Homecoming

This is going up later than I meant it to, but better late than never.

By now everyone knows that I was lying about the travels through Central America and that I surprised my family by arriving home on Christmas Day. I arrived to Boston on December 23, and stayed with my friend and brother Kevin Copson until Christmas morning so that I could pull off the surprise. Here's what Homecoming looked like. 

Thanks to Kevin for filming and for making this possible.

The Penultimate Post

Well, things are pretty much wrapped up. I'm finished my 2 years of service and next week I'll fly to Nicaragua to begin my long trip back home. Thank you to everyone who has read anything I've written here. I hope that I've done a decent job of giving you all “windows” into this experience. Blogging has been a great way for me to continually reflect on this experience throughout the 2 years. I've enjoyed it, but won't keep this up now that I'm done.

Last thought on blogging: When I look back over this life, and I think things over, I can truly say that I've been blessed: this has been my testimony.

There will be one more post on this blog. Come back in the afternoon for a Christmas surprise.

2016 Year in Review Video

Here's a final video that looks back over the last year. The images are set against a prayer that I found in one of the JVC folders. 

Hold on, people, just a little while longer. Everything is gonna be alright.

Noted With(out) Translation - FJV

I've been saving this picture for today. 

Today's the day I leave Andahuaylillas. 

Today's the day I become a Former Jesuit Volunteer (FJV). 

Travel Playlist

A playlist is essential for setting the right tone. Just imagine the awkwardness if you messed up and included "Ding, dong, the witch is dead" on the playlist you listened to while driving to her funeral with your wife. Why you'd probably be including "Baby, come back" on your next playlist.

My sister and father are the real playlist masters of the family. But I need a good set of tunes to listen to on my long journey home (remember I'm traveling through Central America, entering the States in Texas, and heading to Boston overland). Here's what I'll be listening to starting tomorrow evening; my hope is that it strikes the right balance between leaving and arriving, between Andahuaylillas and Boston. What do you think? (I've linked to each song if you want to listen).

Noted With Translation - Purposeful Self Improvement

In Fight Club, Tyler Durden claims that "self improvement is just masturbation." That may be the case if you work out just to admire your muscles in the mirror. But if you live by the motto of Colegio San José (the Jesuit run high school in Arequipa) self improvement is all about service.

"Be more, to serve better"

Fe y Alegría

"Our teachers come to work full of faith (fe), and they leave, tired yes, but also full of joy (alegría).”* 

-Pd. José María Vélas, founder of the Fe y Alegría movement. 

I came to Andahuaylillas just under 25 months ago, and started work at FyA 44 in March 2015. I came here with no previous experience as a classroom teacher (or as a pastoral coordinator for that matter). I had a big red book called The Skillful Teacher that my mother gave me. And of course, I came to work full of faith – faith that God wanted me be here, faith that with time I could do well at this work, faith that I wasn't on my own, that I would be taught what to saw.

School ended yesterday. I've finished my two years of work at FyA 44. I am the first JV to fill the roles I filled (teaching religion in Primaria and coordinating the school's pastoral office). I have taught around 800 students. I've worked on numerous retreats for my high schoolers, and chaperoned students across the country. I helped to meet a clear need for accompaniment by spending time one-on-one listening to and counseling high schoolers' difficulties with schoolwork, friendships, love, parents, and the future. I also helped to found FyA 44's youth group and had the honor of sharing sacred space with 5 young people every Friday afternoon. I've done a good enough job that the students who know me will miss me next year when I'm not there.

2 years away from home is a long time. I am tired. But I'm the right kind of tired. I'm the tired after a long, wonderful day, when the planet is turning towards tomorrow and you lie down sure in the knowledge that you lived this day, you carped the heck out of this diem.

I came to this school with faith. 

I leave with joy. 

I move forward with both, with fe y alegría.

*This is not the exact quote, because I can't remember the exact quote. But it's close enough for our purposes.