It's the End of the World As We Know It

This week we said the first of our good-byes. After English class, one of our good friends comes up and says, “I need to say good-bye” and since it was time for everyone to be on their way, I didn’t think much of it. I said bye and before I went back to the conversation that I was immersed in, Martin said, “No… I need to say good-bye; I’m going to the highlands for two months.” We talked for a while and I know that God gave me the peace for the first of what will be many good-byes.

I leave Peru two weeks from tomorrow and my heart is in a bit of turmoil. How do I leave all of these people whom I have grown to love and who loved me from the day I got here? I have family here… I have a younger brother and an aunt and uncle among other “relatives”. I was thinking about how I wish I could stay longer… and I was thinking about how desperately I miss people from home… and I decided that it would be much easier if I didn’t love people so much in one of these places.

The world that has formed around my team and I for the past three months will soon be changing… dramatically. As we prepare to head back to North America and as we prepare to part ways from one another, we are being forced to take only lessons and memories as we leave this season behind. I think REM said it best, “It’s the end of the world as we know it”… but I’m not so sure that I feel fine.