Guatemala 2012!

My dear friends and family,

I have exciting news to share with you all! Decisions have been made!

Since I declared a Spanish major during my first semester here at Greenville, I knew that I was going to have to do a semester abroad. I had thought, at that time, that I wanted to do said semester in Spain. The chance of being able to spend a semester in Europe, going to Barcelona, seeing some of the European soccer teams play, and everything else that Europe entails just seemed like an opportunity I couldn't pass up. For various reasons, I was sure that going in the fall to Sevilla, Spain was clearly the option for me. Once I got over the initial excitement at the prospect of spending a semester in Spain, I began to have doubts. It costs a lot money, it's a long way from home, I'd miss a season of soccer, it costs a lot of money...etc. But I also kept having doubts that maybe this isn't where I was supposed to go. One big issue that I kept trying to push to the back of my mind was that I knew that if I intend to work with the Hispanic population in the United States (which I do) Spain Spanish was not going to be as beneficial as learning Spanish in a Latin or South American country. I tried to justify it in my mind that I would still be learning Spanish, and I would be able to pick up the different feel when I was back in the States. This is probably true. I would still learn Spanish in Spain. And I would probably be able to communicate just fine with people from Latin/South America. But I knew that it would be a completely different Spanish than I would probably be working with in the States. Despite these doubts, I told myself I was excited to go and I started telling everyone that that was my plan (Don't get me wrong. I was excited about going to Spain. There was just this lingering feeling that maybe I should look into different options). I told my coaches that I was going to have to miss my junior year of soccer (something I was willing to do to go to Spain), my parents and I started figuring out financial issues, and when people asked me I told them that I was going to study in Spain. I had it all figured out. So I thought.

As is usually the case, God had a far different plan that anything I could come up with. I had been praying and praying that he would show me for certain if I should go to Spain or not, and there kept being this little thought that No. I was not supposed to go to Spain. But where then, God? Where? And when? (Because I kept finding out things that would need me here in the fall over the spring, classes and such.) Well. I went to talk to my advisor about some scheduling stuff and we started talking about the semester abroad and about the different programs available and the classes being offered in the fall that would be more beneficial than those in the spring...I started to see that spring was obviously going to be a better option than the fall. He also mentioned a semester abroad program in Guatemala that included studying half the semester, and working with Student's International for half. Student's International is the group I went to the Dominican with last January, and as soon as he mentioned this program I started to get excited. I researched the program and began to see that Guatemala was going to be a much better fit for me. I prayed a lot about it, talked to my parents, talked with several good friends, talked with my coaches, prayed some more and decided that the deciding factor would be if my second advisor thought it would work with my second major (which also needs a semester abroad). So I went to talk with her yesterday and she loved it! She was excited about the classes I would get to take, and how the whole program would fit into the International and Cross Cultural Studies major. I didn't need any further conformation!

So, my dear friends and family, I am going to Guatemala. In the spring of 2012. I will be spending half the semester living with a family while I study in Antigua. The studying portion will include intensive language training, cultural classes and history classes. I will also spend half of the semester living and working in a different city with Student's International. I am so excited to be able to spend time serving as well as learning, and this was really the deciding factor. I now get a chance to do something I LOVE while I learn the Spanish language (and a Spanish dialect that I hope will be much more beneficial to whatever I end up doing after college). Since I heard about the Guatemala program I just knew that was where God wanted me, and after praying about it and talking with my advisors, I really feel that God placed this on my heart. I prayed that he would make it obvious to me if this was the right decision, and everything fell right into place! God is so cool! This is going to be an amazing opportunity, and I'm so excited to see how God will use me and how I will be changed as well. I still want to go back to Spain someday, but for now I am sure about this! Guatemala 2012 here I come!! Thanks everyone for your prayers as I made this decision.

PS. The whole time I was thinking about going to Spain I was super terrified of the idea of being in a different country for a whole semester. I kept thinking "I don't speak enough Spanish, I won't know what's going on, I'm not going to like my host family, this scares me, that scares me, etc." But since I heard about Guatemala and made my decision, I haven't felt any of those fears. I'll still be in a different country for the semester, but I'm not scared about it at all! I'm not scared about my speaking abilities, the schooling, the host families, none of it! I think it's because I know this is part of God's plan for my life. He's in control now. Not me. :D YAY!