Adventure Round 2 Has Begun..

I'm sitting in the Nairobi airport about to head to Rwanda in about an hour. WOW! I'm having a hard time comprehending it as I'm sleepy and stink so bad.

Here's the stitch on Europe though!:

Wow, Europe has come and gone like a blur. I spent 10 wonderful days in Gaillac, Southern France and in Barcelona with my dear friend Krista Haxton. I wish I could describe to you what an absolute adventure it was – each day was filled with so many stories. A few of the highlights include:

• Taking trains through the beautiful French countryside and making friends along the way with people from all over the world
• Learning how to cook some dang good food
• Drinking great wine and sangria
• Having to take 8 train transfers to get to Barcelona and a crazy random taxi with 2 girls from France at the Spanish border. Our taxi driver was INSANE: going about 70 mph down these tiny but very steep and windy cliffs, while texting and blasting Brittney Spears. We then ran across the border without getting our passports checked to catch our departing train.. Eek!
• Staying 2 nights at a hostel in a 10 person room with all guys who farted all night and thought it was simply hilarious
• Skateboarding, playing pool, and learning to Salsa on Barcelona’s streets with locals
• Dancing in Barcelona!
• On the way back to France, we got to the train station and discovered the entire French railway system was apparently on strike that day… WHAT?!... Getting home included running across town with our bags to the bus station, catching the last bus to France but not knowing where in France it was taking us, and renting a car with an awesome American couple we had just met. Someday, we will be Amazing Race Champions. Watch out.
• Getting pursued by waiters at EVERY SINGLE restaurant we ate at in Barcelona. We had flowers bought for us, were invited to go clubbing, out for drinks, and to hang out the next day by 5 different waiters. Did I mention, Krista got proposed to?
• Visiting French villages all throughout the countryside.
• Sleeping 9 total hours over 3 days. Barcelona is not for sleeping.
• Learning to be spontaneous and more carefree.
I had SUCH a blast. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to push my introverted self to try new things and be spontaneous. I LOVED it.

On a deeper note, the past few days have been a really good time for me to prepare for Rwanda mentally and by getting to talk with friends and family a lot. I now sit on a train riding to Paris to spend the night before departing for Africa TOMORROW. I wish I could paint a picture to share the scenes before my eyes with you. Lush green plants grow everywhere the eye can see as hills sprout up in the background, the setting sun casting an orange glow across the countryside. Fluffy clouds scatter the sky, reflecting the pinks and oranges of another day gone by. The departing sun’s glow splatters on stone houses and their fall trees, sparce with colored leaves. Light dances across Chateaus, making their demeanor even more magical. Alexi Murdock, Joshua James, and Ray LaMontagne echo in my ears and fresh pizza is on my breath. Hopes and dreams marinate in my mind of what the next 7 months will hold - of becoming the person I dream about being, of the ensuing change that is bound to soon come within me, of a lifestyle calling to me that will shout Jesus to the eyes of the world so downcast by the scenes of corruption, greed, and pain that have overwhelmed their vision. Excitement, hope and a small edge of hesitancy lie like a lens behind my eyes as imagines of my future flash. A life of adventure, intimacy, love, generosity and a Sacred romance call me forth, daring me to step outside of the box called “life” our culture has created.
Talking with a friend recently was very revealing as he passionately explained that he believed in “god” but he remains pissed off at the representation that God’s so called imitators have displayed throughout history. He cited seeing no difference in the greed, corruption and selfishness between Christians/other religious people and atheists. Something is vastly wrong with this picture. I am determined to keep searching for the One who all the beauty I see is but a mere reflection of and to not ignore the deepest yearnings of my heart calling me to something more. It beckons me to leave the familiar, the comfortable, the resignation that “this is just how the world is,” and to rediscover intimacy, beauty, truth, compassion, justice, love displayed in actions, and adventure. J. Eldridge and S. Curtis argue that this yearning is “the core of our spiritual journey. Any religion that ignores it survives only as guilt induced legalism, a set of propositions to be memorized and rules to obey” (20). I go forth vowing to relentlessly chase these yearnings inside me.
Isaiah 58.