Fruit and Sniffles

We had a great Dinner & Discussion last night with a great group of people. We talked about an idea expressed in the book Strength Finder. The American culture values "against all odds" triumph stories, when someone overcomes their greatest weakness. The well-known movie, Rudy, is a perfect example of this. However inspirational a story it is, Strength Finder makes the argument that Rudy at 5'6" and 165 pounds was never meant to be a star football player. It simply was never in the cards for him. It took four tries before Rudy was accepted to Notre Dame. He spent thousands of hours practicing on the school's second string team for, what, thirty seconds of actual game time? Thirty seconds of game time when Notre Dame's win had already been secured, so it didn't even matter if Rudy or you or I played. Rudy wasted his time when he could have been succeeding at something he was good at and built for. Many of us were told as young children that we "can be anything we want to be as long as we try hard enough." But is this really true? Should we tell this to our children? The author shares his personal story of completely buying into this idea and trying with all his might to become the next Michael Jordan. He was serious about basketball, practicing  3-4 hours a day after school and attending basketball camps. This went on for years and years but in the end he couldn't even make the JV team. 77% of Americans believe that their children's lowest grades deserve the most attention. In general, we tend to fixate and focus on our weaknesses rather than encourage our strengths. The author and his team promote self-exploration in order to tap into our strengths and become even more of who we already are. Interesting stuff, huh.

Brad and the rest of the Burundi team will return on Saturday. A professional photographer on the team by the name of Thomas Cooper has been posting gorgeous photos everyday that really give a sense of what's going on down there. I encourage you to look him up on facebook and check them out. Thomas Cooper from Littleton, Colorado. Brad and Debbie will leave Wednesday for a busy three week stateside trip while I keep the house up and running here in their absence. Just a couple of days after their return I will be homeward bound. I'm not counting down quite yet, but it's hard to believe that my trip is 2/3 over. Less than a month's time to serve the house ministry here, but I'm still loving every moment. I have definitely been seeing the fruit of my labor, which I am grateful for. Lots of people give of their time and energies and don't get to see the results. But I do. I see that I'm lightening the load and providing some stability, and I feel appreciated and wanted. It's good to feel useful. 

I have been fighting a cold this week, but I am hopeful that I am on the mend now. A small group of us fly out bright and early tomorrow morning where we will spend the long weekend in Pamplona and Barcelona, Spain for the running of the bulls. It should be a really rich time of fellowship! Pray that nobody gets gored. And don't worry, I'm not running. I would definitely be trampled and killed. 

K, love you guys mucho gracias!! Jessica Susan