We had been in Fiji for about two months now. We had Bon-fires, ministry through labor , Youth Conventions, movie nights, a pool party, beach outings, rugby and soccer tournaments... ...the list goes on. I was literally in paradise with my family. What could be better? I could be better. I was vain, selfish, and completely oblivious. I constantly looked to impress people, to make them like me more, to make them think I was special and possibly even as cool as everyone else. "Hey! Do you think I'm cool too? Look at me! I can be like that." My demeanor cried out louder then the sound of the ocean.
Have you ever been so blindly focused on one thing that you completely miss the better things that you could have had? Being so focused on myself, I missed the amazing friendships I could have had with Rachel, Christal, and so many others. Finally, it took the work of Tema, a girl I did not expect to get so close with, to awaken me from my slumber. Her selfless attitude towards everything stirred something in me. She was a beautiful tom-boy with a bottomless reservoir of competitiveness and generosity. "Hey Jenny, you want some?" She constantly offered me anything she had, or in most cases, she would buy me my own. God used her to show me something. She showed me how selfish and inconsiderate I was. Boom. I was roasted.
Combined with the work of Tema, and the work of Vimal, who had become my big brother, I was destined for a makeover.
One night we were invited to a family's house. A member of their family had been on her death bed in the hospital. And since my parents were the pastors, they had the responsibility of going to the hospital, and praying over the woman. God, of course, performed a miracle and she was healed and back at home with her family. As we ate their wonderfully made food, my sisters and I started talking to some of the younger people who were there. "So, do you guys ever want to go to America?" we asked.
"No!" They all said, "America has too many gangs and too much violence, we don't want to get killed."
At first we just laughed, but then realized they were serious. Is that how people saw America and the people thereof? Yep, apparently That's certainly how these Indian teenagers saw us. Boom. Roasted again.
After the rest of the month had past, it was time to go home and change our world there. Its hard going to a different country and coming back the same person especially when you were a jerk and a fool before. Well evtually we came back home and got to look through our World with different eyes. The eyes of some who had seen beauty in tragedy, seen the face of the ugly in something that was meant to be beautiful.
I, Jenny, have far too many stories to tell of how my life was ripped to shreds, and I actually haven't told you any of them. But give me time, time enough to write my memoirs and share with the World that really doesn't care to hear. Give me time.
