True Missionaries

We’re back from Mexico, and oh, what a trip of a lifetime! God was moving in powerful ways in our hearts and through our hands, and I’m sure I’ll be thinking and talking and praying about the last week and a half for a long time to come. Lately, God has been stripping away all the non-essentials from my life and revealing truth to me in radical ways; and He continued to blow my expectations out of the water on this trip.

I drove into Mexico thinking I knew what to expect: I would shower less than usual, pray, hand out some clothes, work on a couple housing projects, and then come home with a greater appreciation for God’s blessings in my life. All those things happened, but the biggest thing I learned this last week is that all those things do not define missionary life. I learned what it means to be a missionary from the people of General Cepeda, Mexico.

I have never been treated as well by anybody as I was in Mexico. All the people we met gave to us abundantly, without concern for themselves; it reminded me of the parable Jesus tells of the woman who gives her last two coins. One of our workdays was spent driving out to a couple of the ranchos—little poor villages around the town of General Cepeda—to hand out Christmas presents to the kids and pray with the people who lived there. As we were getting ready to leave the second rancho, one of the missionaries told us that the women had made some food for us and were inviting us to dinner, to thank us for being there. We agreed and sat down, and then they brought in trays and trays of food for us: gorditas, tostadas, plates of rice and meat. There was an abundance of food; I literally could not eat everything they handed me. I was so moved by the fact that in order to feed all 12 of us who were there that night, these women had to pool together food that probably needed to last them all week. This wasn’t just a nice gesture; it was a sacrifice.

Through the actions of the women at the rancho, I am more firmly convicted that it is not enough for me to give out of my surplus. True generosity involves giving until it hurts. Being a true missionary means always making room in your life for the presence of God in others. I will never forget the true generosity and hospitality shown to me in Mexico, and I pray that I may one day come close to being able to give with as much freedom.


Thank you to everyone who supported me with prayers and financial contributions. You made a difference in lives that is irreplaceable.
There will be more to come about Mexico as I have time to process, pray, and download some pictures.
May God bless the rest of your Advent season, and Merry Christmas everyone!

Seek and you will find

The other day, I was reflecting on the first words Jesus speaks in the gospel of John:

“What are you looking for?”

The beauty in that question is it’s an invitation; He says right after that, “Come and you will see.” John reveals something so comforting about Jesus in those first words, that my God is a God of invitation, a God who beckons to me, is wanting me to draw closer to Him and find the answer to everything I am looking for in Him. He doesn’t just dole things out; God’s gift to me is about relationship. In following Jesus, going with Him, journeying alongside Him, I will see what it is I want, what it is I hope for. Jesus wants to fulfill my desires, but above that, He wants a relationship with me. He wants to love me—He wants my heart.

So what is it that I’m looking for?

I am looking for truth, truth I will fight for.
I am looking for intimacy—to know and be known at the deepest level.
I am looking for a joyful existence; one in which I can dance and sing and appreciate all the beauty of this life and this world in which I live.
I am looking for peace, for a heart that is settled and not restless or anxious.

And in my searching for all these things, Jesus simply says, “Come, and you will see.”

So I will love the Lord, and follow Him, and wait to see what He has to show me.

"I will make all things new..."

There have been a lot of “firsts” for me since I’ve been living and working and praying at Covecrest; I’ve already written about some of the revelations, “epiphany moments,” if you will, that I’ve had while here. The beauty of this year is that I am not limited to spiritual growth—I’ve been learning tons of new skills and trying all sorts of new things. So I thought I would start a running list of all the “firsts” I’ve experienced here at Covecrest:

1) Breaking and ripping up tile (also the first time using a crowbar)
2) Splitting wood (not as exciting as I thought...the machine goes really slow)
3) Digging a hole for the foundation of a porch (I needed lots of help with this one)
4) Filling in a ditch for a water line
5) Pruning trees (really satisfying)
6) Dry-walling (I’m so good at this...if the whole missionary thing doesn’t work out, I could work for a contracting company)
7) Seeing snow fall (better than Disneyland!)
8) Starting a beat up truck in second gear (also first time starting a car without a key)
9) Changing a paper towel roll in a public restroom
10) Cooking eggs for 200 people (although I can’t lift the pan...)
11) Driving to Mexico in a 15 passenger van
12) Getting pulled over by the Mexican police (twice...)
13) Eating tamarind candy (I do not suggest this one)
14) Going to Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi (all in one car ride too)
15) Crossing the Mississippi river
16) Seeing a levee
17) Having more holy hours than meal times in my schedule
18) Eating at an all-you-can-eat-for-five-dollars pizza buffet
19) Finding out how much tabernacles actually cost (it's insane. look it up)
20) Scheduling time to make a schedule

Who knew there was so much to learn? There will be plenty more to come, I’m sure. Keep watching for more updates!!

