Tomorrow we head to Colombia, after spending this past week in Nicaragua doing an orientation with MCC staff. I'm enjoying getting to know the others on the team: Juan, Carolina, and Cellia from Colombia, Leonel from Mexico, Anna from Canada, Daniela from Peru, and Erica, Larisa, and Jess from the US. Jess and Larisa I've been friends with through college at Eastern Mennonite University, and I've been glad for their friendship and familiar presence this week. I've also felt immediately comfortable with the others despite a language barrier at times. I am, however, a bit impatient to get to the point where I can converse easily in Spanish.

During orientation this past week we've focused a lot on MCC's mission, organization, and culture, while also visiting MCC projects in Nicaragua. Hearing and seeing what MCC does was helpful to me as I consider the full context of my service term. We had a devotional the other day that further put things in perspective, that talked about how we make decisions for what to do with our lives and figure out how best to live Jesus' command to love one another using the gifts and resources we've been given. We first try to imagine the world as we want it to be, then figure out how to act on our vision to try and fulfill our calling. In the part of Colombia where I'll be working, I see communities that have been displaced and fragmented due to violent conflict eventually returning to sustainable economy and healthy community. I think the Seed program is an effective means of realizing that vision for the people there. I'm glad for the opportunity to help be part of a solution, realizing that this work is being done on faith and may not have clear, tangible results.