Taking Paul to College

Crickets & cicadas serenaded us all night long. Walking around Liberty Park this morning I watched the sunrise over the Wasatch Mountains. Most of the yards in this quiet neighborhood have beautiful wildflowers growing. There is definitely a small town feel to this city. Yes, we are no longer in Miami! Yesterday, after five hours of flying time, with a stopover in Dallas, Texas added in, Paul and I arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah where he will be living for the next four years as a student at Westminster College.

It is wonderful to be back in Salt Lake City. The two years I spent here as a student at Westminster back in the mid-1970's were some glorious, fun, stimulating, challenging and wonderful years. Breaking away from my roots in St. Louis, Missouri undoubtedly helped me to develop my traveling lifestyle that has taken me to Atlanta, GA; Elkhart, IN; Palm Bay and Miami, FL as places I have called home and to almost all of the 48 lower states, plus France, England, Italy, Israel, Argentina & Peru, as places I have visited. In my heart, I truly believe this experience at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, so far from home in Florida where he has lived for his first 18 years of life, will bring similar possibilities into Paul's life.

When we touched down in Salt Lake City yesterday my stomach suddenly filled with butterflies. I don't fully understand it yet, whether I am excited for him, nervous for him, or what. I will explore those reflections in another post later this trip. For now we are off to set-up a bank account for Paul, purchase needed items for his dormitory room, and continue exploring his new home. The pictures with this post were taken at the Wildflowers B&B where we are staying. It is just three blocks from the campus and is run by two lovely women who provided a marvelous breakfast. Paul is framed by the Wasatch Mountains to the east (which is why they are washed out by the early morning sun), I am standing in front of the B&B, and the chickens live in this coop in the back yard (we have not had eggs for breakfast yet, but I'm betting we will!)

A Celebration 18 Years in the Making!

My son is graduating from High School tomorrow! Eighteen years ago when I held him in my arms at his birth this moment seemed an eternity away. Over the years there were even some periods in our struggles with him around his studies and his attentiveness to school where we wondered if he would actually make it to this moment. But despite all our worries and fears he has arrived and arrived in very good shape. He has matured, taking giant steps forward this past year, into a fascinating, creative, deep-thinking young man. He is finding his talents and calling in life (not that it is necessarily settled yet, but he does have a direction to his journey that he is walking with some intentionality) which he is embracing, even as he continues to remain open to exploring more areas of possible interest and creative expression. He is enrolled in the college of his choice, which also luckily chose him, and with a final summer of freedom before him, is actually quite ready, even anxious, to be finished with high school and ready to move on to the adventure that awaits him in college.

And so I am sitting in a hotel room in Melbourne, Florida, at midnight, having enjoyed an evening of celebration with my son, his mother and step-mother, his sister, one uncle, and sister's boyfriend and wondering how did I get here and where did the years go so quickly?!?! I don't really "feel" old, yet my daughter has been out of college for one year and is headed off to law school in August and my son is graduating high school and flying off to college out west this year as well. Eighteen years have literally flown by, when viewed from this end of the chronological spectrum. This is one powerful reason why sabbath time, time-off, and time to relish and reflect on life is so important to me. Because it all passes so quickly. Especially when one is caught up in the myriad duties of working, pastoring a church, living life. Yet, in spite of a recent sabbatical to help regain my focus on time-off and reflective time, I still struggle to incorporate into my schedule time to write, time to reflect, time to just be.

At the same time, as I do reflect on my life, it is very good. I am engaged in very meaningful ministry at both the church I pastor and through part-time, on-call chaplain work for VITAS Hospice. I live in a beautiful place, South Florida, with near ideal weather 90% of the year. I play golf once a week, walk several times a week, encounter a wide variety of wildlife (amazing since I live in an urban area). I am surrounded by very loving, accepting family and wonderfully supportive, even if at times a bit challenging, church members. My life is rich and for the most part enjoyable and meaningful. Perhaps I need to take a step-back from, a sabbath break from, my expectations about sabbath time and reflection time, and relish the time I have to enjoy the life with which I have been blessed? Perhaps my reflection time is quality enough if I find the moments to think about life and appreciate life, even if I don't write those reflections down anywhere? Perhaps my occasional posts on this blog, my sporadic entries in my journal, are satisfactory reflection times for the time being and when I need to engage in more frequent writings, I will find the time, I will make the time, God will bless me with the opportunity, through another sabbatical, another vacation, another period of intentionality?