Why Missionaries Shouldn’t Wear Mascara

These last few days have been full of emotion for me; so much so that I feel a little drained, actually. Thankfully, the other missionaries have been very gracious and supportive during the multiple times I’ve cried over the course of this last week. I think they understand that part of me; that I just cannot contain some things.

Formation classes have been so amazing. I am learning so much, not only about my faith, but about myself as well. I’ve talked before about this being a year during which God reveals simple truths to me, and the last couple days have been no exception. We’ve been talking about St. Therese because she is the patroness of mission, and we’re getting ready to go to Mexico (sooner than later! It’s crazy how quick this trip is coming up!). St. Therese called herself the little flower because of how simple she was, and it is precisely her simplicity that attracts me to her. Here’s the simple truth about St. Therese: she LOVES God—unequivocally, irrevocably, passionately.

I am blown away by St. Therese, by the depth of her love for God. And while we were talking about this in formation, I was just overwhelmed with the feeling that I do not love God nearly enough. I love things about God, I love doing work for Him; but I somehow stop when it comes down to loving God the person, the Creator of the universe, the be all and end all. Where did that get lost?!? Without that central truth, there is nothing. I am so firmly convicted about the necessity to re-orient myself around love of God Himself; I think the “big work” that God is doing with me this year is re-capturing my heart, drawing it closer to His, and revealing more about Himself to me. My prayer is that I can get to a point this year when I can say, like St. Therese did, “let me neither look for nor find anyone but You and You alone. Let all creatures be as nothing to me and me as nothing to them. Let no earthly things disturb my peace. O Jesus, I ask only for peace—peace and above all love that is without measure or limits...To You, my Beloved, I offer myself so that You may fulfill in me Your holy Will without a single creature placing any obstacle in the way.”

We’ve also been doing more local outreach lately, which has been really awesome, but incredibly difficult at the same time. A couple days ago, Chris, Erik, Sean, Thomas and I went to help out a lady who lives about 10 minutes from us; we were clearing some of the trees from the front of her trailer and putting some framing on one of her windows. At first, it was your “typical” service project: there were really thorny trees that got stuck all over my clothing, it was freezing outside, Chris managed to spray cat poop all over me with the line trimmer. But then, Erik asked me to help hold up part of the framing for the window on the inside of the house, and I got to take a good, long look at how this woman lives. And it broke my heart.

I don’t understand how this lady can live the way she does. The roof of her trailer, which makes our double-wide look like a palace, is caving in; she has no shower, but instead uses a garden hose that she feeds through the window; her house is so badly insulated that ice is beginning to form on the inside. This house was one of the dirtiest houses I have ever seen. I looked at the window we were framing and felt so defeated; I wanted to buy her a whole new trailer. I was completely overwhelmed by how alone and hopeless this lady is. How many people in her life have forgotten about her? Where is her family? How long has she lived like this? What can I possibly do to help her?

I am having a hard time accepting the fact that all I can do is be Christ to this woman in small ways; that doing something as small as framing a window, as long as it’s done with love, can make a huge impact in her life. I just want her to see her dignity restored, the dignity that she was created with as a daughter of God. Please keep her in your prayers, and pray that I can understand more fully what it means to be a servant.

The Heart of Mission

“For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch” (Isaiah 62:1).

I’ve been reflecting these last couple days about what it means to have a missionary heart, and praying about how I’m being called to live that out. I was reading Mission of the Redeemer today during holy hour and was reminded that “it is only in faith that the church’s mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its basis.” Christ, and relationship with Him, must inform our desire to go out and be witnesses to the world. We may witness that relationship with Christ in different ways—through listening to someone’s troubles, or offering them some food and a blanket, or standing up and giving a testimony—but above all else, our focus and our source of strength is the Lord. It is for this reason, because we are joyful in the Lord, because He has redeemed us, because His grace and mercy and love are constantly showered down on us, because we are His beloved, that we are convicted in our hearts to go out and share His love with others.

