Sweet spot.
Coming into this trip, we didn’t have any illusions that we were going to come in and change the lives of these youth forever. We were very aware of our limitations in Spanish and the lack of time we have here. We knew that even though we were coming to provide Barb and Gerry with some support, these short-term trips are often more about the growth of the team. Today, this reality became even more evident. Every week, Barb and Gerry go into the surrounding villages to lead a youth group. It’s a different village every day, so they are only at each village once a week. That means, for us, it’s highly unlikely that we would see any of these youth from the group ever again.
On the one hand, you could say I’m going to do everything in this one day for them, but that’s not helpful or practical. In one of our conversations with Gerry today, we talked about finding our sweet spot about where we fit in God’s mission. As Barb and Gerry have shared about when they decided to become missionaries, it took several years of being led by God to finally end up in Pilas. It was interesting hearing Gerry share about finally being in their sweet spot of education and leadership development. There are so many other things they could be doing and some people might challenge them to say, “why don’t you do more to address other needs?” For them, their sweet spot is to remain focused on God’s calling for them; no more or no less. This week, we realized we can’t do everything for these youth, but perhaps our sweet spot is to simply play with the youth, maybe try to speak in Spanish, and to see Jesus in them. As I consider what this means in my life, I have to ask: Am I actively trying to find my sweet spot within God’s mission?
As we head into the part of the week where it starts to feel like a bit of a grind, please pray for strength and energy.