Its hard for me to believe my time here in Oaxaca is coming to an end.  I have a week and two days left, I know this because I am asked numerous times a day by the children.  I have been so blessed during my time here with relationships with people of all ages and backrounds.  God has really showed me what amazing things you can learn through having relationships with people of all ages.  I remember when I was younger always looking for friends amongst people my own age and with my same interests, how boring!  Who wants to be friends with themselves?  My relationships here have been with people everywhere from Elaine, a lady in her 50's from Canada who experienced over 20 years of being deaf.  She has shown me a beauty that has impacted my life so much.  Then there is Leticia a middle aged woman who would go on walks with me many mornings and shared with me about Gods greatness in the hardest of times.  She lost her only child 4 years back and yet in it all as clung to God and has experienced his love so deeply.  Jill and Janelle are two single ladies in their thirties who have touched my life so much with their friendship.  They have been here now for about 2 years and have chosen not to live normal lives of working and raising their own families, but rather pouring their lives into ministry here and the children here.   My sister Carmen has showed me a life of passionately giving your all to the ministry you've been called to.  She doesn't do things the easy way as she's raising 10 boys, she could easily just let them entertain themselves and run free but rather she pours herself out daily finding new things to do with the boys and teaching them.  Reyna is a beautiful young girl who has had more than her fair share of pain but yet greets everyone with such sweetness and love.  Life has given her more than most could bare but yet she has chosen, dispite things not going the way she has probably planned to raise her daughter alone, when she had her at the very young age of 14.  The children and teenagers here bring me so much joy everyday.  Everywhere I go I am greeted by them and given many hugs and kisses.  These children have experienced so much pain but yet they are so resilient, they don't sit and feel sorry for themselves, they move on and LIVE, they live with such joy and passion!  They have all played such a huge part in my life, every person here and I am thankful for the blessing all of them are to me. 

 

I like to share quotes so here is a passage I found in a book I am reading called "Light from Lucus"

 

Make the decision to laugh more often, take more risks, love more deeply, complain less, help a neighbor, offer a kind word, clean up a mess that isn't yours, forgive someone, say "I'm sorry", say "thank you", pray for a friend, pray for a stranger, learn something new, set a new goal.  Little by little the choices you make today are writing your story. Whether you're given a few more hours or many more years, choose to make a difference, to live your (life) with passion and make every moment count!