But for right now, I am relishing and wallowing in the celebration of my son, my youngest child, graduating from High School! Way to go, Paul!!

A Different Type of Sabbath Time

Sabbath time it definitely is. But it is such a strange type of sabbath time. I am speaking of the period of time we take for initial mourning and grieving when a loved one dies. I totally understand why it is necessary. I learned early on Tuesday morning, February 17th, that my father had died at about 6:00 a.m. Central Standard Time in Mountain Home, Arkansas. For the next three days I had to make arrangements to travel to Mountain Home; contact family members who would want to know the news; take care of details at work for me to be absent on a Sunday morning and for 5 days total; and cover some of my regular work duties for those three days. All of that I did, but with a lot of distraction. My mind constantly wandered. I found it very difficult to remain focused. And I was not always distracted by thoughts of my father. Sometimes, I was. Sometimes it was thoughts of my mother, who has been dead for 10 years. Sometimes, I could not tell you what it was, other than my mind would just wander and I did not have the energy, or desire, to stay focused on one task for a very long time.

So, I fully understand the need we have as human beings, as spiritual beings, as emotional creatures, for sabbath time, down time, grieving time. Not that we can wrap up all of the grieving we might need to do in a few days. But, it is important for us to spend this time doing very little. It is important to spend time gathering with family we might not have seen for years. It is important to spend time allowing our minds to wander, for memories to surface and be reflected upon and rehearsed and sat with. It is important to spend time sharing stories about our deceased loved one, about our childhoods, about our separate and joint experiences with the one we are missing.

Sabbath time is a time for renewal. It is also a time to honor God. And during this type of sabbath time, our grieving sabbath, we honor God by honoring the loved one who has died. By stopping our regular lives, our regular routines, we say to the world, and to ourselves, "This person was important in my life, to me. The loss of this person needs to be marked and remembered. The life of this person needs to be celebrated and honored with respect and love. This person is a child of God and their life needs to be celebrated and given back to God with gratitude and thanksgiving." All of this we say through our action of taking sabbath time to mourn, grieve, and celebrate.

All this I am taking time for right now in Mountain Home, Arkansas and St. Louis, Missouri. All this I am engaged in with my brothers and sisters, uncles and friends of my father, and with the support of my wife, Dianne, and the support of many myriad prayers being lifted up for me and my family by family and friends and colleagues and church members not present physically, but clearly felt spiritually. This is a very different type of Sabbath, but it is every bit as important as regular weekly sabbath time and periodic Sabbatical time. And it is a gift, one which I treasure.

Incorporating Sabbatical Learnings Not-so-easy!

Sixty-eight days ago I returned to Miami from South America. That is one week shy of how many days I spent in Argentina this year. It has been 59 days since I last posted an entry on this blog. I am struggling with the adaptations and changes to my life that I had hoped to incorporate following my Sabbatical. I returned to Miami a changed person. The problem is, I returned to the same life, the same job, the same church. Old patterns were very easy to slide back into and developing new patterns has been very tough.

Initially I was trying to ease back into work, into the community, into my family. I have spent a lot of quality time with family - paying more attention to my relationship with my wife, going to the NASCAR races at Homestead Speedway with my son one weekend, spending quality time with my daughter who has moved in with us full-time while she works in Miami and applies to law schools. Since I have been home I had the privilege of baptizing my three granddaughters; celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with my wife, stepdaughter, her husband, and 3-month old baby girl; celebrated my 14th wedding anniversary with my wife by giving her a new dog, (a zukon: a bijon-frise/shih-tzu mixed breed); and of course, celebrated Christmas. That is just the family activity.

In addition the activity at church has slowly accelerated with the holiday season. It has all been good, but very busy and not a time for incorporating changed patterns. What I realize now is that the holiday season already involves changes in our regular living patterns. So, to try to make changes in a changing time is very, very difficult. Probably impossible.

