Ok folks, here I am sitting in the terminal of LAX, a quarter of the way to my destination of Bogota, Colombia trying to stay calm. My tickets all got canceled so the nice lady at the ticket counter spent half an hour trying to fix it while I stood staring at the other passengers lugging their the 100 pound bags on the scale and frantically pulling out cheap knock puma knock-offs trying to make their body bags a tad lighter. Watching them while trying to translate their rapid Spanish caused reality to hit me like a brick wall. Doging my fearful thoughts in an effort to stay calm and take deep breaths was not easy.
The reality was that I was standing in LAX thinking about how little I know about the challenges that many Colombians face. I began thinking about how I do not know what I will encounter over the next year, will it be the 10 year old child begging for money that once received will be used to buy drugs which ease the pains of being homeless and alone? Or will it be having to see first hand the damage of Plan Colombia seeing that lands that have been raped and pillaged? These thoughts quickly escalated when I realized that yes, these are the some realities I might have to face, but there is also so much more to it then this.
It is unusal that I let these thoughts get to me but being 1 am and just having finished my last phone call in the US I am having difficutly articulating my mixture of feelings and emotions. But summed up aside from a little tired I feel good. This is exactly where I am supposed to, and want to be. I am ready to be humbled, to learn, to share, to give completely all I have to give, to fully live this experience. This year will be full of challenging and amazing moments and I feel good and am ready to embrace everything, to embrace life. So I want to leave you all with a bit of advice I heard recently...
Go create yourselves memories!
7 comments:
Dear Audra the Adventuress:
You go Girl and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the adventure of something new and unknown. My favourite mantra from Julian of Norwich is "And all shall be well,... and all manner of thing shall be well." And the truth about that is, she's right...no matter what, all shall be well. You are so right about: If we don't grow, we die. Thanks for reminding me. So, fly out those windows and see what you find. xoxo
Audra, What a beautiful post. I am thrilled for you and for all of the Colombians that will be touched by your warmth and generosity. I'm sure there will be days when you might not feel so warm and generous but they will be minority days for a woman with your spirit. God bless you. Steve and I both send you our very, very best. We loved receiving the word that your feet were on the ground.
xoxoxo
Dear Audra,
I must tell you that it warmed my Heart to open your e-mail today and find out that you had arrived in Bogota! This is going to be an incredible journey for you and I thank you for sharing it with all of us here in the States. I am so glad you feel "good" about where you are and that your host family is wonderful. This will surely help make the transition period better. You will remain in my prayers and I eagerly await to read your next blog. Godspeed Audra! -Terri
You will do an incredible job helping and in the process you will grow in so many ways, as always you are in our prayers. Love YA!!!!! Aunt Sue
Audra, you have our unwavering support in prayer and love. Thank you for your service and we pray this year will be a great gift to you. Thank you also for blogging, so we can hear of your many adventures. Cheers!
Hi Audra!
Wonderful to hear that you are with a caring and welcoming family to start your adventure. Never forget that God will light your path, one step at a time and this will be an incredible start to the adventure of a lifetime as Jesus' feet on earth. You are covered with prayer wherever you are.
I'm looking forward to your next blog. God bless the internet!!
Much love, Carmen
Yay Audra, I'm so glad you are finally getting to start your exciting year of adventure and growth! It will be amazing, I just know it! Can't wait to read all about it...
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