contrast

There's a big difference between life in Copan Ruinas, Honduras and life in Philadelphia, PA. I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for a while, but adjustments are never without their challenges.

Here, instead of battling with landlords about moldy bathrooms, the whole town battles with day-long power outages after storms so the electrical company can fix the lines (apparently this happens once a week). Instead of learning local highways and street names, here I'm learning the locations and main points of reference to be able to follow people's directions to a new place. In Philly, your water gets turned off when your landlord decides not to pay the bill, here, the water comes and goes without warning, having nothing to do with whether or not you paid, but more the whims of those in charge of the water. The contrast is stark, but anticipated, which makes it easier.

I've hit the ground running with the UPH team and will be working on a pretty steep learning curve as I prepare for two bilingual camps set to run in July. I'm excited to be here and the team of UPH staff and volunteers is a great, God-seeking, people-loving group. They know what it is to work, live, and play in community, not being perfect, but working things out in love. I know that being a part of this group will force me to grow in a million areas.

In an effort to keep posts consistent and short, I will give you more details about life and work in Copan Ruinas another week. :)