I've always thought I adapted (somewhat) well to change. Tuesday, however, proved me wrong. When it finally came down to it, I was a wreck leaving Dallas. A little shaken as I said goodbye to my mom, I walked through the security line at DFW (yes, I opted out of the 5 hour drive & spent Monday night shoving things into 2 suitcases) a TSA officer took my larger carry on to inspect. He asked about my excess of luggage and as the words "I'm moving" came out I started to cry. My pledge sisters can all attest to the fact that I am a crier when I get nervous or stressed. "Do you want to move?" he asked. "Oh yeah, I'm really excited" I tried to assure him, but I have a feeling that through the tears I wasn't all that convincing because suddenly the TSA officer was trying to reassure me as he was digging through my makeup bag looking for liquids. I repacked my bag & as I left he wished me good luck & tried again to reassure me that San Antonio would be great. I was scared. When I stopped to think about it, I had never moved to a place where I didn't know anyone. I was so nervous about everything.
Needless to say, my nerves have been calmed & I am so excited about this next year. Since Tuesday, my roommate & fellow volunteer, Kate, and I have spent our time getting to know each other as well as the director & assistant director of our program in San Antonio, Hugo & Katy, as well as Hugo's family, and the city, our host congregation for the year, and our specific work sites. I start work on Monday, but before that Kate & I are going to a camp outside of San Antonio with our congregation.
It has been so great to see the excitement of everyone here that we will be working with. Yesterday we had lunch and dinner with different members of the congregation and were shown around a few of San Antonio's missions & even visited "the tracks" (haunted train tracks...feel free to ask, it was quite an experience).
I feel like I should explain my program for a second because it can be confusing. The site in San Antonio is referred to in several ways, DOOR/Dwell/YAV. DOOR and Dwell are programs (short-term and long-term, respectively) that are partnerships between the Mennonite Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a few others. The YAVs at several of the national sites are also a part of the DOOR/Dwell program. As a result of this, Kate & I live close to where the Mennonite volunteers live & are in community with them as well.
Anyways, all of this has been so reassuring to me. I should know that I should always put my faith in God to take care of me, however, as a human being, I am prone to worry. I have to go for now so I can pack for the weekend, but I ask that you keep all the volunteers in San Antonio and around the world in your prayers & all of us in San Antonio especially as the Mennonite volunteers are arriving this week & we make it back and forth to camp alright & start our work next week.
Through all the excitement this week, Jeremiah 29:11 again keeps running through my head. How silly of me to ignore the reassurances in front of me all along...
Peace,
Jenna