I’ve been really absorbed with thoughts of the mission trip to Mexico lately; I am getting so ready and excited to go! Granted, I’m a little nervous about what it will look like to actually be there and experiencing foreign mission work, but I’ve wanted to do something like this for quite awhile. And I can’t wait! Please keep all of us in your prayers as we get ready for this trip; we are all working hard to get the word out and gain support, in the form of prayer and financial donations. And above all else, pray that our hearts will continue to be formed with the spirit of mission!

“All were created through him; all were created for him. He is before all else that is. In him everything continues in being.”
St. Paul, pray for us!

The Word is Alive

Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life we forget about. But when God shows you that simple thing in a new light, it can make a huge difference in your walk to Him. God has really been re-revealing some things to me over the past couple days; things that are so essential to our faith, but so often get lost in the shuffle of other things. I am continually amazed by how God keeps renewing my faith and challenging me to grow.

This week has been a blessing; not only did we finally get a chance to get back into our regular routine of having formation on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but we had Fr. J here with us as well to lead formation for us. We spent the first two days talking about 1 and 2 Thessalonians (which, in case you were wondering, were the first two letters Paul wrote). What I love about Fr. J is his ability to break open Scripture in just about any way; we not only talked about the development of Paul’s theology and canonicity, but about how to “pray without ceasing” (living prayer through your work) and what it means to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught.” I am so excited about this Biblical formation, because I feel like it’s an area of my faith that I am the least comfortable with, but the one in which I want to grow the most.

On the third day we talked about the Synod that just finished up in Rome about “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” And here’s where the revelation moment happened. Pope Benedict talked about the Bible as “an inheritance, a testament handed over to readers so that they can put into practice in their own lives the history of salvation witnessed in the text [...] the people cannot exist without the Book, because it is in it that they find their reason for living, their vocation and their identity [...] The Word that leaves the mouth of God, witnessed in the Scriptures, returns to Him in the shape of prayerful response, of a living answer, of an answer of love.”

For whatever reason that day, the word “testament” leapt off the page at me, and I really started thinking about what that means. I feel like “testament” is one of those words I use all the time, but never really think about the reason behind why I’m using it; I mean, we talk about the Bible in terms of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and we know that one part doesn’t talk about Jesus and the other part does, but why the word “testament?” Well, it turns out that testament means, “a covenant between God and the human race; tangible proof; an expression of conviction.”

Wait...what?!
THE BIBLE IS PROOF THAT GOD EXISTS!!!!!

Wow! (OK, remember I said in the beginning this was going to be about a simple thing; not an earth-shattering revelation, but one that blew me out of the water nonetheless.) I mean, when I really let that fact sink in—that the Bible is not only the “covenant between God and the human race” and “tangible proof,” but also “an expression of conviction”—I began to realize how really exciting Scripture is! This is where it happens! This is how God speaks to us! This is where, like Pope Benedict said, people “find their reason for living, their vocation and their identity!”

It was in what may seem like another “duh moment”—but which was in all actuality more of a “mustard seed moment”—that God moved a mountain within my heart. I do not think I will ever look at Scripture in the same way again. Apart from all the other knowledge I will gain about the Bible this year, all the ways we’ll talk and think about Scripture, this first acknowledgment of what testament means in my life will inform how I live and think and live out my faith. And hopefully I can make my life a testament that points back to Him.

All you need is love

So here’s what I’m discovering about missionary work: it involves doing a whole bunch of stuff that other people just don’t want to do, but is really necessary. If you’re ever wandering around Covecrest and you’re wondering who changes out the toilet paper, or who cleaned the sheets you’re sleeping on, or who washes the dishes, you can bet it was one of us. I think we’re all kind of struggling with that at the moment; loving God and serving Him through all the small, seemingly insignificant things of everyday life. We’ve talked quite a bit about “loving until it hurts” lately, something we’ve adopted from Mother Teresa’s life, and I think I’m just scratching the surface of what that means. It means washing the mugs a 6th time within the space of an hour because you know that a group wants hot chocolate when it’s raining outside. It means working and praying through tiredness when you wake up to cook and serve a group breakfast after 5 hours of sleep and a 15-hour workday the day before. It means doing things that probably go unnoticed, but doing them out of love for God and His children whom He’s called us to serve.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8).

