I have the best job ever.

After a full week with the Spring Branch team, we said our goodbyes at 4:00 in the morning on Tuesday. I am starting to feel that any flight that requires you to leave your house before 6:00 in the morning should be banned. It’s not that I’m not a morning person—I just don’t like leaving in the middle of the night, basically. Birds aren’t even up yet!

The girls playing a game of "UNO"...their rules tend to differ from ours a bit.

I am now finished with the trips I was assigned to this summer and it is starting to hit me that I am going to be leaving here in about a week. This internship has truly flown by! Please be praying for me as I get ready to leave next week. It has been hard seeing the other two teams leave the children this summer. Each day now at least 2 or 3 kids will ask me, “Teresa, cuando te vas?” which means, “Teresa, when do you go?” and it used to be a response I loved saying when I got here a month ago and August 14 seemed so far away, but it now is starting to make my heart ache to say I am going to be leaving in about a week. Each day I fall even more in love with all of these kids here. Each one has just captured my heart with their laughs, animated expressions, and silly little personalities. If money were never an issue, I would be down here once a month!

Ana and the rest of the kids thought it was a good idea to play with the cake instead of eat it. Everyone pretty much looked like this by the end of the night.

Walking back tonight after eating dinner and hanging out with the kids I realized how much I value that small window of time. I love to be with the kids after dinner and before bedtime. I love wrapping up their day with them by asking them what they learned in school, encouraging them to play me a song that they learned on their recorder, and loving on them with lots of hugs and kisses before they sleep. It is good to see what their everyday routine looks like without a group of gringos here and be able to encourage them in their homework, and build up their self-esteem. Many of these kids are very smart...and very cute—I love them a lot.

At the last porch time (nightly team gathering) with the Spring Branch youth group, one of the trip leaders read the group a special prayer called A Four-Fold Franciscan Blessing. It really touched my heart and sums up my emotions since being in Nicaragua this month so I wanted to share it with you all as well:

A Four-fold Franciscan Blessing

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, 
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour, 
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, 
be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

AMEN.