"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"

Okay everybody, this is the part where I start posting more regularly!

Calm your cheering! I know, I'm excited too. :)

I've been telling many people that the next thing I will post is my mailing address. Here it is:

Chris Morgan

c/o Celas Maya

6a Calle 14-55 Zona 1

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Celas Maya is the language school that I will be attending. Apparently, it's more reliable to send things there rather than to my host family. Also, something to note is that you shouldn't send packages that are more than 6 pounds (cough, cough...;) ) because they won't make it through customs. 

Also, Quetzaltenango is better known as Xela. That's the name i'll be using. Get used to it. :)

Also, here is my current itinerary in case anyone was that interested:

Jan. 3- airplane from Denver to Guatemala City

Jan. 5- Phase 1 begins (Celas Maya, individual spanish instruction, 5 hours/day)

Jan. 16-18- Excursion to Antigua

Feb. 6- Phase 1 ends

Feb. 7-14- Week-long excursion to Coban and Tikal

Feb. 16- Phase 2 begins (5 hrs/wk @ Celas Maya, 2 classes: Liberation Theology & Guatemalan Cosmovisión)

Feb. 27 to Mar. 1- Excursion to San Cristóbal, Mexico

Mar. 19-22- Excursion to Lago de Atitlán

Apr. 3-13- Holy Week (no classes)

May 1- the semester ends

May 2-17- personal travel

May 18- flight to Denver (maybe?)

Enough of the info. I have a few reflections:

Finishing semesters is tough. I know many people have this experience. Elements of the end of my semester included: gobs of papers (zero in-class finals), saying bye (kinda) to people, applying for admission to the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), applying twice to the CSB/SJU external study abroad program, writing and revising a resume and cover letters to apply for a summer job, ABE work, selling enough of my things so that I didn't have to take them home, and packing the rest into my car with the belongings of two other people. 

Part of me doesn't like the continual contest we take part in during the end of the semester to see who has it the toughest. I always catch my self participating in it, and it makes me wonder if that's the best thing we can do to help one another. I've never been good at finishing semesters. Thanks to everyone who helped me. :) 

As for that car ride home to denver, that was quite the experience! I stayed up all night on wednesday night. I started packing my room at midnight, packed my car starting at 3 am, picked up Becca Haas and Kate Westlund by around 5:30, repacked my car in the -10 degree morning, and was on the road at 6:36 am. Then I decided it would be a good idea to drink a rockstar espresso and energy drink. Bad news bears! What a horrible experience that was! I had to stop driving and felt like puking for the morning. Later on, I felt better and we hit this huge storm in Nebraska. Snow, darkness, freezing rain, fog (i think?), white-out, and us immaging crazy things in our tiredness. After 20 hours, we got home safely, and it took me about two days to recover. 

The struggle of the trip home paralleled my struggle to finish this semester. It goes back to my first post as well, but I thought it was fitting to have a tough drive home. It felt good to overcome the obstacles on the way home

Since I've been home, I've appreciated it more than I ever have, and I'm not sure why. I felt the most comfortable when I went to church with my parents. I really love that place. 

I took my brother to work on Monday because his car is broken. I'm glad we're talking more. I know I'll have to have a lot of patience rebuilding that relationship, since we barely talked throughout high school. I want to look up to him and learn from him. 

I met with my priest to see if he could find any donors who would like to sponsor me on my journey. I wrote a letter and attached a detailed budget of about $20,000. Whew! That's how much my year in Africa will cost. I know it's a lot, and I don't expect him to find that much, but I trust that God will provide me with whatever is best. I'll be starting on a number of scholarship applications in the coming days. I'm always doing something...

Last night, I spent some time with my best friend from high school, Paul. I'm really glad we can catch up so quickly. He's a great person, and his family is great! We're going to make some Motorcycle Diaries some day.

I recently got emailed by my host mother in Guatemala, Lily. I was so excited that I got the same host family as Chanti had this past  year. It's comforting to know a little bit of what it will be like. Chanti is pretty incredible as well, and it's good to have something like that to talk with her about. 

So if you're still actually reading all of this, thanks! I know it's a lot. I think I know myself well enough that my posts will always be long, but I'm probably going to put the more meaningful things down here for the people who actually care to read the whole post. Or you could just cheat. Don't feel guilty or anything...

Anyway, I want to begin to explain something about myself that I have a hard time explaining well. The gist of it is that an extraordinary amount of care rests within me for other people. The problem is that I don't know how to give justice to it. I try my best to show it, but most of the time, there aren't ways to express what I want to. Basically, I feel like God has placed a glimmer of His love and care inside of me, and it overflows (obviously...). If I've ever shown love to you or care or anything else good, it has come from this. If anyone has ever experienced anything good in me or from me, it is truly because God has worked through me to make that happen. I know this because when I try to show love and care, it is always insufficient. I continually try to show people the love that I know God has for them. More on this later. I love you all!

Please enjoy your Christmas everyone! You'll find it in the people you're around. Make sure you don't miss it. Keep in touch, you'll hear from me soon!