Missionary adventures in another country...

So in this new life of mine as a missionary...I think I've finally come to full grips with what "country" so to speak Jesus has asked me to serve in...for now I will call it "Public Schools USA."

Let's pretend for a minute that I was a missionary in Mozambique...I would get to know the terrain, learn the language, figure out the hot spots for "locals" to hang out at and would look for opportunities to be with the people as much as possible, right? I would rejoice at small moments of breakthrough and give myself lots of grace (hopefully) in moments of not yet knowing the culture or understanding...and I am assuming there would be lots of comic moments along the way.

So if Public Schools USA is my country...Stadium High School is my village...they're my peeps, the ones Jesus has asked me to FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS on. This week I had a chance to visit another village called Lincoln High School. A friend of mine needed a substitute teacher for a program called College Bound here in Tacoma. Lincoln is a completely different school than Stadium. I definitely had a little bit more culture shock...Lincoln is in a rougher part of Tacoma than Stadium, has a more diverse population and is in general a bit more lower income. Yet visiting Lincoln had a strange sense of familiarity...I couldn't help myself. I wanted to get to know each kid passing by...understand their story and encourage them towards more. I am sure they thought I was crazy, smiling my way through this rough school...yet in the midst of the hallways that are a lot wider and louder than Stadium's, I found more of the "people" in this country Jesus has asked me to love...and it is undeniable...I am in love with them. I love their zeal. I love their boldness. I love what they were created to do.

Now...if we go back to our analogy of living in Mozambique...there would be some major

culture shock moments, right? Can I share a couple of mine from this week?

*The class I was subbing for met in the library. On Monday, a biology class was also meeting in the library. The students were working in groups on presentations about the various systems in the body. Remember these sections? Digestive, respiratory, nervous, etc...now to fully understand Julie in this moment, I'd like you to remember that Julie went to small-town Christian school with mostly people that look like me :) Now back to the story. I am sitting in the library peacefully supervising "my" students when I overhear the biology teacher correcting a male student on his use of slang terminology in reference to his anatomy....LOUDLY...she proceeds to repeat several times the correct terms for the parts he was referring to and I could barely contain myself...I am sure my face was bright ketchup red...and I thought wow...we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto...we didn't even cover the reproductive system at my high school, much less assign co-ed groups to present Powerpoint presentations...YIKES YIKES YIKES...

*Next I am again sitting peacefully at my table when a kid in a sweatshirt covered in skulls runs past me at a high speed, when I look up startled, he flashes the peace sign. I definitely felt better about his running through the library after that. Then I wonder what on earth is the fascination with skulls and death...

Then there are things that again remind me why I love this generation and why I am so thankful for what Jesus has asked me to do...

*One of the girls in the class was sharing a part of her project with me. She is writing on obstacles she has overcome and how she chose to overcome them...one of her obstacles is how she doesn't feel like she has a home. When I asked her what she meant by that, she said she's always wanted the Brady Bunch family, whereas she doesn't feel fully at home at her house with her family...and I was struck afresh at the loneliness and ache of this generation. Several nights ago, a group from our church was specifically interceding for the youth in the city, and I felt like I heard the Lord speaking to the tenderness of the hearts in this generation. It seems like it is the knee-jerk prayer to pray that these students' hearts would be softened. This is understandable as they seem tough most of the time. Yet the Lord was showing that their hearts are so tender and really the prayer should be that they don't harden their hearts in spite of the terrible injustices they face. This girl made me think of this...she has faced so much in life and yet there is still a tenderness in her face and in her heart that is remarkable to me. A tiny spark of a hope for more. A longing for family placed there by her Creator. And I love that our God has promised that He places the lonely in families. Jesus, place her in Your family...may she know Your love so deeply...

*Another girl sat down at "my" table with me to read. I asked her what she was reading and it was a book about a girl who turns into a goddess on another planet. Super uplifting, eh? She proceeds to tell me that what she really loves is vampire books, and one of her favorite "vampire" authors wrote this series. On a slight side note...I am so over vampires, though saying it that way might suggest I was once into vampires, yet that is not the case...since when are they not creepy? For real? Yet I cannot get away from vampire this, and vampire that. All in the name of "it's a good love story." VOMIT. I always ask my girls if they would like a romance story between spiders...of course not, because they are CREEPY...just like vampires...

Anyways...I digress...so I ask this gal what she likes about vampire books. Her answer is priceless...she tells me that she likes to escape...and vampire books allow her to forget about life and escape. I was almost in tears...one, over the brokenness of a young girl who already needs to escape her life. Two, at the raw honesty of this beautiful girl. How many businessmen could you get to admit that they are running from their failures by pouring themselves into their work? Yet here is this precious one willing to say it...oh how I long for her to know the God of comfort.

So...my adventure to another village is over tomorrow. I have enjoyed my trip, but miss my kids so much. I made the kids brownies for an Easter treat for tomorrow and pray they have seen something of the kindness and joy of Jesus in my smile...and I'm excited to be back in my village called Stadium on Thursday...

Til my next trip...

Julie

PS...I know we are supposed to be missionaries all the time...but sometimes I forget that when I am at the grocery store, not everyone wants to be friends. I get myself so much in "contact work" mode that I am greeting everyone in every aisle...which leads to people clutching their children much tighter and lots of strange looks. The best was the time I tried to tell a woman in Spanish that her child was "muy bonita" very pretty, eh...except the child was a boy. Nice, Julie...stick to high school students for now....