Blessed

Dear Scholars,

I wanted to send a quick note to let yall know how incredibly blessed by each one of you.  When I was with you in June, I did not want to leave; two weeks was just too short!  Now I’m back and am in the middle of my 3^rd week. What a gift that I have many more weeks with your class!  I know that time will fly, and I sure do not want to take a single day for granted.  Every interaction with yall, whether it’s individually or as a group, teaches me something new.  I truly am honored that I get to be your college counselor and friend.  I treasure each one of you – your personality, passions, and overall uniqueness. 

Thank you for welcoming me to your country as well as to the B2R family.  I am grateful.

Much love,
JB

I sent this e-mail earlier today.  Often, my heart becomes overwhelmed with amazement.  Sometimes tears fill my eyes; I smile.  What a gift and blessing this experience already has been.   It almost seems too good to be true. 

Spending 2 weeks with the kiddos in June was a tremendous blessing – meaningful, life-giving, and straight-up fun!  I was able to kick off the college counseling process immediately thanks to a recycled Prezi.  They were so engaged! Then came the Myers-Briggs + acting out the various letters with Anna, the B2R Scholars Director.  Rwanda is such a community-focused country that people rarely look inward, so a personality assessment was a completely new concept to them.  You know me…I LOVED this!  (Enneagram is next, by the way.)  The journey of personal essay writing followed.  The 2^nd week was filled with back-to-back, one-on-one meetings to talk about essays they drafted over the weekend on whatever pieces of paper they had lying around.  Amazing stories.  I promise to share some soon.

Various blessings occurred throughout the next 6 weeks.  From learning that my roommates had decided to stay in the Cherokee house and would let me keep my stuff in the basement/would use my furniture & kitchen appliances to having a friend connect me to her aunt and uncle who were willing to keep my mattress/box spring in their insulated storage room, the Lord has provided abundantly and is continuing to do so.  I was blown away when Julee, my stylist, told me to use the money I would’ve spent on that particular haircut to go toward Africa.  Humbled!  Even down to the day I was leaving, God’s good hand provided.  The sweet guys at the airport ticket counter didn’t charge me for overweight bags; instead, they said with a laugh, “We’re helping the children of Africa!”  Wow. (& Phew!)

First day back at work, I was greeted with a hug from each of 30 students.  It was one of those moments in time I wish I could have frozen in order to really savor it.  Blessed.  

Myers-Briggs

1st drafts of personal essays