Life Lessons

Living in SWFL (that's Southwest Florida) wasn't necessarily my favorite thing. Can I just be real? The mission was really.hard.

But it was really good.

I thought I was going to LOVE living in Florida, but it turns out that I really love the people I grew up around-small town, down-to-earth, hard-working, good people. Not that there aren't any nice people in Florida--I just think they get more focused on what's going on in their own lives. Plus living in retirement/tourist land is just different.

Anyway. Here are lessons and things I learned about myself living in SWFL:

-I LOVE SAYING Y'ALL.
-Some people love the South more than they love the United States
-I really like having at least 2 beach towels when I go to the beach.
-It's really nice not having to scrape your windshield all year long.
-I'm interested in all-natural, organic, paleo, etc stuff. And I never, ever thought I would be.
-Sometimes I crave anonymity.
-I NEED to take time off, even when I don't feel like it
-we always get to choose to follow the Lord's plans. He never forces me to do anything. 
-Sunglasses are just so necessary and I don't know how I ever lived without them.
-Crafts are really good for my sanity.
-I like to learn.
-I really don't need to drink coffee to function.
-I like cooking for people.
-I really really love my job.
-Goodbyes are always hard. Sometimes I think they get easier. I don't think they do, though. They're easier in the sense that I know I'll see people again. I know that God is so good that He just lets me bump into amazing people, so it's not that that is hard. But when I say goodbye to my friends, I mourn all the beautiful things I'll be missing over the next weeks/months in their lives. And that is always hard.
-Jesus takes care of me, and usually in ways I never thought He would.
-I would love to have all my friends in the same place... but I'm pretty sure that's called Heaven, so I'm just going to be patient for that.

Preaching to... Myself

One of the weird things about the missionary life is that life is such a work in progress. While I'm trying to grow in my relationship with Jesus, I definitely don't always succeed at the Christian life. Yet, as a missionary, I'm working with my students to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus and strategizing how they can order their lives to love Him better.

And sometimes, I have to ask them to do things I'm not good at!

Today, my student and I decided to commit to following schedules this week. This is something I've been working on for, literally, years, and I've been failing at for a couple months! I've been wanting to work on my diligence in living order, and I've always desired to live a life of structure, where I call the shots, instead of the sleep-deprived me that so often decides to change my schedule as I get up 30 minutes after my alarm goes off.

So this morning as I gave my student a pump-up talk about living order, I pumped up myself in the process!! So frequently in the process of telling others about how beautiful the Christian life is, I remind myself of how beautiful it is, and I desire it more.

And these are cool things about my life in SWFL.