Day two brought me into contact with my new family... Felicia (my host mother) and Steven "Esteben" (my host brother). To Felicia I am her "nuevo hijo," but I can't help but feel like I am at an advantage already. Steven (13) shares a room with his mom, while I have the bigger of the two rooms to myself. The home is humble to say the least, but if you were to consider home as a state of mind full of love rather than a place, I am living in a mansion. Since neither Mom nor Brother speak one word of English, communication has been reduced to the little spanish that I know and enough hand gestures to make anyone think that I were an Italian mobster in a previous life. I met with the rest of the SI staff on Saturday morning but cut that short because Mom wanted to take me to the river to swim. "No biggie," I thought, "I'll see everyone tomorrow morning when Krysta and Cailah (two of the girls on staff) pick me up for church." What I didn't know was that going to the river entailed walking to Mom's friend's house, getting into a car, driving for two hours, and staying the night at the river with ten people that only spoke Spanish. Needless to say, I did not make it to church on Sunday, and not having any of the phone numbers with me kept me from calling the girls to tell them I wouldn't be there when they came to pick me up... fortunately they only looked for me for about a half hour or so... sorry girls!!! Upon returning from a weekend of Spanish, Spanish, futbol and more Spanish I was in desperate need of some familiarity! I got home and called the girls to apologize, with the hidden agenda of needing to hang out... we made plans for them to pick me up on their way back from the store, which gave me a few minutes to reach for my guitar and play a language that I knew would bring me comfort.
Overcoming the anxiety of being a student again, I walked to class today with my backpack packed and my shoes tied tight. Anxiety has been that little pebble in my shoe that isn't irritating enough to warrant taking off a shoe to fix, but by the end of a day of walking gives me a blister. But I cling to verses that give me hope and encouragement.
"Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless." Ecclesiastes 11:9-10
I still don't know the roads we'll take, but it seems like we're heading in the right direction...
