Week 12: Interlude

I used to think my strength was my independence. Now I see my strength is in my needing someone. Because at the end of the day we all need people don’t we?

On one of my worship days this semester where I was in charge of the worship thought, I told the girls that humans are made for connection. I think being here taught me that more than I realized I needed to learn it. One of the beauties of life is saying, “I can’t do this without you.” These past few months I’ve learned to say it to God, my family, my friends, and not feel weakness in it. Looking back I see how that would feed into how I lived life and how I'd let myself become an island at times. Being here showed me that strength is closing the gap that is the sea between two islands. There’s beauty in needing each other. And that oasis of safety that comes with being there for someone is the essence of what drives the Trust and its mission. A place to feel welcomed and loved, because we all need that. The girls here may never see each other again once they go home and yet they bond like sisters, and they crave to be close to us just like we do to them. Life is easier with community, and this is the perfect place to see it.

So many feelings are going through my heart, I’m avoiding packing and writing letters because I am feeling sadness and missing this place in advance. Lauran this morning said that she’s feeling the same (we all are) but she’s just grateful that we get to feel these feelings so deeply and have things to miss in the first place. That's keeping us in a happy mindset I think!

The last few days of the semester are coming to a close. Don’t worry I’ll be coming back in January with more updates. I’m going home in a few days to go see family in South America, since we haven’t gotten to do a reunion that big since my grandma passed away. But these next few days are going to be filled with mainly goodbyes. Danielle is staying, and when I come back it’ll be just us two, which I’m also excited to see what next semester has for both of us!

Enough about me for a second, here’s some pictures from this week:

On Sabbath we wore our tailored dresses and took pictures with all the girls. Another bittersweet day - Naitai and Silaa both left to their homes. Their mom came and picked them up and we all gathered at the gate to say goodbye. In the picture below, Silaa is in the white sweater and Naitai is in the black hoodie.

Here are the letters we have been writing to the girls and the letters they have been writing to us. We are all feeling sentimental as you can tell.

Real quick another shoutout to Kim! She prepared a whole Thanksgiving feast for us on Saturday and we had a great time together. The food was sooooo delicious and we got a proper Thanksgiving food coma. Thank you for all you do for the Trust and for us Kim :)

Thank you Shudear, Lauran, Danielle, and Katie, for making this semester what it was. I loved being the girls' jesters with you :)

Happy holidays everyone! Thank you for reading along for however much you did. I’ll be back in January with more to tell!

Here are some last few things I learned this semester that maybe could help someone:

• Make a list daily of ten things you’re thankful for and watch your fulfillment grow.

• What you think is who you are, speak life into others but also don’t forget yourself.

• Be present and life will move slower. You don’t want to miss it. I know all about wishing days away for the anticipation of the future, but that reduces the present to limbo. Surprise: you live nowhere else but the present.

• Feel things as deeply as you can! I'm learning this one still as I write this.

• What you see is what you look for. Happiness and joy is all around if you look for it.

• Sometimes thinking so much freezes us from action. It’s okay to breathe and go for it. (I learned this when the SM girls improvised two charades skits on the spot for worship with no planning or practice and it turned out to be the most fun worship of the week)

• You don’t need to find something new and revolutionary every time. Sometimes simple is okay, and sometimes more is just more, not better. I learned this when I was entertained for a good 20 minutes playing with pop its with Silaa and we were genuinely having fun. And when Angel and I played pretend dinosaurs for half an hour.

• Mistakes are how you grow. Embrace them and learn and move on. Try to be a little better today than you were yesterday. (Me when my voice cracked while I was leading a worship song. Just laugh it off, I promise it’ll make for a happier life)

• Everyone just wants to be loved. Yes, even the person you just thought of. Them too. As EGW says, “Only by love is love awakened.” Be the one to put love out there in a healthy way.

• You are loved and valued by God. You’re special to Him at every second of your life.

The end of semester one!