Hello from Pacasmayo, Peru! All-squad month is here and we are back in the full swing of things with VBS, painting, doing street evangelism, and trying not to get sunburned! We’re basically underneath a giant hole in the ozone layer, so your girl is getting very sunburnt. This month had also been really heavy for me. I want to be vulnerable with you, because stories do have power. The past few days in particular have been a whirlwind of anxiety and conviction and confusion and sadness and homesickness. The brokenness of my team, my squad, the world. It’s so much and it’s been on my mind a lot. It’s moments like these where the nine months seem centuries long and home seems planets away.
In the midst of everything, though, there are so many things that bring life and joy. There are so many moments and people who make me remember.
Therefore, I’m putting together a series of poems and love letters to the things that God has told me are beautiful gifts to help me remember. Here are the first two little gifts.
-GRASS-
in the midst
of all this dust
all this desert
all this barren wasteland
of my heart
you indicate life
you let me taste
sweet oxygen
and witness
a rare vibrancy
nothing suits the afternoon more
than a towel and Kaur
over the soft cushion
of your whispering leaves
-RAIN-
what a gift you are
the cracked ground rejoices
the skies are heavy
soaked and gray
a sponge dripping
squeezing
drops racing the wind
tin roof
puddles on concrete
fingers wiggling up at the
atmosphere above
damp toes
wet shorts
swinging on an abandoned
swing set
allowing the wind and rain
to encapsulate
my body
and whip loose
strands of hair from my ponytail
rest and restoration
a cleansing and a renewal
sabbath
rain
what a gift you are!
Thanks for reading! A quick update, because I wrote this a while ago and have just now gotten around to posting it: My squad is heading to Ecuador tomorrow for The Awakening! We are meeting up with another gap year squad and a Fusion squad for a few days of worship and rest together! After that, I’m off to India with my new team, Team Luna! I’m now on an all-women’s team and we’re super pumped to be doing life together in India and Nepal! In India, I’m pretty sure we’ll be working in a medical clinic for the first week and then traveling to a village in Imphal to do work there! Through all the 100 billion emotions and changes, God only gives us what we can handle and he gives us sweet lil surprises along the way!
-Emm
