Beauty

I spent the majority of today in the car driving to get our new books for classes.  The books were supposed to arrive on the southern part of our Island today, which is about a 2 hour drive from my house.  I went by myself because I didn't think I would have space on the way back to get all the books and still have room for whoever came with me.  I brought my iPod and planned to jam out the whole time, but when I plugged it in, it told me I needed to download an App for it to work. I was instantly bummed!  

As I started my drive in silence, I looked down at my phone to see what time it was and it was 10:13.  For those of you who know my story, Romans 10:13-16 is how I ended up here, and a group of friends back home pray for me at 10:13 every day.  I began to cry.   If I am being completely honest with you, this last week was tough adjusting back to life here after being away for a month.  I really love life here.  I love friends.  I love my students.  I love teaching.  BUT, I really miss my family and friends back home.  God gave me a gentle reminder, full of grace and love, of why I am here.  A reminder of why He has asked me to leave them.  My heart began to break for these people, as well as began to overflow with love for them.

  A few minutes later I looked down and saw "He Reigns" written on the CD player- It WAS working!!  I just couldn't choose what songs I wanted to listen to because I didn't have the App, but at least it was playing my music (I just needed to turn the sound up!).  It ended up being like God was my DJ.  My iPod on "random" played worship songs almost the whole two hours- and worship songs relating to these sweet people and friends.  As I was driving, I could not get over how incredibly beautiful this Island is.  How incredibly beautiful these people are.  I was overwhelmed with a deep love for this place, and spent a lot of the time in prayer and tears for this Island during the drive.

The fields are extra green right now because of all the rain we have had.

I arrived at the south part of the Island only to find out that the porter who was bringing my books never got on the boat this morning because it was really full.  I wasn't even mad that I had spent two hours to get there.  It really was so beautiful.  It meant I had two more hours in the car today, and four more hours tomorrow!  He for real is supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon, but I am going to wait for his text letting me know he actually got on the boat! 

After I got back to our town, I picked up Erica and we went up to one of the hotels at the northern point of the Island to talk about doing an English course for their local workers.  On the way, we saw this beautiful rainbow.  God is faithful.  He keeps His promises.

Right before the sun was about to begin setting, we arrived to the calm, BEAUTIFUL ocean.  I've always been a sucker for the ocean, but THIS ONE tops the list.

God's creation blows me away.  Especially the way He made this place extra beautiful!