A few things changes that I hoped to make I have made good progress toward implementing. Probably the one thing I have followed through on the best has been a renewed commitment to walking for exercise. One of the changes that took place for me in South America was the loss of 30 lbs. of weight. I had been fighting the "battle of the bulge" in my waist for a decade or more. In Argentina, without an automobile, I walked almost everywhere. I realize now I was walking probably better than 5-6 miles a day on a fairly regular basis. And I was eating healthier. One commitment I wanted to make was to walk 4 miles each morning. That has been difficult with morning breakfast meetings, on-call hours for VITAS Hospice, and a variety of factors. After a couple of weeks of struggling with this commitment, I made a new commitment. To walk 4 miles a day, no matter what time I must do it. So, I began the practice of walking later afternoon approaching sunset, if I was not able to walk at sunrise. As a result, I can now say that for more than a month now I have been walking 4 miles a day, morning or evening, without fail. The result is through the holidays I have been able to keep from gaining weight. (And I have not been all that good about not eating too much as we all tend to do over the holidays.) Now that the holiday binging period is almost complete, I am confident I will be able to maitain my commitment to regular walking exercise and with a return to healthier eating habits, I should be able to lose that final 15 lbs. that will get me to my goal of 185 lbs.

Two other changes I have made that I feel are positive. One is I no longer live by a list at work. Before the Sabbatical I had a practice of making a "to-do" list each Tuesday as I began my week (Mondays being my day off) and scratching off the items on the list as I went through the week. I know this is supposed to be a good time-management technique, but it can also become a constrictive practice. It was so freeing for 4 months to live life without a "to-do" list and so I decided I was not going to make a list when I returned. I have not and so far I do seem to be able to accomplish what I need to do each week. (The truth is, most of what I have to do each week does not vary much and I know what those tasks are and I get them done.) But not having a list staring at me is helping me to stay loose and less stressed.

The second change I have made is a definite reduction in my work hours each week. Before Sabbatical I am sure I was working upwards of 60 hours a week regularly. Now I am definitely below 50. I am not stressing over work as much and I am more relaxed at home. I really do believe I will be able to make some of the other changes I had wanted to make in this New Year. And tomorrow I am going to start by writing another post to my blog and share my "list" of changes for the New Year.

(The pictures I have posted include "Miami Snow on Christmas Day" [actually just foam on the water of the bay at sunrise], the NASCAR race, baptizing my granddaughters, and sunrise over Biscayne Bay on one of my morning walks.)

Re-entry at Christ Congregational Church

After two days back at work, I am, so far, working my plan to re-enter slowly. Yesterday, November 1, was my first official day back at work, off of sabbatical. The telephone started ringing in the morning, so obviously people were counting the days until I was off of sabbatical. (But I must commend them for they clearly respected the sabbatical and did not call me while I was away.) Dianne and I took the early part of the day and drove to Key Largo, in the Florida Keys, primarily to run the errand of visiting Shell World to buy some special sea shells for the baptism of our granddaughters coming up November 9, but the real reason was to spend some more down time with each other and have a nice lunch on the water. It was a beautiful day and while it was not South America it did allow us some fantasy time of still feeling like we were still on sabbatical or vacation. The drive was relaxing, Shell World provided a large selection of shells from which to choose shells not only for next Sunday's baptism, but also a supply for future baptism ceremonies. We enjoyed a very relaxed lunch at Sundowner's on Florida Bay with up-close visits by sea gulls and a white heron.

After returning home I enjoyed the end of the Miami Hurricane football game as they beat University of Virginia in overtime and then watched the University of Florida Gators beat the Georgia Bulldogs, supporting my daughter's Alma mater and vicariously enjoying the game with her through mutual text messages. Then Dianne and I went to the 3 C's Preschool Harvest Festival which had been postponed a week due to weather. I was warmly greeted by people we saw who knew us and was a nice preview of the welcome home we received on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning has come and gone. It was very comfortable for me to lead worship. It should not have been a surprise to me, as I have been leading worship, with others or alone, at least 46 weeks out of 52 for the past 28 years. As Dianne reminded me as I went out the door this morning, "It's just like riding a bike!" (That chestnut is as well-worn as every piece of meat out of the ordinary supposedly "tasting like chicken.") But I was a little concerned if I would remember what to do and what to say. As it turned out, I did not even think very much about the words I say at Communion when I break the bread and pour the juice, but they came to me at the time I needed them without even thinking about what they needed to be and the benediction words, I did not stumble over them at all. I guess my wife is right! The experience of leading both times of worship was very natural and felt very familiar. Plus I did not stress over it and handled it with grace and professionalism. It seems the sabbatical did help. Plus I had many people commenting on how rested and rejuvenated I appeared.

