Time in Boston

Last Monday I met a FOCUS student on the North End and we had a blast of an afternoon. Boston is fantastic, and I hadn't hung out there in awhile, though I go there about every other week to a school. This girl and I met last year at a FOCUS leadership retreat and realized we had very similar experiences in high school. So she basically deals with similar issues I dealt with high school. Beyond that, we also share a love of international politics and delicious ethnic food (especially Middle Eastern food!).

We walked around the North End, popping in and out of Italian pastry shops, and then ate delicious falafel sandwiches in a tucked away, Middle Eastern grocery store! We spent 2 hours talking in another Italian pastry shop sipping away at our coffee and tea, biting into a chocolate mousse pastry, and talked about faith, boys, and college.

For dinner, I hung out with another delightful girl who goes to a boarding school and I took her out to an Indian restaurant she'd never been to, but badly wanted to check out. It was Bollywood themed - right down to the actors and actresses' pictures under the glass on the table. We talked about random, hilarious things - which, in the midst of her heavy workload, and my deep-conversation packed day, was a lot of fun.

I headed back to the other girls' house where I talked with her parents and siblings over their meal of salad and pasta, and then homebaked cookies (made with molasses). We chatted about FOCUS, family, and future plans.

It's always nice to meet students' families because it gives you a much larger picture of their lives, as well as introducing a more holistic picture for ministry to that student. Not to mention the important fact that families get to put a face to a name when they hear their kids talk about "this FOCUS staff person" that comes to their games or takes them out for coffee!

I really enjoyed that day, and I look forward to more as spring approaches. These students are so special and reveal so much of the Lord's love to me every time I hang out with them. It is a joy to know them, even more to dig deeper in their hearts and see the fruition of faith in their lives.

Lunch Meeting

I just finished a meeting at a girl's school near Hartford, CT. Apparently these girls had been meeting on their own for weeks for fellowship and bible study without telling us! Well, that's boarding school students for you - independent and full of initiative.

After walking through their busy cafeteria to get a salad, I followed these girls upstairs to a lounge area, lit by some skylights. I didn't have a bible study planned because I told these girls I just wanted to sit in. However, they introduced me with much fanfare and the girls gushed about the awesome times they had enjoyed at camp this past summer. I look forward to next week when we can actually sing FOCUS songs with a guitar (instead of accompella, trying to remember them, to give the girls a "taste" of camp) and actually dig into the word.

Then one of the girls wanted to practice giving a school tour with me. I could have stayed longer, but these girls needed to do their homework and I look forward to being there next week, hopefully with Kendra, and maybe we could go out to Starbucks afterwards.

Yes, this job is amazing.