lavished grace

I think I've watched this five times in the past three days. As a dear friend put it, for the believer, it's like "soothing balm for the soul." This three-minute video is worth the watch.

ugly mornings

When your morning starts off with six girls yelling your name and banging on your window for 15 minutes at 6:30 am, sometimes all you can do is get up and try to redeem the day by making homemade biscuits and eggs after they leave. Yeah, those schoolgirls aren't so adorable at 6:30 in the morning. This isn't the first time they've done this. Apparently our "This is not polite in either of our cultures. Please don't do it again." talk made no difference.

As I sit and drink my hot cup of tea, honestly the ugliness in my heart is still flaring and raging quite a bit. It's moments like these when I realize just how much I am not like the Son.

Well, that was an effective way to drive me into your arms, G-d. Definitely not the preferred way, but effective. You knew what my stubborn, lazy heart needed. Grace, my King, I so need grace right now. Forgive my frustrations and anger. Redeem the day and my heart. Teach me to walk how you walked.

This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.

"This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. 
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 
'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'"   - Lam 3:21-24

driving victory

Look what I drove home tonight!!

 

It's a stick-shift!! Driven on the opposite side of the road! With passengers!

I absolutely cannot take credit for backing it up into the driveway; I haven't developed those awesome skills, but still, celebrate every victory, right?

schoolgirls

Giggles. Excited chatter. "Excuse me!" More giggles.

Oh dear. From my room, I can hear what sounds like a dozen schoolgirls at our door. Groaaan. Not now.

Don't get me wrong. I love kids. Just not when I'm surrounded by papers and have finally, after what seemed like hours, gotten into an actual productive work mode.

I peek around the corner. Sure enough, the doorway is full of eager little faces peering at me. They instantly burst into more giggles and chatter at the sight of me. My introversion flares up inside of me, and I fight the urge to run and hide in my room. Deep breath. You can do this, Rachel. Cautiously, I greet them. "Hi..." More giggles, a dozen "Hi!"s, and the simultaneous, fast chatter in bahasa: "Wheredoyoucomefrom?" "Whatisyourname?" "Canwecomein?" "DoyouteachEnglish?"

At that point, my introversion and American inflexibility win out. I answer their questions, then say, "Actually, right now is not a good time. How about you come back tomorrow?" I'm a horrible person, I know. They don't even seem to notice. "Okay! Okay, miss! Thank you!"

Sure enough, the next day, I hear a knock on my door. As soon as I open it, two very excited little girls run in and greet me. "Hello, sister! Oh, thank you so much!" The one, Elna, is so excited, she actually does the whole fan-yourself thing multiple times that I've only seen beauty pageant winners do. "Wa! I can't believe I'm actually in an American's house! Wow, sister, you are so nice! Ah! Oh my gosh! Eee! I can't believe this!" I don't think I've ever met someone so excited to talk to me. Her friend actually attempts to calm her down, she was that excited. I was just slightly uncomfortable.

They excitedly ask me questions and giggle for about an hour (good language practice - they couldn't care less if I mess up), and then they ask if I have a coloring book. They want to draw me a picture. I now have two lovely additions to my fridge. When they leave, they say they want to come back tomorrow. "Actually, I can't do tomorrow. How about Sunday?" "Okay, sis! Sunday! See you Sunday!"

 

We had little excited knocks on our door to say hello every day until Sunday. Each time, my heart warmed up to them a little more. I realized that if I had walked with the Son way back when, I totally would have been with the disciples in sending away the little kids. But that's not what He wanted. He told them to let them come to him. Granted, I'm not the Son, but I can share His light with them and love them like He does.

 

Peeking in through the gate during our student discussion group

Today I get home, and there they are, waiting outside our gate. One runs up and hands me something in a bag. "I'm sorry it's ugly..." "Oh! Thank you so much!" Once inside, I open up the bag. This is what it contained.

 

In English, the label reads, "To: Messy. From: Sister Rachel and the other sisters (my roommates)" I think she got the "To" and "From" a bit mixed up. :)

The top box was full of precious little notes:

"I love you, sister!"

"Thank you for letting us come to your house!"

"Please stay here forever. Don't ever move because we are going to miss you!"

Heart. Melts.

The larger box contained this:

  

Haha. Of course.

We were going to teach them "Down by the banks" but turns out they already know a version of it! We play where if it lands on you, you have to sing a song. We ended up teaching them some American children's songs. Here's a video of us playing. It starts with me having to sing a little something.

These girls love to sing! After the game, they wanted to have a singing show, so we pretended the front room was the stage, and each got up to "perform." So cute!

 

 

 

Precious little girls.

"And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them." - Mark 10:13-16