Departure

All the bags have been frantically organized, packed, and double checked. All the lists have been decorated with small x's, check marks, and crossed lines. All of our pathetic excuses for Spanish have been rehearsed and practiced, as well as the expectations of pointed fingers and laughter from the Paraguayans when we open our mouths and attempt bilingualism. Every last passport is now fashioned with blue and purple work visas in a language that we can't understand.
There is simply nothing left to do but wait and let life happen, which is for some reason a seemingly strange process to my organized-student mindset. Everything else is nothing we can put in bags, pack in parcels, or practice in a classroom. Everything left that is yet to come is all God's work and nothing I can control, or even attempt to control. It is both everything I've waited for and everything I've been fearful of. The climate, the children, the heartbreak of poverty. There is nothing left but trust, faith, and the manmade plastic wings that will take us there.

Easter

A day of cheap chocolate and strange Western traditions that involve pastel paints and over-eager children. A time of communion and remembrance, with our non-alcoholic wine and our bread-crumbed clothes. For some of us, it's simply an extended exam study session accompanied by discount jellybeans and Bible verses.

It seems only suiting that the day before we farewell our accustomed Canadian lives, we have an entire weekend to focus on the origins of our faith. But aside from bunnies laying eggs, we find an even stranger phenomenon: a man who died innocently so that others may lead sinful lives. Sinful, yet forgiven. It is something I don't fully understand, and yet it characterizes my entire belief system. It is a mentality of absolute love rather than revenge that my small human mind is incapable of grasping.
Despite my struggle with human evilness waged against Christ's perfection, I do fully understand what his life preached and what his death meant. I realize that some 2,000 years after his resurrection, it is now my responsibility to be a living testimonial of Christ and Christianity to South America. I am more than excited to implement the meaning of Easter with my team and freely live out our faiths.

I wish you all a blessed Easter filled with Cadbury eggs and Jesus' love.