Endeavoring

This we have now is not imagination.

This is not grief or joy.

Not a judging state, or an elation, or sadness.

Those come and go.

This is the presence that doesn't.

We are the night ocean filled
with glints of light.  We are the space
between the fish and the moon,
while we sit here together.

Rumi

I've been trying and trying to get my feet planted on something firm and for the first time in what feels like months I can finally feel some sand under my toes.

The last several months have been nothing short of a whirlwind.  My last post had me leaving Bolivia, saying goodbye to my grandma, revisiting and reinvesting in my friends and loved ones in California, seeing my family out East, and finally, finally, returning to Cochabamba.

There was a point, long since passed, where I would have liked to sit you down and say, "Well, let me TELL you about all that has HAPPENED," but our lives don't wait, and now those beautiful moments are alive only in my mind, and it seems inappropriate to pull them back out now after they've just settled.

And speaking of settling.  Here I am.  I've accepted a job with Sustainable Bolivia, and now its problems are my problems, and its successes are my successes.  We have an entirely new crew of foreign workers, where once there were three women there are now three men, and the shift is quickly apparent as we discuss buying a sound system for the yard and kitchen, where we should put the ping pong table, and how we can get rid of all the clothes that have piled up in our "free" closet.  We've bro'ed out the office, planned some weekly adventure outings, and are running full steam in a direction we hope is beneficial for SB and the community in general.

Many of you probably don't know exactly what it is that I'm doing.  Well you could, of course, click here and check out the website, which gives a pretty basic description of the goings-on throughout any week.  If that's too much work, however, I'll save you the extra click by saying that in a nutshell, I work for an funneling organization that connects international workers with local NGOs to bring about cross-cultural connectivity and lasting community development.  It's like working at Dairy Queen, except without the ice cream.  Actually no it's not.

As a result, you may notice a shift in my blog posts over the next several months as this space becomes less of a reservoir for travel and adventure and more of a forum for talking about what is on my heart, especially as it relates to my work with Sustainable Bolivia.  I am in a unique position to direct resources, both human and financial, towards areas and people that are in desperate need of them.  As a person of faith, this opportunity also carries with it the desire, and dare I say mandate, to come alongside those who are suffering in a genuine way.

I'm pretty excited about this.

So stay tuned friends, and we'll journey together.