Blisters.

Alex left for London yesterday, and will be Stateside tomorrow! What a lucky guy. Make sure to give him tons of hugs, and ask for pictures of his hair if you don't see it before his haircut. Those locks are a crazy long length at this point!

I'm currently still in Paris. But today I take a train out to a really neat community in the French countryside, where I'll be for a week or a number of weeks, no telling yet. After that, I'm just not quite sure about what the specific logistics will look like. I may head back to Italy for a bit, do some more exploring. Eventually I'll head to Belgium in June to serve with an organization called MCYM, which is student ministry for the kids of parents in the military. Very cool organization, we'll be taking kids on a couple youth trips, and I have the great pleasure of volunteering on those trips. Very exciting stuff. :)

Then after that I really have no idea. There's a possibility to head to Scotland to volunteer at another amazing and highly reputable community, but I'm still waiting to hear back. Fear not, you'll know when I'm back Stateside.

But until then, I'll be updating when I can, because the lessons and adventures on this trip are not even close to being finished.

What's funny to me is what a trip like this makes a person look like once it has taken its toll, and I mean that physically, mentally, spiritually, physiologically. At day 77, Alex and I have had more than our share of experiences, embarrassment, laughs, frustration, surprises, simple pleasures, confusion, being lost, new friends, taking too many pictures, not getting enough sleep, sleeping in the strangest places, trying to find our way, etc. We've handled tons of maps, broken English directions, metro and train tickets, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, foreign currency, host's keys, etc. All our clothes are dirty and there's a bit of fraying, and we're basically tourist-ed out. We're now used to sleeping anywhere as long as we're horizontal, but every so often we'll find a few hours of REM sleep even sitting upright on a train. We're ready to not be on the move every few days, and while I'll still be traveling even though Alex gets to head home, the blessing is I'll be able to be in one place for a longer amount of time than what we were clocking before. 

Not only do we have the pictures and blog and stories and worn backpacks to prove the authenticity of this trip, (That's to say, we haven't been hiding out in a basement somewhere back home faking a 7 hour time difference), but Alex is a little bit scruffier, both of us have crazy long hair, and to look at us you'd notice we're a little worn from the type of living we've been doing. Although, I think he's made it out more unscathed than I have.

On this trip I have had what I believe was food poisoning, and a strange stomach resulting from that experience for about a week and a half. I currently have what look like zombie eyes because of a blood vessel issue in both eyes, so I wear my sunglasses at night (in addition to indoors and out during the day) to avoid frightening little children. The blisters on my feet are on their 6th or 7th generation. Honestly, I never thought I'd get used to walking on blisters, and no longer find it uncomfortable. But truth be told I've grown used to my blistered feet, they no longer cause me pain, discomfort, nor do I really take much notice anymore. A trip like this is guaranteed to take its toll on a person, and would be letting you down if it didn't change you.

In Isaiah there's a verse that says, "How beautiful are the feet of those that bring the good news." (Isaiah 52:7). Take a minute to think about the kind of feet referred to here. I seriously doubt they're foot models. Considering these, and the feet of Jesus and the disciples, those feet have seen a lot of walking in their constant travels, as was necessary to communicate any sort of message to more people than in your small community. I imagine their feet would shock the Vietnamese woman giving pedicures as I'm sure mine would, if not more. Travel, specifically travel by walking, was a staple for the lives of those who wanted to get a message out, and especially a staple for the disciples, etc. And I now have first hand experience of what the feet of a traveler that does a tremendous amount of walking look like.

I'm thankful for the blisters, because they mean we've been traveling. They mean we've gone places, seen things, met people, had experiences, made ripples in the water of this world, experienced growth, and perhaps places and people are different for having met us, or are inspired from having known us, as I know for certain we are different and inspired for having been to those places and met new people. I'm thankful for the callouses that develop from the blister process, for on this journey we have lost layers, of skin, and more importantly, of who we were, layers we thought we needed, only to find that they have been replaced by new, stronger layers underneath. 

Did you know that the Monarch butterfly, in caterpillar form, sheds it's skin/shell 4-5 times before it actually undergoes the butterfly transformation process? When it does finally go from caterpillar to butterfly, the emergence from the cocoon is a great struggle for the butterfly. But it is this struggle that gives the butterfly its beauty, and its wings the great strength needed for life. For the more the butterfly struggles when coming out of its cocoon, the stronger and more beautiful its wings will be.

May we grow to be grateful for the struggles and trials we are enduring, whether at home or abroad, knowing that there is a strength and perseverance building up from enduring such things, a beauty soon to behold, a great change going on within. I agree with Paul when he says, "For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)


"Meaning is not something you stumble across, like an answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of the affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account."

“To get to know a country, you must have direct contact with the earth. It’s futile to gaze at the world through a car window.” – Albert Einstein