Never hold any love in reserve...

"No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath... We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?" Donald Miller,"Through Painted Deserts"

Yes, You are more than my words can ever say...

God is in the details.

God is in the moment.

Joy is always given, never grasped.

Peace is first of all the art of being.

"I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. (Finding My Way Home)"

"I stand here on this spring day in the center of my life.

Chaos, din, and beauty. For a moment, I am still."

I think it's fair to say that here, in Morelia:

1. I have found healing.

2. I have found the truest and purest sense of joy, one can know.

3. I have found the most transparent form of love, there is.

4. I have been embraced by those unknown to me, those who now, I cannot bear the thought of leaving.

5. I have relished the ever-present laughter overflowing from the most beautiful of souls.

6. I have been immersed into the culture, I have longed to call home for nearly a decade of my life.

7. I have seen that there is much to be gained, from taking a step of faith.

8. I have been pushed and challenged to speak, and have found that where His dreams are, He is faithful.

9. Where the spirit of the Lord, there is FREEDOM.

10. I have experienced the hospitality of His servants, daily.

11. I have learned the art of being content, right where I am, needing no one but Jesus, Himself, to fulfill me.

12. Not a minute has passed here, when I haven't felt loved, for who I am- mistakes and all.

13. I know that perfect love casts out all fear.

14. I have seen God provide, time and again.

15. I have realized that beauty can be found everywhere, misery needn't be clung to, there is always, always hope.

este es su tiempo. . .

"He does have surprising, secret purposes. I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced.

It’s hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times,

feel long across those words, make sure they are real.

His love letter forever silences any doubts:

“His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory”

(1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB)."

Ann Voskamp

Time isn't stopping, no matter how hard I try. Emotions are consuming my entire being, without my approval. Yet, how blessed I am to be apart of this. There are always those final moments before something ends, where your heart can't seem to catch up with what's really happening, it just can't imagine that it has arrived at the finish. That's where I am, in the midst of all the remaining dinner dates and plans, my heart cannot bear to grasp that this, too, is finishing.

That's how goodbyes are though, aren't they?

You are welcoming your return to those you love, but you are dreading leaving those you newly love. You are anticipating the start of God's next chapter for you, but deeply saddened that there has to be an end to this.

There have been moments where the tears have suddenly struck me in the taxi on the way home, in church, in Bible Study. There have been moments when invisible tears have taken up residence, filling my eyes. . . but apart from that, there has been so much laughter and love.

I was watching my students filing in for their Oral Exam [the last step before being chosen for the Portland Exchange Group], it was such a beautiful and exciting time, to be with them. To pray, laugh, practice and love them, before they took their very last step.

Afterwards, I spoke in Bible Study without a translator. . . better said, God spoke through me. I conquered a fear, not without putting up a fight of course, because I was shaken with my doubts beforehand. The Lord saw me through. We had a foot-washing and a time of beautiful prayer in small groups, and oh how I felt the Spirit moving. It was such a blessing to see that take place, before I left, because I truly believe God asked that of me.

What can't be said in words, can be beautifully evident in pictures, here you are: