Welp, summer is coming to a close. So many things are ending, so many things are beginning, so many things have happened.
Happened....
I got to visit the place that will be my new home (Managua, Nicaragua) for 3 years! I will admit, I was nervous going into it...what if I don't like it? What if I just committed to living somewhere that I hate? What if no one there likes me?? These were all my fears going into this trip... but the Lord was faithful, yet again. He literally surrounded me with a peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). It was a very affirming trip - even amidst the meeting (what felt like) a million new people, the language barrier, the poverty, the food, the new surroundings, it still just felt right. I could feel the Lord speaking straight to my heart, affirming my heart's desire to move to Central America and dissipating all my fears. Praise.
I got the privilege to make my last trip with Columbia Young Life to a Young Life camp in Georgia, SharpTop Cove. Three of my high school friends came with me, along with 4 other girls from Flora and another leader. It was a great last trip - God was faithful in answering prayers and I got to spend one last full week with some of my favorite people. :)
Ending...
Next week marks the end of an era (so it seems...). I have had the blessing (and I do not use that word lightly) to live with my best friend for the past year. We've laughed until our stomach ached too many times to count and we've cried until our eyes were swollen shut too many times then I'd like to admit. But next week, I will move home. I'm not worried about living with my parents again, I am just sad that I won't be living with my best friend any more. Not to mention, 3 of my other best friends live right down the road. Duncan Street has literally been the best this year! Countless times we have been able to simply walk to and fro our houses, see each other driving down the street, borrow movies or cooking supplies from one another. And although I am only moving about 10 minutes away, it seems like it will be eternity.
Oh, Columbia Young Life... how strange and humbling it is to have to let go of something that you have spent the past 5 years investing in. Strange because something that was such a big piece of you is now gone. Humbling because guess what? It goes on without you. Everything still functions the same with or without you. So you have no choice but to let go.
Beginning...
As sad as I am to be leaving Duncan Street, I get to live with some of the most loving and selfless people I know...my parents. Never thought I'd be that girl to go back and live with her parents (but then again, does anyone really ever expect to do that?) - still, in my last months in America for a while, I can't think of anyone else I would rather get to be around!