I’m slowly working my way toward making my life parallel Paul’s definition of love. It’s a daily struggle for me. This is a critical time; either I continue to throw myself into a “life that is not my own” (Galatians), or I stop because it doesn’t look exactly how I expected it to. Now is when faith becomes a choice, when love starts becoming. But it’s precisely in the choosing that we grow closer to God. It’s about every day, running toward God’s mercy and re-choosing love. It’s about knowing that when I’m not smart enough, or strong enough, or wise enough, or holy enough, God says, “I AM.”

“He does not faint nor grow weary...He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak He makes vigor abound” (Isaiah 40:28-29).

Revelations

It’s been another crazy week! I feel like I should stop writing that, because while I think it will always be true to a certain extent, it will start feeling very repetitive. It’s just amazing to me how many new things I keep learning. It never stops! Every day has a new opportunity, a new skill to learn, a new kind of prayer, a new level of friendship. I have never learned so much in my life.

Luckily, I am a nerd, and I love to learn new things.

Last weekend we went down to Atlanta for a Theology of the Body conference presented by Christopher West. What I would like to know is: where has this been all my life?! I am going to have to get myself a copy of the book—or at least Christopher West’s commentary as a start. I can’t even begin to write about the revelations I had over those two days; there are just too many. Suffice it to say that life and vocations and family—basically every relationship I have or have ever had or ever will have—makes a lot more sense now. The most significant thing I took away from the weekend was the realization of what an amazing blessing it is to be a woman; I’m just starting to really appreciate how God made me and what that looks like and what that means for me and my life, as a woman. It’s definitely something I’ll have to explore more and live into as I continue my year here.

I also realized this weekend just how much I’ve already grown attached to being here, how much this already feels like home. I mean, I’ve talked before about loving the lifestyle here, but I’ve come to understand that it goes above and beyond that as well. I was gone for about 4 days—4 days that were actually surprisingly hard! I loved being able to see my family and spend time with them, but the whole time I was away I had a feeling that there was another family that I was separated from. It was really good, although somewhat odd, when the plane landed back in Atlanta on Wednesday and I felt relieved to be back “home.” I certainly did not expect that; or at least expect it to happen so quickly.

Please pray for all of us here as we discern as a community the best direction for our mission trip in December. And please continue to pray for me, as I grow and learn and love out here—and know that I am praying for you too.

And now it really starts

Life here is getting harder.

I don’t really know what I was expecting to happen; I guess I never thought I would consider being tired and having a perpetually hoarse voice normal. I think above and beyond the crazy schedule, lack of sleep, and piles of work to do, the thing that’s been most challenging so far—and I know this is going to sound kind of funny—is actively living out my faith every day in everything. We don’t kid around about living an intentional life of prayer here.

I’ve been “doing” youth ministry for a couple years now, by which I mean being involved in Life Teen at BK, planning retreats, helping lead praise and worship for Confirmation. So I thought that I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for a year at a Life Teen camp: planning retreats, maybe helping lead some praise and worship, learning a little about office work. But let me tell you, God definitely has other plans, and I’m just scratching the surface of them now.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been a challenge to finish the last session of a retreat just to get ready for another group to come in 2 hours later and serve them as well. I’ve been forced to move outside my comfort zone in both relational ministry and in how we plan and execute events. Everyone has different experience and different styles of ministry, and sometimes it’s hard to remember that we’re all reaching for the same goal.

Sometimes I wish I weren’t so human. It’s been a real challenge for me to keep myself oriented around prayer when stress levels run high—which is the whole point, after all. That’s why I’m here.

But despite how difficult things are starting to become, despite how inadequate I feel most of the time, despite how frustrated I get with myself when I feel like I’ve taken yet another spiritual step backward, I am still so excited about being here and serving. I know that through all of this difficulty—because of all of it—God is molding me into who He wants me to be, and I will only grow closer to Him in the end.

I still have a lot to learn about living out love, but I have a feeling that I’ll have plenty of time to learn. Luckily, God is a very patient teacher...

