Joy in the Journey

And what a journey it has been so far!

I left Provo early Monday morning and flew out of Salt Lake Airport at 9:35 a.m. to Atlanta Georgia. I was finally able to board the plane at 5:50 p.m. to Madrid after a three hour layover in Atlanta. (It still didn’t all seem real to me that I was leaving the country at this point.) We were scheduled for take-off at 6:40 p.m. Around 7:00 p.m. one of the flight attendants asked me for my boarding pass. At 7:10 p.m. I was in tears watching the plane take off without me.

I’m still not quite sure how it all happened, but there was a mistake because my seat had been duplicated and the plane was completely full. They gave me a nice hotel room and rebooked my flight for the following day. And the best part is that I had been moved up to first class! I’ll admit that I had a mental and emotional breakdown initially, but the tender mercies from the Lord outweighed the confusion, the frustration, and pretty much the whole inconvenience.

The first tender mercy was when I recognized another student, Kami, who was flying with me to Atlanta and then to Madrid. The second and third tender mercies were sitting by some of the very nicest people on my way to Atlanta and to Madrid. That’s a whole other blog post on it’s own.

Another blessing was the Bible in my hotel room. Never before had I been more grateful to see a bible in a hotel room! Of course I had Internet access to the scriptures online, but the sight of that bible was comforting and the reminder I needed to gain perspective on my dilemma.

Once again I knew that the Lord was watching out for me because I happened to open to the book of Esther in the Bible. In my English 350: The Bible as Literature class this past semester we able to study this book along with other women in the Bible such as Ruth. I gained a great love for these women of faith and great courage. I cannot begin to compare myself to Esther, but I had hope that I could face my fears of insecurity for the rest of my trip and study abroad.

A phrase I heard many times while travelling with my mother and grandmother in Pennsylvania and Delaware popped into my head as I was waiting for my shuttle to the hotel. It was, “We are not lost, we’re just on an adventure!” This was a tender mercy as I tried to assume the twinkling smile and hearty chuckle, which came with this genuine attitude and character of my dear grandma.

I found bits of joy at the airport while watching children play and talking to other people waiting in lines. Boy are there some very interesting people in this world!

While in Atlanta I saw part of the season premiere of “True Beauty,” which helped me to embrace my natural, inner beauty the following morning when I found myself with no luggage, including all my clothes, toiletries, and yes, makeup.

Many have asked me why I decided to go to Madrid for a study abroad. At first I wondered myself why I would choose to put literally my entire life savings into this and add another semester onto my education. Why? Well, um… I’ve always wanted to do a study abroad, it will help me to learn Spanish better, and because it counts toward my minor. These answers never seemed sufficient, they never got at the main reason I came on this adventure. When I began to make my resolutions for the New Year, I felt that this year would be one of much growth and learning. To learn and to grow. Those are my goals for my time in Spain. When I was taken off the plane, it was like the Spirit said to me, “You wanted to learn and grow? Well, here is your first challenge.”

When I left my application interview for the program I said something quite unexpected to Dr. Brown, our program director. It was, “I think this will probably change my life in many small ways.” Many of you know that I have the most extraordinary talent for saying some pretty cheesy, lame, and absolutely foolish things sometimes. This was one of those times. However, now that I look back on what I said, maybe it wasn’t such a stupid thing to say. For one thing, it was truth, because I feel a change already.

(I wish I could add my photos to this post, but it seems like Blogger is acting up. I will try again tomorrow as well as posting more about my arrival and introduction to Spain.)