As many of you know, I have had the privilege of going to Guatemala twice over the past two years. The first time I went was to visit my sister, who is a missionary with Kids Alive International. I didn’t expect to fall in love with the people or the girls’ home the way that I did in my first week there. A year later, this past May, I had the opportunity to go back to Guatemala, on a mission trip of sorts, for ten days. While I was there, I realized that I was not content with only making brief visits, so after talking with the head of the girls’ home, I applied to be a missionary with KAI.
I am beyond excited to inform you that I have been accepted to go back to Guatemala for 15 months as a short-term missionary, serving at the same girls’ home where my sister Jenny serves!
I will be graduating in May from Cedarville University with my bachelor’s degree in Psychology. It’s crazy to think of how fast the time has gone. I feel like I just started school, but God has been shaping me and molding me for this time in Guatemala for quite some time. Since I was little I have wanted to live overseas, serve the marginalized, and love those who needed to be loved-care for those who didn’t have someone else to care for them. My dreams are actually becoming a reality! While in Guatemala, I will be working at a home for girls who have been rescued from abusive homes and placed in a home (the Oasis) where they are safe, provided for, loved, counseled and rehabilitated. The home provides for girls (currently 50 of them) ages 4-18 and I will be working with the three psychologists on base, in an internship of sorts. All of the work I have done in undergrad will come into play during this time. The ultimate goal is to be able to distribute written copies of what the Guatemalan psychologists are doing to Kids Alive bases around the world. I will get to write up what it is exactly that the psychologists do when the girls first arrive, and the techniques used throughout their stay at the Oasis to help them heal and recover from trauma. I will also get to:
- Sit in on counseling sessions
- Assist in test administration
- Assist in the discipleship ministry
- Work with the new home for young pregnant girls
- Help with the “Keeping Families Together” program
- Work with the social worker on base
I just finished my internship with a school psychologist and I believe that it prepared me well for what I am going to be doing next year, in combination with all of my other past experiences as well! This is just be the beginning. Letters are in the process of being sent out, right now, so that you can learn how to become a partner with me, either prayerfully, financially, or both :)
Today marked the end of my internship as a school psychologist. I didn't expect to fall in love with the school I was working at, the staff that I shadowed or the children I worked with. All I knew was that I was going to be working at a school. Nonetheless, at the end of my day today, I got into my car and just sat there. I put a CD into the player and go figure, it was the CD that I had gotten from one of my best friends after we graduated high school. The first song that came on was Good Riddance by Green Day. You can imagine my thoughts. {If you don't know the song, then please go to YouTube and listen. Now is the time to experience such a song.}
However, thoughts stirred through my head. Why are goodbyes so hard?
Why do we try to prevent ourselves from becoming attached? Shouldn't it be the case that we give everything we have and learn as much as we can? Goodbyes, I think, should be hard, because that means the time was meaningful, the relationship was meaningful... so on and so forth.
I can't help but think of the implications this will have when I leave Ohio in just over a month and begin a new chapter in my life... Every part of me screams not to think about it....
But if you don't say goodbye, you can't say hello again, right?
Sorry. These are my frustrations. And I'm afraid goodbyes will always be a weakness of mine, but life is filled with Hellos and Goodbyes, Beginnings and Endings. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure if any of those really matter though. It's more of what happens in the middle and how the middle is treated...
So how are you living out your 'middle'? Are you living in a way that will make saying goodbye hard (in a good way)?