The question will be to see how long the affect lasts. I was asked what I planned to do to keep refreshed and I shared my thoughts on what now be my focus as pastor. I realize I did way too much as pastor before the sabbatical, and I do not want to fall back into those patterns. So I plan to focus on four areas:

1. Plan and lead worship

2. Prepare and present a sermon

3. Offer pastor care as the people need it

4. Offer leadership, in supporting their work as the people of God and helping to focus the work of the mission of the church.

I also plan to make writing in my journal a regular part of my life. One of my members who teaches Spanish in high school has offered to help me keep up my Spanish with regular tutoring and I plan to accept her offer. Several members have offered to help me practice my Spanish and I plan to do that as well. I certainly hope these practices will help me remain rejuvenated and not approach burn-out status quickly as work responsibilities accumulate. Stay tuned!

The Final Day of Sabbatical

Sitting in my home in Miami, on the last day of my Sabbatical, I am drinking the espresso I made (which does not even begin to approach the marvelous quality of the coffee I enjoyed in Argentina.) I have been home for six days and South America has begun to feel like a hazy dream. It truly was a dream life I enjoyed for 12 weeks. I never would have imagined I would fall so deeply in love with that continent and those countries, Argentina and Peru. I can begin to understand, I think, why British and European travelers fell in love with places like Africa and Asia. It is related to the exotic, yet familiar, nature of new lands. It is related to the level of hospitality one encounters from the local people (always a surprise, for we have this inbred idea that other people, especially foreign people, are never as warm, welcoming and hospitable as we are ourselves.) It is related to one's willingness to invest oneself in a locale and truly embrace it as a home. It is related to the good experiences one has and whether they outweigh the bad. It is related to one's ability to fit in to the culture, to embrace the language, to understand the thinking of the local people. When all of these factors come together in a positive manner, then one will find oneself in a new home, where one feels quite welcome and an integral part of the community, not just an outsider. You discover the place becoming a part of you and you a part of it. That certainly happened for me with Argentina.

It is perhaps the most amazing event of this sabbatical. Although, actually learning to understand and speak the Spanish language in just 12 weeks time is certainly an amazing feat for me, considering my struggle with learning other languages in more traditional educational settings in the United States. Before this sabbatical, I had never really thought much about South America. I was aware of it. I knew people from various countries in the region. I had enjoyed many different movies set in South America and I had a vague sense of the history of the region. But I never had a strong attraction or desire to visit. There were always so many other more exotic, more interesting places on my list. So it was actually quite serendipitous that I chose Argentina as the location for my sabbatical and now I am so glad that I did. In 10 weeks time it became a second home, a second country, for me and it will always have a very special place in my heart.

Now I am engaged in the task of reconnecting with my life in Miami. It is clear to me that I am in a stage of withdrawal and mourning from my life in Argentina. I cooked parilla for my wife and daughter one night, grilling vegetables and a piece of vacio (an Argentine cut of steak I actually found in Publix) and it felt familiar and almost as good as the Argentine grills. I have been eating Argentine and Peruvian chocolate I brought home and looking for ways to order more or find it here in Miami! I have been trying different roasts of coffee beans to find the rich, espresso roast I enjoyed in Argentina. I have been buying various Malbec wines from various Argentine wineries, looking for the quality I enjoyed in country.

Even as I try to hold on to my experiences in Argentina, I have begun to reconnect with my life in Miami. I have played golf at least once and it was good. The four-month lay-off does not seem to have hurt my swing. I have spent most of my time with my family and I have been catching up on chores around the house which needed attention. Today is the official last day of the sabbatical and tomorrow I officially return to work. Sunday I return to leading worship and I understand a Bienvenido a Tu Casa luncheon has been planned for after worship. It will be a joy to see the folks of the church and to begin reconnecting with them. In truth, I have the feeling the sabbatical will continue to unfold and even though today is the official end, the impact and affects of the sabbatical will continue for months to come.

Back in Miami!

All it took was a five and one-half hour airplane ride and my South American adventure was over! Yesterday Dianne and I had a rather uneventful flight from Lima, Peru to Miami and it feels like I have awakened from a marvelous dream. It was great to be greeted at the airport by my daughter, step-daughter and her husband, and my newest granddaughter. I have really missed family and it was a nice surprise to walk out of the International Arrivals restricted area to see them in the lobby and not have to wait for them curbside. It has been a full 24 hours with family as we had dinner with them last night and went back to their house for lunch today to visit with another long time friend who is almost like family.

