The World is Sitting Next to Me

Isaiah 24:14-16 (NIV)

 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

   from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.

Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;

   exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,

   in the islands of the sea.

From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

   “Glory to the Righteous One.”

            You may have already noticed this, but I don’t actually have a whole lot of details about what I’m getting myself into. Before I left, I was asked many questions to which I could only answer, “I don’t know”.

            I’ve been at the MCC eastern headquarters in Akron, PA for almost five days now and am so glad I didn’t come in with any preconceived ideas. I was expecting a sort of camp with people from all over the states getting ready to spend a year abroad. I had no idea that a quarter of the SALTers would be Canadian and half the participants at orientation would be international.  Meal conversations are a wonderful mixture of accents and languages from Alabama, California, Ontario, and Kansas, to Laos, Brazil, Germany, Lesotho, Korea, and Zimbabwe. We can easily sing in five languages in a single worship session.

            I’m so thankful for this time. I’ve been able to practice my Spanish with my new Paraguayan friends and have been trying to use a mixture of Portuguese and English to talk with the Brazilians. I’ve met people who have never seen snow and who are wearing wool jackets in the 60-degree weather we’ve been having. I have been inspired by the people here who, like me, want to see more of the world and make a difference. The only problem is, my o’s keep getting longer and longer the more I talk to the Canadians. I’m afraid by the time I leave, I’m going to be ending all my sentences with “ay’.