Culture Shock and Coffee

Hello again!

Okay. So let me just tell you. Culture shock is a real thing.

I definitely experienced it on Wednesday after arriving here, and it isn't fun at all. Not gonna lie, I was a mess Wednesday night. I was missing my family like crazy, and I hadn't asked enough questions before coming down here, so my expectations were not reality.

I had made assumptions about so many things, and I wasn't prepared for what was actually in store.

I almost wasn't going to share this part with you because, honestly, I was feeling ashamed and embarrassed that I was feeling the way I was. I wanted to go home and was feeling alone, and was totally unprepared for those emotions.

I expected to be excited the whole time I was here and ready to take on the world! When that wasn't the case I started to freak out. (Surprise surprise right?)

But that's where God's timing and goodness comes in again.

Thursday morning I woke up rested but still feeling really apprehensive about pretty much everything. After doing everything I could think of to cheer myself up and get my mind off of feeling alone, I decided to get in the Word.

Clearly that should have been my first step, but at the time I was ready to have my pity party.

The first couple sentences of my devotion in Jesus Calling that day was "Welcome challenging times as opportunities to trust me. You have me beside you, and My Spirit within you, so no set of circumstances is too much for you to handle."

Definitely an "Okay, Lord, I know you're trying to tell me something here" moment.

Thursday was so much better after that. I went shopping with the Yañez family, who are the sweet people I am staying with on this trip, helped their oldest daughter Dayanis and her friend with their English homework, ate some Panamanian food (which is fantastic by the way), and spent my free time taking a siesta. Yeah, I'm really liking those.

Friday was even better as I was getting more and more used to the culture and heat. I also started the day with the Lord and Panamanian coffee. It's probably the best coffee I've had.

No really though, I can drink it black...and I don't do that. And they drink it 24/7 here which is great.

Okay, coffee rant over for now.

I spent the day with Dayanis enjoying the sun and frozen pineapple juice, and in the evening we went and watched a movie in Spanish. I'm proud to say I understood what was going on the whole time!

Here's where God's timing comes back into play yet again.

Shelly, the other person who is teaching English here, was supposed to get here (to Santiago) around 11ish Friday night. But, there was traffic coming out of Panama City, so I went to bed before she got here.

Saturday morning when we met, she was in the same sad shape I had been in Wednesday night. We were able to talk it out, and because I had literally just been through the same thing, I was able to assure her things would, in fact, get better.

But we also talked about all the reasons why we wanted to go home, and gave ourselves a small pity party.

Saturday night Bro. Cristobal gave a bible study that was all about not making excuses, but to just do what God calls you to do. It's amazing to think that of all the people on the world, he called Shelly and me to come here for this month.

Can you say humbling?

Saturday night I felt like we really bonded with the Yañez family over dinner. We laughed a lot and talked a lot (in Spanish), and it was a great way to end the day.

It's taken us a few days, but on Sunday afternoon as we were sitting outside enjoying the rain and some coffee, we were (and are still) so happy to be here and excited to do what God called us to do.

Since then, class has started and so many things have happened that I could go on for way too long. But, I'll update y'all on what else God has done next time!

Oh! And I promise I will post pictures too!

Hasta Luego!