But it feels strange to be back in my home in Miami. In fact, the initial feelings are that it doesn't feel like "home." It is the same house. My "stuff" is still here. My family lives here. But there was a "strangeness" to walking in last night. It is an early confirmation of what I was anticipating in South America that there will be a time of adjustment for me upon return. We are usually so caught up in the day to day "everydayness" of our lives that 8, 12, 16 weeks fly by and don't seem so long in the course of a year. Yet, in truth they are a significant passage of time. Twelves weeks is what I spent out of the United States, living in South America. It is a fourth of a year. Sixteen weeks is what I spent away from work on Sabbatical. That is a third of a year. A lot happens in those amounts of time. For me, a lot happened here at home that I missed. And a lot happened to me, that others, except through my blog, have not experienced with me. How all of this will mesh together to allow me to re-engage with my former life here in Miami will be a most interesting process. Probably as interesting, if not more so, as the Sabbatical experience itself.

For now, I plan to take my re-entry nice and slow. I do not plan to think too much about work or what I need to be doing when I return to work very much this next week. I plan to spend time performing some maintenance chores around the house. My wife and daughter did a great job taking care of the house in my absence, but some things, like taking down hurricane shutters put up as a precaution, they really cannot do. I also want to play at least one round of golf, it has been four months since I have swung my golf clubs. I plan to brush up on my Spanish lessons. Even though the last two weeks were spent in Peru, a Spanish-speaking country, most of our time was in tourist areas, where most of the service people we dealt with spoke some, if not a lot, of English and tended to assume we knew no Spanish. So, it was almost like being back in Miami two weeks early: in an environment where there was Spanish being spoken around us, but an environment where it was not necessary for us to know Spanish to function. In that regards, I am very glad I chose Argentina and not Peru for my Spanish language classes. I know I was surrounded by Spanish speakers and most of the 8 weeks I was in Argentina, it was necessary for me to know Spanish to function. It was truly an immersion experience that helped me learn the language. Based on my recent experience in Peru, I am not sure I would have found the same type of immersion experience there.

I also want to spend some significant time this week reflecting on my entire Sabbatical. I know this will be an on-going process, but I want to begin that process this week before work responsibilities begin to impinge on my time and attention. During the past 4 months I have done some reflecting on what I was experiencing, what I was learning, what it might mean for me moving forward. But now that I am nearing the end of the Sabbatical, I want to revisit those reflections, deepen them, and refine them. I want to begin to seriously contemplate what all this might mean for me moving into the future.

My New Home - All My Own!

I am sitting in my 9th floor apartment in Buenos Aires watching Sunday Night Football (yes, the American version: Pittsburgh Steels vs. Cleveland Browns) but with a Spanish soundtrack. So I get to do a very US activity, but practice my Spanish at the same time! (Although I admit, this is not much practice, since I mostly just watch.

I have returned to Buenos Aires and am living in an apartment in Palermo, which is west of downtown by probably three or four miles, maybe more. It is several subway stops, that is for sure. It is a very nice, quiet neighborhood. And the apartment building seems very quiet. It helps that I am on the top floor, so there is no one above me to make noise. The apartment is small, one big room, but on three levels, so it adds some separation. The bedroom is on one level at the end with the sliding door and the little balcony. The living area is three steps down and includes a seating area, a TV, a small fireplace, and a dining table. Then there are three steps up to the entry area and the bathroom and kitchen. It is nice and cozy.

But it is not Bariloche! Instead of the gorgeous view of the mountains and lake, I have a gorgeous view of the backsides of several old and worn apartment buildings, looking nine floors down into a crummy looking little patio area. I don't even had a view of the city, other than the view you will see in the pictures.

However, it is my own space! That is the most important part at this point in time. I really enjoyed what I learned and the hospitality shown to me, by the four families I stayed with the past 6 weeks, but after living in a bedroom in someone else's home for that long I am ecstatic with any space, as long as I can call it my own (at least for the next 4 weeks!) This place is quite cozy and comfy and I know I will be very happy here the next 4 weeks.

