Preparation and beginnings.

Rain, house projects, practicing Spanish, preparing for the coming months of busyness...I find myself anxious for that next step and anxious to have a full schedule, along with clear, measurable goals. I have felt God telling me to be patient, to experience things as they come and to just rest in the moment. Enjoy the rainy afternoons when Becca and I work on our house project, which consists of applying Danish oil to all of the unfinished furniture. (I know it might sound random, but part of our job is to maintain the house that has been entrusted to Harvest Hands.) Enjoy the process of settling in, getting to know the people around us and be content to transition slowly. Starting in December we will have teams non-stop, so my goals for October and November are to support Becca with her English classes in whatever way I can, continue visiting people in the community and motivating myself to practice Spanish on my own until we have classes in November.

One thing that has really excited me is the prospect of tutoring children in our neighborhood. Eventually we hope to have more children and some structure to the program, but right now we are just starting out. Last Tuesday, we had our first tutoring session with 11-year-old Jorge. We definitely improvised a lot, as we thought he was bringing his homework and therefore did not bring any material. But it was so neat to engage with him and he was such a great sport as we did our best to figure out what level he was on, what he was studying in his English class and how to help him. It was precious - especially when he gave us looks like, "who are these girls and what are they saying?" I'm looking forward to being a part of this and hope that the kids will benefit from the sessions in some way. I know I definitely will. There's nothing more humbling than being a part of the beginnings of something where everyone proceeds by trial and error and where trusting that God's hand is in it is vital to its success.