It’s amazing just how refreshing nature can be. Especially for us snow-bound Minnesotans, sunny San Diego is a sight for sore eyes. Lush green grass, mountains on the horizon, palm trees, vibrant flowers…it’s just so recklessly beautiful.
Today was our third day in San Diego. Each day is full of so many experiences, though, that it seems like it’s been much longer than that.
It was our first work day today. We split up into groups to help two different World Impact staff/families with household projects. My group went to work on the house of Marnie, the future principal of a new World Impact charter school. Consistent with World Impact’s focus on incarnational ministry, Marnie has purchased a house in the same inner-city neighborhood that she wants to serve. It’s definitely a fixer-upper. The shingles that had originally covered the small building had had to be torn off, leaving rough, bare wood with numerous holes all over the surface. Most of our group worked on plastering the holes so that we can paint the building sometime later this week. Two of us worked on indoor painting.
Before we started on our work projects, Marnie shared some of her heart and ministry with us. She’s a Harvard graduate with a passion for inner-city students and other cultures. Last fall, she learned about the tremendous needs in City Height’s educational system. She shared statistics about how the majority of Jr. and Sr. High students (percentages in the 80’s and 90’s) fail standardized reading and math tests. Many students also spend a lot of their time riding the bus out of the city to other, better high schools. This leaves them little time to do or get help on their homework or participate in after-school activities. This also makes them feel that they have to leave City Heights to have any hope of a successful future.
It’s inspiring to see someone who doesn’t just see a problem, but is doing something about it—something drastic and big. So many times, it seems like we get together in our little Christian circles to talk about the poverty and injustice in our world, but don’t do anything about it. Marnie dreams big—and has the perseverance and faith to see that dream become a reality.
As she was talking, it also really stuck out to me the way that she said she’s seen God “bring together the different pieces of her life.” She sees God bringing together and utilizing many of her different experiences and interests in this ministry. In college, she took several short-term missions trips to Africa and Southeast Asia. She loved these trips, but wondered if they would serve any long-term purpose in her life. Now, she finds herself surrounded by neighbors from African and Southeast Asian countries. She now sees that those trips were preparation for ministering to neighbors from these countries.
This was especially reassuring to me because I also often feel like my life is just these fragmented “pieces”—different interests, abilities, experiences, hopes, dreams—and I’m struggling to see how they could ever all fit together into a life’s calling. Over our lunch break, I talked to another new staff member with World Impact who, without having heard Marnie’s testimony, said almost the same thing—that she could see God bringing together her different passions and interests in her new ministry. Both of these women are such beautiful reminders that God can and will use any and every facet of our life that we offer to Him.
Marnie is such a loving, selfless person. She has already gained the trust of the neighbors around her. While we were there, the children next door came over to her home, walking straight up to her for the hugs and affection they knew they would find there. They stayed with us throughout the day, helping our group with weeding and plastering…and keeping us all entertained!
This evening, we had Rich and his wife Karen eat dinner with us and share some of their experiences leading up to and work with World Impact. Like all the other World Impact staff, I was just really impressed by their heart and great burden for the city. They also express genuine joy and pleasure in what they’re doing, though. It makes me want to have such passion for and joy in serving God.
After dinner, our team went down to an island near us for a team outing and group time near the bay. We stopped at the Moo Time ice cream shop and sat by the bay for a while— and saw tons of silver fish swim up onto the banks for spawning (apparently, this only happens twice a year).
Like the other days of our trip here, we ended the day by having two more people share their stories with the group and praying for them. It is just so incredible to see how God has worked through each person’s life—we all have different backgrounds and experiences and struggles, but God has worked so greatly through all of us. It’s so powerful just to share and hear how God has worked in our lives. We all have the same mighty Savior.
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