AND HE RESTED!

Sunday.  A time for worship.  But even more so, a time for rest!  What is it that makes Sunday afternoons such a lazy, enjoyable time?  This is the day that God rested, and therefore, he made it a day for us to rest as well!  And boy do I love it!

Today was such a relaxing day, as I spent the afternoon in deep conversation with my room mates as well as the assistant principal in my school, who is an ex-DOOR member who remains friends with the interns here at the house.  As our first day with "real" company, we engaged in such a meaningful conversation about God and how he placed each of us in this same place, and why we felt we were here.  It seemed like our own little church service together in our cozy little dining room.  After what seemed like 5 quick minutes, we looked at the clock, noticing it really had been 5 hours as it already was reading past five o'clock!  Where does time go on a relaxing Sunday afternoon.  Why does time NEVER go that fast when sitting in a teacher's meeting?!  I guess this is one of those questions that mom always said we could ask God when we went to heaven.  

Lately, our neighbor, a (around) 50-year-old Cuban woman (which I may have mentioned earlier) has been coming every day wanting to use our phone.  It has been a challenging thing in our house as we want to sh

ow the love of Christ to her, however, when it becomes an invasion of personal space as she stays for two hours and two bowls of our ice cream, it seems like too much!  She has been wanting to use our phone to call apartments, as she is trying to move with her husband to a better apartment across town.  We feel bad that our prayers consist of us praying that she will find one soon, so she will stop coming over and staying the rest of the day.  It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't promise to stay 15 minutes, which turns into an hour or two, and if she didn't smell so bad.  I just feel so bad for someone, as she always is wearing the same outfit and continually smells extremely foul!  How much can a hot, small house take when we already have numerous people living it with our own smells from across the country!  But today, as the door rattled with her fist against it, we opened it welcoming her in to use the phone.  However, she didn't ask to.  Instead, she grinned from ear to ear, happy to inform us that the got a house out of walking distance.  God does answer prayer!  It just takes us being continually nice AND time AND consistenc

y of the same prayer!  I feel bad aiming my prayers towards her getting a place so the visits are limited to none, but sometimes, when someone takes such advantage of kids who make 2 dollars a day, it just gets old!

The evening was filled with bea

ch volleyball at the University of Miami, just a few blocks south of the DOOR house.  Some ex-DOOR members were in town and wanted to play, so people from church, current and the ex DOOR members all assembled there to play.  It really was an entertaining night as people were present from Miami, Brazil, the Bahamas, Chicago, New York City, and Haiti.  What a diverse group of individuals who can share in a friendly game of volleyball, followed by a great conversation afterwards.  Only in Miami have I had the experience of having such a diverse group of people on any given night.  It truly is a cultural adventure as I meet differ

ent people each day from all around the world!

(The picture is of the sand volleyball courts at the University of Miami.  Never have I played sand volleyball with palm trees surrounding me.  Kinda brought a new meaning to "beach volleyball!")

Tomorrow marks the day of my first official day of work as a DOOR member, as I go at 9:30 EST to check in for my first day of tutoring at Yvonne Learning Center.  I am so excited to finally get to meet all the different students and be able to use the things I have learned at Hesston College and Goshen College as I can put my learnings into action and see if teaching is what God really wants me to do in life.  I have tried to tell God that is not what he wants, however, he told me to reconsider if after placing me here.  When does God talk, when do I (try to) run my life and when will I finally listen to my calling?  This is the question and thought that has really been running through my head lately!  Hopefully I get a letter in the mail tomorrow telling me, because that usually is much easier than waiting!