around how to handle them on the six day drive ahead of us. Our final location during the trip, Cozumel, was beautiful! A Caribbean  island just a ferry ride from Cancun, it had that laid-back, no hurry, what happens happens island feel. While we were there, we had worked with several different churches, doing everything from childcare during a regional pastors' conference, to street evangelism, to cleaning up the neighbor's yard, to the pre-program program for a Costa Rican Mariachi Evangelist's 3 day crusade. The rainbow colored friendship bracelet dangled  across the calculator for a moment. In the first church, we had presented our program in a local neighborhood soup kitchen and then came back the next Sunday to participate in their service. We got to hang out with the youth group (13-19 year olds) several different times during our 10 days there, taking them out for ice cream, playing soccer, or exchanging stories.  Discpleship happens in relationship, and I feel like we really got to know these young people. They even came to several events we did with other churches, just to hang out. One of the girls showed up to the pastors' conference with a bunch of these bracelets she'd purchased, and with a warm smile and a big hug, tied them around the wrists of the girls on our team. 


Even with all of the ways we'd been able to pitch in at the churches, I knew that we were all ready to get back to Ensenada. Sleep in beds instead of the vans the guys had been sleeping in for the last week and half when our rented space ended up being smaller than we expected. Or see the classmates and friends that had their own adventures from South America to relate. Maybe even move past graduation and DTS and on to the next step. Personally, I'd be glad to stuff all these receipts and bank notes into an envelope and had it off to the finance department. But glancing around at the girls giggling, sleeping or jamming final items into their backpacks, I knew I'd miss each of them when they flew off to their other lives. Focus, Amy. Now how much is the ferry going to be per vehicle and passenger again?


All of the sudden, a few guitar notes broke the low murmuring in our room, joined quickly by young voices singing worship songs in Spanish. We stuck our heads out of our curtain door to discover that the youth group had come to serenade us farewell! As we all piled out into the narrow hallway, grabbed hands with our new buddies, wiped a few tears, and lifted our voices to our Daddy, I felt that bittersweet goodbye feeling come, accompanied by peace. He was pleased with us. With this. With me. And that's what outreach and DTS and finances and life is about. Pleasing Him.