Wednesday, November 9, 2011

"This place where you are right now, God has circled on a map for you."

Tomorrow, I will have exactly one month left in Bolivia. And I don't know how to follow up that sentence because there are  just so many emotions. I am out of my mind excited to return home. Woods coffee with my housemates, Bellingham sunsets with the boy, laughing with my fam, playing with my sweet "nephews" -my heart yearns for those moments and aches for the ones I missed while I was gone.

And yet, Bolivia has embraced me and hasn't let go. Housemates that throw me in the kiddie pool (twice, in one evening!), church friends at bilingual Hillsong concerts, freezing cold showers after a hot, dusty day in el campo, holding babies with deep brown eyes, homemade mango ice cream, mango juice, mango marmalade...I'm on a serious mango kick right now. They are practically leaping from the trees into my open mouth.

In all seriousness though, I don't know how I'm going to leave. I'm used to living here and in a month I won't be here at all. It gives one a desperate "must do everything and love everyone all the time" feeling. Don't want to leave any regrets. But I'm thankful that I don't want to leave because if all I did was want to go home, I'd have missed out on something real good here. And the little ache at the thought of leaving means that I did some living.

I know that God and I chose the exactly perfect amount of time to be here, whether it seems like it or not when the time comes to say "chao." Not only the perfect amount of time, but in the perfect place, circled for me. It's so clear that although I didn't know where I was going until what seemed like the last minute to me, God has truly been preparing me for this trip my whole life. For starters, by giving me a Momma that raised a little world traveler (and yet a Momma's girl at the same time...how did she do it? :] ).

I wrote this on her FB wall the other day but it's worth repeating on the interwebs: 
Dear Mom,
Thank you for giving me a love of Latino culture. Thank you for not allowing me to be afraid of bugs. Thank you for teaching me to stand up for myself. Thanks for being the first one to teach me Spanish. Thanks for encouraging me on this journey! Te quiero muchisimo! From the time I was una chica, you prepared me for this trip. I don´t know if you knew I would be in South America one day but, I´m grateful that you are my Momma!
 So thanks to my Momma, Jesus, and few other supportive people, here goes one more month! Viva Bolivia :)

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