1 year since graduation. . .

As I sit here in my living room on a Friday night (a little pathetic, I know) I realized that tomorrow will officially be one year since I have graduated college. Thinking back, I was trying to list the changes that have occured over these past 365 days, and I was rather amazed.

*I have traveled all over Ireland, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

*I have moved 2 times, from St. Augustine to Vero Beach, and from Vero Beach to Tegucigalpa.
*I have started a new career in which I was given a class of 21 students who did not read, write or even speak English and now can do all three.

*I have learned a new language, and progressed in my Spanish enough to where when I arrived I could only really say the days of the week and my numbers, to the point where I can hold conversations with my friends who only speak Spanish about things such as philosophy and the cycle of poverty and economics in Honduras. Although my Spanish is littered with grammatical mistakes, it still is possible to communicate such things.

*I have acclimated myself to living in a gigantic new, foreign, and often times dangerous city that does not have a mail system or street names.

*I have learned to rely completely on public transportation in a third world country, and I must say I am getting pretty good at getting cheap taxis.

*I have become involved in ministries that really help to benefit the poorest of the poor, and I have discovered a passion and love for others that I never before imagined.

*I have swam with crocodiles, sting rays, nurse sharks, and probably more bacteria and amoebas that I would like to know.

*I drink milk from a box, eat beans from a pouch, and drink water from a bag.

*I have come to a point in my life where my definition of a 'good' bathroom is one with toilet paper, regardless of whether or not it flushes (or if I have to flush it myself by pouring water in a bucket down the back), has a toilet seat, or even electricity.

*I walk so much that I don't even blink at walking 3 or 4 miles across town.

*I have seen police shoot-outs, strikes outside the Honduran "White House", and police take-downs at futbol games.

*I have experienced the undeserved love and affection from the poorest of the poor children that I see on the weekends when I go to the feeding center. As soon as we step out of the jeep, we are attacked with an armful of children who remain at our side the entire time and who we have to peel off of ourselves when it is time to leave.

* I am able to twist and contort my body in ways that allow me to fit in the tiniest of spaces in taxis and busitos...my only form of transportation.

*I have come to find myself completely surprised when I enter into a building that has air conditioning or insulation.

*I have seen things that could only best be described as worthy of World Vision commercials, where at the feeding center children receive one meal a day (usually rice pudding) that is portioned out into a cup that they bring from home. Being here though somehow brings me more joy than I could have ever thought I could have.

To best sum things up, I have lived, I have seen, I have breathed, and I hope to be able report back in the next year, and the following year and the following year with even more tales of adventure. More importantly, I hope that I can be used more and more and that I can continue to decrease my needs so that I can serve God here more and more. Menos de mi, mas de ti.