time is precious

**written on Sunday

I am sitting in the house of Whitney Scarborough. I have been staying at her house this past week while her husband, Tim is away at an Expeditionary Learning conference in the States. Whitney is a beautiful and gentle woman. It has been more than a joy to be here and live life with her for the past week.

It has been a slow and restful weekend. It is so funny how spending time at another American’s house for the week and weekend is like a vacation here. It is such a privilege to eat familiar food and converse easily. And yet at the same time, I do miss my host family. I do miss the challenge of practicing my Spanish and using energy to even understand what time dinner is going to be at. I miss the constant growth that living in the depths of another culture requires of the human soul. Especially on one what is saved by God.

The Dominican people are one that all Americans and Christians could learn from. They are one of the most loving groups of people I have ever encountered (even within the body of Christ). It is beautiful the way that they love and the way that they share.

I only have about 6 more weeks here in the Dominican and at this moment, at the kitchen table of Whitney’s house, with the tropical wind blowing in through the window, I feel like that is not enough time. Not enough time to learn all that I can learn from this place. As much as I yearn to be around my family, my friends, and my fiancé back home, I know that this time is precious. My time here is unlike anything I have experienced before and no experience in the future will ever be the same. I do not say that meaning nothing will be better or that something could be better. It is just is that there seems to be so much to learn here and a semester is only scratching the surface.

But the weekend is now over and the work week will begin in when the sun rises again. Another week will go by before I know it and time will pass too fast. In the mean time, I will do my best to just be. To stay present where I am. To be honest with the Lord no matter how much it scares me. And to live free.

I give the second half of my presentation requirement for my internship on Thursday at the staff meeting so my week will be quite busy preparing. I will put it on my to-do list to post a blog about how it went this coming weekend, if you don’t hear from me before that.