I haven't posted in a week

Wow! It's been a whole week since I've posted. I'm sorry! Things have been really busy, and it's hard for me to find internet these days.

Last Monday, we had a meeting with Hugo, who works with the church here. He is also a counselor, and that is what brought us to our meeting with him. Jared had scheduled for us to have a discussion on brokenness, which is really vague, I know, and Hugo was asked to lead the discussion. He has a great deal of experience dealing with brokenness here in the city, in situations ranging from divorce to deep psychological problems, so he had a lot to teach us. Basically, we barely skimmed the surface of everything we talked about, but it was one of the most engaging discussions, for me, that we've had so far.

I've been thinking about it a lot this week... See, much of the work that we do here is highly evangelical, and I'm beginning to discover that evangelism may not be one of my gifts. It's difficult for me to strike up spiritual conversations with complete strangers. For a while, I've felt like admitting that makes me a "bad Christian," or at least a bad missionary. A few of the other interns are really good at it, and so I've spent a lot of time feeling frustrated that I haven't been able to contribute as many potential contacts and people to follow up with as the others have.

But during our meeting with Hugo, some things started to click for me. I may not be good at most of the evangelism stuff (which doesn't stop me from trying), but I do care deeply for people. My gift may not be evangelism, but I am passionate about cultivating relationships, about truly getting to know people and being there for them. Listening to Hugo talk about the ways that he has worked with people - restoring marriages, helping women to get out of abusive relationships, and so on - it made me so excited.

It reminds me of the way Paul describes us in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, as ministers of reconciliation:
"All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others."

Sometimes we sing this song that asks the Lord to make us his instruments of peace, and I think that may be the best description of what I want to do with my life. It's broad, but I believe it is a good basis.