So I took a long break and we’re just getting back into the swing of things here. It’s been a long time since my previous entry and a lot has gone down. I feel like God has really been leading me during this entire time; he brought me here and he hasn’t let go of my hand since. Things are dynamic here; Christmas was like an explosion of fake trees and barrio houses adorned by multi-colored lights, with firecrackers going off in the streets and stars popping out in the night sky; a most peculiar mixture which, despite- or perhaps precisely because of- it’s strangeness and mystery, cries aloud with the beautiful announcement of the gospel: the night when Christ burst through the canopy of the world and was born into our reality.

I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a place come as alive as the barrio did during the holidays. I mean, people really just let go of their work, point their loudspeakers out into the streets, pull out the wine and apples and party hard. It was a pretty intense experience for me; it just differs so much from how things were in the community I grew up in. I don’t think we could have ever gotten away with such noise pollution and even if there wasn’t snow on the ground, nobody would open their doors and windows and dance wildly both inside and outside of the house, flicking droplets of sweat off their foreheads, spinning and weaving amid a complex and beautiful movement of joy.

I admit I used to think that Latin music was totally cheesy, but that was before I saw it in action- before I saw dozens of people smiling and laughing and flowing to the beat. I’ve fallen in love with it. I think that’s the trick with entering new cultures: come as a learner, and seek to embrace the magnificence and the newfound truth of the environment, bonding and belonging and growing alongside friends. Whenever Antonio (the father at my house) is bored, he’ll pull out his accordion and start playing Merengue, singing gleefully and without regard, in a sort of blessed self-forgetfulness. I’ve learned to do the same.

With all the fiery force and grandiose of New Years, I feel like things have just wound down, and inevitably so. I don’t know how many more nights I could have gone on caroling until five in the morning, banging on drums and shaking maracas and raising my voice to join the cacophony, shifting blissfully from house to house and waiting until they stuck twenty or fifty peso bills out their Persian windows.

This week has been about remembering all the tasks I left back on the 22^nd of December, that are still waiting for me here. I have loads of stories to write, communication to catch up on, and photo-shoots to organize. Yes, my agenda is very full. But it’s a new year and I’ve got a new schedule and new priorities: foremost, growing to love God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind. I want to be able to say that Jesus is my best friend, and mean it. This, I recognize, is a lifelong journey, but I praise God for how he has already revealed his glory to me and welcomed me into an unimaginably fulfilling relationship with him, all triggered by grace. I didn’t deserve any of this- in fact, that was never the point. Jesus is the point.