So here we are… the 30 day countdown to our tropical adventure has begun!
And let me tell you right now, I have never felt less prepared. Sure we have purchased countless items on our packing list, endured yellow fever vaccinations –that took forever, stung, and bruised for a week-, and recently acquired the Lonely Planet Panama… But in all honestly it is simply ludicrous to think that in a months’ time we will be leaving on a jet plane to paradise. I may be mentally ready for this new experience but physically and emotionally there is still much to do.
As Megan and I sat in our dorm room on the eve of our 30 day countdown, we found ourselves enjoying The Lorax –A movie about overcoming the evils of consumerism in cartoon form? Trust me, many tears were shed!- and writing our CVs for our research permits in Bocas. We recently found out that we will be staying in a different research facility than we originally anticipated, and to be quite honest it is beautiful! (Here is a link to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BocasResearchStation) So this new facility is sponsored by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and they are apparently very thorough about who researches under their name. So with only two days notice before it was due we sat down to write our own personal CV. Now I don’t know about you but I definitely had to Google that one 🙂 For those of you as unintelligent as I am, a CV stands for “curriculum vitae” and it is basically a glorified resume. You may have thought to yourself that we could have just copied and pasted our resumes given our unfortunate short notice but did I also mention that it needed to be written IN SPANISH? Needless to say Megan and I both found out the hard way that this semester is going to be tough. Our Spanish sucks. Or at least mine does… Great… like I said before, ONE MORE THING I feel unprepared about.
But you know what I realized as I sat in the hallway late last night writing this up? That no matter what happens in the next month; I fervently believe that this trip of discovery is all a part of God’s precious plan for my life. And even though I feel stuck in a rut in this place between preparing and proceeding if I just keep in mind the reason why I chose this place as my adventure, I will persevere. This opportunity means so much to me and when I chose Panama out of the vast amount of doors in front of me I felt such a peace that it was the right one. God had a freaking flashing neon sign saying “Pick Me” over it! –Not really but if anyone wants to hear the actual story of hearing God’s booming voice in my life, please do not hesitate to ask 🙂
All in all, the only words to describe my emotions right now are anxiously –typical- and ardently waiting for this beautiful wonder God has specifically planned out for me. And I can’t begin to describe feeling any more ready to partake in that!
Viviendo la vida día a día!
-L
Photo cred: Ellen Reid, SFS
Take Me Down to the Panama City... 