full, filled, filling.

Where to begin with the past few weeks?  I have learned close to a million new spanish words.  I have held a sick three year old with hair so thin she looked like she was balding.  I have consumed the world's best coffee on a hammock in the morning.  I have slammed a truck door on my leg so hard it left a wound that looks like I was attacked by a stray dog (and that's the story I'm going with, actually). I have travelled through the colorful streets of Managua at night and seen poverty sleeping alongside the highway in small tin houses, on cardboard sheets.  I have eaten plate after plate of rice.  I have processed through sin and brokenness with Americans who could not believe some of these things exist.    I have played Marco-Polo with some of the best kids on the planet.

Sometimes I sit down to write all these things to you and I find myself at a loss to capture even one sliver of it.

Because there is just so much here.  There are so many stories I could share. They could be titled That Time I Met Bryan in Tipitapa, That Time I Prayed and God Answered, That Time Our Bus Got Stuck In A River Of Mud, That Time We Made Poop Jokes Before Eating Pupuseria, and on and on and on.  I have been here for several weeks and have several to go, and I feel so full already with learning and laughter and growth.  But most of all, I feel right stuck in the middle of God's plan for this world, for my life, and for the people I meet.  And that, sweet friends, is a pretty darn good place to be.

I feel myself full in the mornings, and being filled during the days, and I find myself knowing that God will continue to find space inside me to do the extra filling He needs to do -- this abundance comes through in different ways, in strange ways where I can feel Him filling me up as I ache and feel void of hope, when I am homesick or when I wonder about my usefulness.  In fact, I find in those moments where I am aware of all that I am (and that the world is) lacking -- those are the times when He chooses to pour into me exactly what I need.

And so here I may not have time to blog much and share the little details of my journey with you, but know that as you pray for me (which I know so many of you do, and for that I am eternally grateful) and for the people I get to know in this place, there is joy and grace abundantly given in response.  I can feel it settling down in my bones because of you.  What I am experiencing here, in one of the poorest places in the world, is nothing short of abundance.