twenty-eight

That's right--twenty-eight days left until I head for home, and part of me wishes that I didn't have to leave. Since I've gone home twice during the past eight and a half months, I don't think it will be hard for me to adjust back to normal life. Instead, I think the hardest thing will be closing a chapter in my life that will never be opened again. I want to come back to visit someday, but it will never be the same as living here.

Two weekends ago we SMs experienced the privilege of spending the night at someone else's house! It was lots of fun. The owner of the house is named Glen (and I can't pronounce or spell his last name). He works with the U.S. Embassy and is a member of a church in San Salvador that we had visited once before. We brought the ingredients for haystacks for supper and pancakes for breakfast, but when we got up on Sunday morning, we found out that the cook was already making pancakes for us and Glen had bought juice, milk, cereal, and doughnuts for us. We were quite surprised and blown away by his generosity and kindness.

Last Wednesday Mandy and Ian left. I cried. They are the first of the long-term SMs to leave. The kids put on a special program for us the night before they left. It was a funny program, and it was touching to see how much work they'd put into it. It also got the kids thinking about when the rest of the SMs were going to leave. The next day many kids asked me when I was leaving, and when I told them June 1st, they would say "Ay no," pout, and tell me not to leave. A few days later, I read an e-mail from Michael Moore, a student missionary currently serving in Majuro. In his letter, he said that he had decided to stay where he was for another year. Something clicked inside my head, and I realized that yes, sometimes people do stay out as an SM for two years. Ian did it. I shouldn't think that such a thing is impossible. So there are times now when I flirt with the idea of staying another year, but for me, it's really not an option. Deep down, I know that even though I don't always want to leave this place, I have so much that I'm looking forward to when I return home. It's time for me to move on.

I've just started working on my class schedule for next year and I'm really excited. Part of it is that I love making schedules and trying to make everything fit together. Another part of it is that I'm excited just to get back into the classroom and learn stuff. I'm also really looking forward to working at Big Lake again this summer. I'll be a counselor again, and I think I've learned quite a few things here that can help me do my job better there. It's going to be awesome.