God is Here

Today was another great day! We went back to our worksites--roofing and painting.

Here are a few pics of the roofing team:

And one of Avery taking a break:

And one of the neighborhood where they are working:

We continue to be shocked by the number of gates and fences apparently meant to keep people "out."

My group went to a new site today and met a new family.  Here is a picture of our group with our homeowner, Jennifer:

Finally, Kat has written a beautiful reflection tonight that I could not have put in more beautiful words.

Here's what Kat has to say:

"In past experiences, I've found that talking to the families we are serving--hearing their stories, learning about their life, or taking in any advice they have to offer--can be one of the most interesting and fulfing parts of mission work. However, Puerto Rico is the first place we've been that we don't speak the language. As a group, we've agreed that attempting to communicate despite the massive language barrier has been one of the biggest challenges we have faced and will continue to face on this trip. 

With that being said, I've realized that words aren't everything. The house my group is repairing belongs to a sweet old lady who lives alone. We barely talked to her at all. Whenever we entered a room, she would leave and stand in another room to watch us. I figured she was thankful for our help, but relatively indifferent to our presence. I've never been more shocked than when Maria started crying as we packed up to leave because she didn't want to be left alone. It made me realize how much people just want to be connected to other people; to feel loved, wanted, or even just noticed. In our group devotion we talked about how, at the very core, God's love isn't about religion, but rather about relationships. We don't need words to build a relationship with Maria; the love we show for her and she shows for us is better than any connection we could build with words. Love truly is a universal language. 

So far, this trip has been one of the best experiences I've had as a part of this youth group. I've been able to build relationships not only with the people we are serving but (even more important to me) with friends that I love but don't see very often. I could keep writing for hours about everything we've been doing, but "lights out" is in ten minutes and I still need to shower, so I'll wrap this up with a quote from a song we sang during worship: "You made beautiful things out of dust and you'll make beautiful things out of us." I'm excited to discover all the beautiful things God has yet to make out of our service here in Puerto Rico."