The First Post...in two pieces.

Well...if the beginning of this blog is any indication of how it is going to go, I apologize! Below you will find the first half of my first post, started over 3 weeks ago...then I'll finish the thought where I am now, about to jump on a plane to orientation!!!

(First Half)
So I had my first dream about Ecuador, and subsequently felt like this would be an appropriate time to make my first blog post!!

So, first of all, the purpose of this blog is to help chronicle my experience working as a year-long volunteer with Rostro de Cristo (Face of Christ) in Duran, Ecuador this coming year and share it with family and friends back home. My departure for orientation is a short 3.5 weeks away (July 17th)! (insert excited/nervous sound here lol)

I want to preface this blog and year with a disclaimer: if you are looking for a happy-go-lucky, everything is just peachy depiction of the next year of my life, don't expect to find it here (request a personal email and I'll see what I can do). I am committed to making this as real as possible. So when things are amazing and wonderful, I'll let you know. But if I'm struggling with homesickness or the fact that I can't communicate at my placement well, or the poverty is overwhelming, I'm not going to hide that.
Along with that disclaimer is one about regularity and consistency. I will do my absolute best to update this site often but once I am in Ecuador, my internet access will be variable.

To bring everyone up to speed and explain the title of this blog:
After speaking with lots of physicians, thinking and praying for a long time about what I would do after graduation, I was led to year-long volunteer programs. With the intention of applying to medical school during the next year, I primarily researched domestic (state-side) programs. However, God had a different plan than I did (imagine that!) and continued to put RdC in front of me. I argued...repeatedly reminding Him that A) Ecuador is a LONG way from home and B) I was on a track & med school interviews couldn't take place while I was in Ecuador, so that obviously wasn't where He wanted me. Yet, He wouldn't freaken let it go! So I finally begrudgingly applied, and through the application process I grew to love what RdC is all about about and wanted to know more about Duran and the Ecuadorian people. At this point, I was so sold that I told God if He didn't want me there, He couldn't let me get a spot ;) Thankfully, after interviews I was offered a spot in their program!

2nd half...From today...at 5am, the day of my flight
So here I sit on my bedroom floor, piles and boxes around me, no sheets on my bed and very bare walls surrounding me and I am unable to come up with a feeling. Anxious? Excited? Nervous? Content? ...or none/all of the above? I couldn't tell you. I know that I'm not remotely tired and my stomach and throat feel a little funny...and there it is. Fear. Of being unprepared, leaving my friends and family, leaping into this journey that I never pictured myself on.
So that's why I chose to title the blog "Leap of Faith". I believe it was, is and will be incredibly applicable to how I got here and this experience, this blessing of a year of service in Ecuador.

I ask for prayers for myself and the other 2011-2012 RdC volunteers as we leave our homes and head to Boston for orientation and also for the current volunteers in Ecuador as they are saying their own goodbyes in preparation for their return to the states. Hopefully I'll have an update for you again soon!

Paz y Amor,
Madison