It's been a year?

Hello friends,
I know no one probably follows this blog anymore, but if you do, here is a little snippet of how my experience in Argentina is still affecting me today.

I left from Newark airport a year ago today! I can't believe it has been that long. In some ways, the last year has flown by. I have grown a lot during this past year and gained a lot of life experience.  Yesterday, I had lunch with a girl who got back just before Christmas. Hearing her experience made me want to reminisce about mine.

Thinking back to the times where I had the opportunity and privilege of speaking Spanish every day. I miss Spanish! Recently, I wrote up my resume and was able to put "fluent in Spanish" on it, which a year ago was only a dream, and a goal. Now it's a reality! I'm bilingual (...mostly)! :-) I keep up with my Spanish by reading the Spanish versions of "The Chronicles of Narnia," my favorite series.  I only have 3 of the 7 books in Spanish, but it's exciting that I can actually understand what is happening! I wish that during my student teaching I had more opportunities to speak Spanish with some of my students who are bilingual. They sometimes try to teach me Spanish phrases, which is so fun!

I miss the slower paced life, where dinner is not just a meal, but an event. The food portion of dinner is just the first 10 minutes or so and the other hour is spent talking and catching up and sharing life together. I miss Marta and Ariel, and Marta's opinions on everything! I miss just hanging out for the sake of hanging out and not always having "to do" something.

I miss the days where I could run around the beautiful park, listening to Spanish music (I still listen to Spanish music occasionally), and watching the Argentines go about their daily business.

I continue to learn from my experience in Argentina. With student teaching, I have been so busy that I have lost some of the intentionality of my relationships. I am trying to bring that back, realizing that life is more than having a vocation that you are passionate about. Life is about being with people and living a life of love (this was how the people in my young adults group in Argentina lived)! It is not about what comes next, waiting for life to start. It is about the present and appreciating all that God is doing in life NOW. I have been coming to terms with this recently as I do not know what my plans will be after June 8, when I finish student teaching. I am learning to trust God with my future and living in the present, but allowing myself to continue to grow from experiences of the past (like Argentina).

 2 Corinthians 14 "Christ's love controls us"