Time flies at Covecrest!

It's Friday. When did that happen?
It's amazing how quickly time passes here; I guess that's what happens when you're constantly on the move, planning or preparing something. I think one of the hardest things for me to adjust to here is just being active all the time. I feel like I'm never quite on top of things, like I'm constantly running at 95% instead of 100. I'm hoping that this is just something that will work itself out in time, that I won't feel like I'm grasping at loose ends all the time. Sarah (one of the missionaries from last year who's staying on to be hospitality coordinator and cook amazing meals!) was telling me that it took her about a month to get into the swing of things; I hope she's right!

I do feel a little better now that we have our first retreat under our belt. I didn't think it would be possible to plan a retreat in full in just one week; this just goes to show you that God does indeed provide. I am actually really impressed with how well we worked together on this retreat; everyone is still trying to get a grasp on everyone else's gifts, but we're slowly starting to know more about each other and this was a real learning experience for all of us.

The group of 8th graders we had here for the last three days were flat out amazing--they blew my socks off. I never get tired of seeing someone grasp something new about the reality of God, and this was one of those weekends. The group of teens that came in on Wednesday night and the group that left this afternoon were completely different; you wouldn't even know it was the same bunch of people. All my experiences with Confirmation groups just did not prepare me for how amazed I am with this group. And the most amazing thing is, we only saw these kids for 3 days, but I love all of them! It's still just so crazy that people have an implicit trust in us as missionaries; the teachers basically called us up and said "put on a retreat for us, do what you want!"

Speaking of a missionary way of life, we sort of have a "fast food ministry" on the side here at Covecrest. Mondays are our day off, and we usually go out to eat somewhere (because, frankly, although we love Sarah's cooking, we do get tired of leftovers). So this last Monday, we took a trip down to Chick-fil-A (which is basically my new favorite restaurant--they have chicken everything, amazing dipping sauce, and Christian radio playing in the background). Since it was my first Chick-fil-A experience, everyone was giving me advice on what to order, and the lady working at the counter asked me why I was in Georgia. So I started talking about being a missionary at Covecrest, and, wouldn't you know it, she wants to be a missionary but just doesn't know who to contact or how to get involved. So after telling her about the Vision magazine, I told her I would keep her in my prayers, and she said she would pray for me too. God works in amazing places, yes?

If this blog seems a little more disjointed and unorganized than usual, you're right. I'm exhausted. So I apologize, but I hope you'll understand that I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment, and I will try and get back to some state of organization in the near future. I love you all and I'm praying for you!

Upcoming...

Here's what's coming up for all of us missionaries out here at Covecrest:

Tomorrow, we start planning for the 8th grade retreat we're leading for 4 different groups between now and the end of October. It's called "Mission: Possible," and is all about God's love and spreading that love in your daily life. It should be really exciting, because it's the first "big" project we'll all be working on together. The first group gets here next Wednesday, so it's not a lot of time to prepare, but I think we can do it!

This Friday, we have 2 more groups coming up to camp: a Confirmation program with a little over 100 teens, and a sorority group of about 60. Keep them in your prayers as they seek God here! We'll actually be pretty involved with the Confirmation program; they want us to lead some prayer groups, and we'll also be leading praise and worship. And when I say "we," I'm including myself (which is a little bit scary for me, but Reggie's being very supportive...).

This weekend, we're also starting our outreach to one of the two local parishes whose youth ministry programming we'll be a part of this year. Half of us will be heading out to St. Francis parish on Sunday to meet with their Core and get a feel for what we'll be doing this coming year.

Formation is still going strong for us missionaries; right now, we're talking about the Father heart of God.

And, of course, we have to finish filling in the ditch in the road leading up to the families' houses.

So, as you can see, we're busy, busy, busy here at Covecrest! Thanks for all your prayers, and as always, let me know if there's any way we can pray for you here at camp. Love and God bless!

Getting out of my comfort zone

Last weekend, we had our first experience with a group coming up on retreat here at Covecrest. We had been praying for the two groups all week, just asking that the Holy Spirit open our hearts and for all of us to really be present for everyone during their time here, but, I’m not going to lie, I was more than a little nervous at the idea. I’m not used to trying to do relational ministry with a group of teens I just met; it usually takes me awhile to build up that kind of relationship. Added to this is the fact that relational ministry is something I struggle with in general, something that I have to really make an effort to do. It is just not natural for me, although I’d like to think I’ve gotten a little more comfortable with “loving on” teens through my experience at Blessed Kateri.

