The Urban Nester

I stumbled upon this blog: The Urban Nester, since arriving to Argentina. Molly, whom I must say is quite a dedicated blogger, has recently moved to Provo, Utah from Oregon with her husband, Brad. Molly and Brad have been married for several years, but are still in their youthful ages of 23 and 25. Often, Molly writes about not knowing or understanding why she and Brad are in the lonely state of Utah where they know no one. In fact, she says the only reason she knows for moving there is "Jesus." They left behind their family, friends and what seems to have been a strong Christian community to follow God's leading.

I am intrigued by her writing, everyday she posts something that reflects her grounded Christian faith. Recently she wrote about the past few months being really hard and confusing, but that just recently she's been able to step back and see a larger picture. She sees proof that God's hand has been involved, and what's even better she says is that she hasn't had to do anything, but fall and trust. What a brave couple.

With 4 weeks left before I leave Argentina I'm beginning to ask myself the same question as Molly, "What on earth am I doing here?" It's hard to see any value or reason after you've left everything that once gave you purpose. I so relate with Molly, our departures weren't on our terms, but God's. I'm hopeful that, like Molly, I'll soon take that step back to see God's hand at work. All we need to do is trust and fall.

Yesterday it all hit me so hard. It reminded me of my freshmen year playing basketball for WWU. At 5'10'' I started as the power forward for our small team in a game against Lewis and Clark State. I remember driving into the key with the ball for a lay up when the opposing power forward, who must have been 6'4'' and 250 lbs., stepped into the center of my lane. I slammed into her clammy body that was covered in a sopping wet jersey, bounced off her chest and landed on my back onto the hard wooden floor. It took some seconds for me to catch my breath before getting back up to take the free throw. Although I didn't literally run into a sweaty giant yesterday, I had a good fall and it took more than a few seconds to catch my breath again.

Once I pulled myself up I was surprised at how quickly I was back in the game yesterday. I ended up going with a friend, Kali, to help out with her English class. She spends a couple hours everyday at an English after-school program teaching English to kids ranging between the ages 6-16. Yesterday she was doing the lesson for the six-year-olds. Although the Kindergarten age isn't my favorite I was excited to be in a classroom again. After the lesson I was talking with Mariel the coordinator of the program and sharing with her my enthusiasm for teaching. She has asked me to come in next week to teach a lesson to the 5th grade girls. The next lesson in their lesson book is "Pancake Day."

I think that with a little bit more meditating the reason, value and purpose of this experience will become more clear. I'd like to be able to see what Molly has seen, the bigger picture.

They were learning about pets and drawing the pet that they have at home.