To see pictures of the apartment, follow this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.9blitwfq&x=0&y=98qyob&localeid=en_US

First post from Bariloche

I arrived in San Carlos de Bariloche yesterday at noon. The bus ride was very peaceful and I will say more about it in a future post when I share photos of the landscape. I arrived in the midst of a snowstorm that began on Saturday and is still going strong! Of course, the Andes wanted to welcome their new guest from Miami, Florida in style!!! (I shouldn't complain compared to the hurricane season everyone in Florida and the Southeast coast is experiencing this year. My prayers are with all in New Orleans and all recovering from Fay.) I wanted to get a post up before I had to leave to get lunch before heading to school. The classes here take place in late afternoon, so students can take advantage of outdoor activities. My schedule will be backwards to what it was the past 4 weeks: homework and computer work in the morning and school in the afternoon.

This is a lovely place and my home setting is idyllic. It feels like a mountain chalet, all constructed of wood. My bedroom is on the second floor and I hear the snow falling heavily off the trees onto the roof periodically. It is quite warm and cozy and I know I will be very comfortable here for the next two weeks. If only I didn't have to go out in the snow! Unfortunately I do, and I have farther to walk than the last two locations in Cordoba and Buenos Aires. I will truly get my exercise! Anyway, the above pictures are of the view out my window and if you want to see pictures of my home, follow this Kodak Gallery link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.3tonaaa2&x=0&y=87skjw&localeid=en_US

Visiting with Family

After Paul and I emerged from the Boundary Waters we spent the next two weeks visiting with family in Chicago, St. Louis, and Texas. Family is so important, yet it can be such a difficult reality. While the time in the Boundary Waters was a physically taxing time as we pushed our bodies to their limits in canoing and portaging, the time with family was an emotionally taxing time. Our families of origin are something we do not get to choose, yet they are one of the primary shapers and molders of our personalities and our reality and stay with us our entire lives long. We are always in relationship to them, whether that is a good, strong relationship or a bad, weak relationship, we are always connected to them by virtue of our birth and our early time spent in their presence. We really cannot even choose not to be in relationship with them, for even then, they are still our family, even if we have no contact. We are able, many of us, to choose another family to participate in, through marriage, or through the choice of friends who become like family. But even then we are still always part of our family of origin. It is like holding dual citizenship in two countries. The time Paul and I spent with family these past two weeks was important time. We reconnected and strengthened many of our family relationships and we learned some things about ourselves and our places in those families. Now we are back home, Paul in Brevard County with his mother, beginning to enjoy his "new" car (new to him, but a hand me down from his Aunt in Alabama) and I in Miami, preparing for the next leg of this adventure, my travel to Argentina. Again, we are reconnecting with family, which we had left behind on our three week trip. A very important step, before I leave them again, for 2-3 months.

Back in Miami!

Paul and I have arrived back home in Miami after our 22 day adventure to begin my Sabbatical. In that time we traveled to the upper Midwest, almost to Canada and then down to the heart of Texas, stopping in Chicago and St. Louis along the way. We saw amazing wildlife up close in their natural habitat, pushed our bodies to their physical limits, lost weight, ate good food and bad food, as well as freeze-dried food. We reconnected with family, much of which we had not seen for 4-5 years. It was a more draining trip than either of us imagined, but a very important piece of this Sabbatical. My plan in scheduling this trip at the start was to provide myself a month to decompress, de-stress and disconnect from my daily routine at the Church. From the research I did about sabbaticals it seemed important to provide this buffer between my regular schedule and the meat of the sabbatical, the trip to South America to learn Spanish. This trip certainly accomplished that goal. The Boundary Waters expedition at the beginning did exactly what I expected it to do: get me away from computers, cell phones, TVs, radios, newspapers, all means of communication with the wider world. For six days I was alone with my son in the middle of a portion of the world still approaching the virgin state God created. Even though I came out of the woods and began using my cell phone to call home and my laptop to check email, it helped me begin to let go of that world and those responsibilities. I have learned it is very difficult for me to let go and not keep checking on what is happening at the Church, but this time away has helped me begin to let those ties loosen and drop away. It also helped me begin to get in the right frame of mind to be gone from home for 3 months. After three weeks I was definitely ready to come home. I realize now it will be a little more difficult than I anticipated to be gone for such a long stretch. I trust that I will be helped in dealing with the absence by the routine of taking classes each morning and the task of learning and practicing my Spanish language skills. It will also be important for me to develop some routines, such as walking, regularly praying & meditating, and daily journaling to reflect on my experiences. I must also be sure to be kind and gentle with myself and not expect or push for too much. Tomorrow I will share a little about the experiences we had visiting family.