I guess the real issue is that I still just haven’t wrapped my mind around this whole idea of being a missionary. What does that even mean?

The groups arrived, we were introduced, and I fell into my very comfortable routine of making sure all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s were crossed: I did laundry, I served meals, I vacuumed...you know, all those things I tend to do because I’m really trying to avoid making myself vulnerable. I figure, if I keep busy, no one will notice that I tend to avoid what is really the heart of Life Teen and of Covecrest, because someone else will come along who is just a lot better at it than I am, and I will stay safe and unchallenged.

I think you might be able to guess where this is going...

So the youth minister for one of the groups asked some of us to be a part of a session where we prayed over teens who were either getting ready for or coming out of Reconciliation. Reluctantly, I volunteered. I was sitting out in Mike’s Place field, wondering how in the world teens were going to feel comfortable coming up to me, someone they had never talked to, to ask for prayer. I figured if I saw anyone at all, they would ask me to pray for their soccer tryouts, or their sick grandma...things that aren’t too personal. That’s when the first teen walked up. This girl sat down, and with tears in her eyes, opened her heart up to me and poured out how she was struggling in her life. We talked about what she was going through and then we prayed together. And then another girl came over, saying her friend told her she should talk to me.

I had such humble joy in knowing that these girls trusted me enough to open themselves up like that, especially because I felt so unprepared and unworthy. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “in your weakness, He is strong.” The reality, I think I’m beginning to realize, is that being a missionary carries with it a certain significance. It’s almost like just because we are missionaries here, there is an implicit tendency to trust us. What a huge responsibility. I just hope I can live up to it.

Right now, I'm loving just learning how to live into this missionary life, in all its forms. Today I helped fill in a big ol' ditch that Jason had laid some pipe down in for a new water supply to some of the cabins. That was a new experience for me...and although I'm tired and I think I have a blister forming on one of my thumbs, I can go to bed tonight knowing that I did some legitimate work to make some people's experience here at camp a little better.

My first days as an East-coast missionary

So here I am, sitting in an office full of my fellow missionaries, trying to figure out what in the world to write about to summarize the first four crazy days of what I think is going to be one of the most awesome years of my life. 

Daunting task? Yes. 

I'm writing run-on sentences just thinking about it. 

Leaving home wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, surprisingly. I didn't even cry once. Despite how sad I was to leave the BKLT family, and how much I knew I was going to miss my family, I have been nothing but excited since I knew I would be coming to Covecrest. And it hasn't really stopped since. 

I am already loving the community here at Covecrest; it is so great to walk with God in the company of a bunch of great, holy people! Even though we haven't even been here for a full week yet, I can already see ties starting to form, and true community life beginning to happen. A couple days ago, we were deep-cleaning the San Damiano Inn, a task that is not for the faint-hearted--you would be suprised at what teens leave behind underneath mattresses when they come to camp (we did get a total of 4 dollars though!). It was dirty. It was hot. There was a lot of bleach involved.

Not exactly how I would choose to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

But a funny thing happened...every time I would flip over a mattress, find something less-than-desirable, and start complaining to myself, I would look around and see Colleen cleaning off the top of a window frame, or Carla underneath a bed scrubbing a floorboard, or Alex vacuuming an air conditioning vent; and it made me check myself, pick up my bleach bottle, and have another go.

I've been reading A Simple Path by Mother Teresa, and in it is a quote from one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters that I was reflecting on during Holy Hour the other day: "Whatever I do, I do it for Jesus. Otherwise it is worthless, useless. So when I know I am doing it for Him, I can do it more lovingly, more compassionately...It gives a lot of meaning to my life to know I am doing it for Him." And you know what? As unglamorous as cleaning out all those rooms was, and as much as I really wanted to sigh out loud when we finished and then went over to clean Cole House, I looked around at the other 7 people carrying buckets and bleach, and remembered that quote, and I knew that as hard as the work may be, we're doing it for God. And it was so encouraging to know that we, as a community, are all in this together.

Who knew that all that would come from flipping mattresses?