Sunday, February 14, 2010

Just trying to love a little better...

So life here has got it's routine, but the people are always changing. Myself included. I have spent more time in a pool this summer than I have my entire life...just kidding, i was a fish as a kid. But seriously, i have my own part of the swim team, i teach the oldest and youngest groups of swim classes, and help teeny tiny little kids learn how to put their faces in the water and kick with some decency. And last weekend i competed in a swim meet. WHAT!?! We got 3rd!! I got 2 bronze medals myself in breaststroke and freestyle...who knew? And it made all my work at the pool pay off. The girls on the swim team took me out for coffee ice cream this week cuz they wanted to hang out with their cool coach. THere is also this lady named Enedina who has a nerve degenerative disease that is slowly eating away her muscle control. She is so wonderful though, and yesterday she came to the bible study that we have. Yesterday in my quiet time i asked God to help me be a part and witness a spiritual transformation, and guess what happened!!...Enedina accepted Christ on the poolside!! So incredible!! So things are definitely still challenging here, but my energy levels have skyrocketed and i'm loving it...and trying to prepare myself to come home, which we graduate in less than a month now. There is a family here, with 4 girls who are always at our house. And they are way too mature for the ages they are, and we just try to love them and give them all the attention they need because i don't think they get very much from their parents. I made cookies with the youngest, Noemi, and went on a bike ride with the other 3, Linda, Geraldine, and Naly. Their father came to know Christ aobut 15 years ago when he was training women to be strippers....now he teaches dance classes here just for the joy of using your body for God's glory (appropriately).
And i just finished reading the Shack, and picked up Irresistible Revolution...which I highly recommend. I am remembering all the things I want to do with my life, starting by stepping across the poverty line and just loving better. It's the hardest yet most important thing we can ever do...that is the purpose of our lives....to be loved by God and to love other people.
And now i'm hoping and striving to live a holy and blameless life....like 1 thessalonians...this is a letter of encouragement, for them to live this life, not a letter of condemnation for not living that way. God gave us his Holy Spirit to love others, and living holy and blameless alllows us to be near God and to love others the way he calls us to.
I love it here, and am excited to DO more of this, instead of just talking and learning about it.
SO...how is your love? How well are you loving others around you? It's not a feeling, it's a sacrifice..
and for those of you who don't know...Ashley Ruder is engaged!
and i really love my family...