Why I like Writing

I used to hate writing. Essay-writing was the task I dreaded, procrastinated, loathed. But that changed when I started taking more writing classes. Writing an essay almost every week forced me to come to terms with this enemy, and in turn I began to hate it less and love it more. Writing has become so much easier, and even pleasant. The words flow out of my fingers so fluidly, and, even when I have trouble conveying my thoughts as words on paper, I am able to write down something, at least. It is so fulfilling to put down accurately exactly what I am thinking or feeling. I have begun to journal more. I’m not sure why, but now that I can write and have experienced how wonderful it is to be able to write down your exact thoughts elegantly, I feel as if I simply must write what I’m thinking. It doesn’t matter if a task is interrupted or if it is at twelve o’clock at night, but when a new thought or feeling comes to me, I am propelled by an outside force to write, write, write. Sometimes, the only way I can sort out my thoughts clearly is if I write them down. Then, I read them to discover what I think. It seems more logical that a person would have to think through something before he writes it down, but many times I do not really know what I think until it is written and I can read it. Writing is almost a journey, a pathway to truth. Having to explain a thought or feeling in a way that is comprehensible forces a person to mull over it, turn the thought in his mind over, and over, and over, until his exact ideas are pinpointed. No matter how hard I think through something, the thought is never truly cemented in my mind until it is translated into inky marks on a sheet of paper. Not only can writing convey an idea, but it can also create an effect, and that is why it is so wonderful. Sometimes I like a soothing effect, using repetition, alliteration, sounds that sound nice. I want my writing to seem dreamy and otherworldly. I want my sentences to sound sweet, leaving readers with the desire to reread them and swish them around in their ears a while, to leave a nice taste in their mouths.

Guatemala - A Brief Overview...

I know it’s been a month since I came back from Guatemala and I haven’t said anything about it yet, but better late than never, right? It was such an exciting trip I couldn’t decide what to write about it. First of all, I am so happy that I went on the trip. It was the first time I had gone out of the country, and the first time I had flown, and I was very nervous about it. But once we got through the airport and were on the plane, any nervousness was completely dissipated and I couldn’t wait to get there. The entire week was, in a word, amazing.

On the bus ride to the home, we passed by many, many little dirt streets cluttered with crowded houses, if they could even be called houses. In the streets little children were always playing and dogs, goats, chickens and the occasional cow wandered at will.

We spent a lot of time with the kids, getting to know them, playing with them. The girls love playing jump rope! It was always fun to see how many girls they could get to jump at one time, or how fast they could go. “Rapido! Rapido!” The kids also love soccer—they play it all the time, and even the little boys are insanely good. And the little chiquitos are precious. I loved playing with them on the swings and in the playground.

While we were there, we worked on a couple different projects, including painting the little boys’ house. It went really well, and we got it almost all finished before we ran out of paint.

One thing I took away was a finer sense of just how great God is. As I was sitting in church on Sunday morning, even though I couldn’t understand all of the words to the songs we sang or all of the sermon and the prayers that were said, it was still worship. It is one thing to read in your Bible that Christ “purchased for God with [His] blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,” (Rev. 5:9) but it is different to experience the vastness of God’s reach first hand.

To see and hear the Guatemalan children singing to God was so encouraging. “Santo, santo, santo/Santo, santo, santo/Yo quiero verte.” They were singing to, learning about, and worshipping the same God that I sing to, learn about, worship. It showed me God’s greatness and omnipotence in that His power, His love, extend to all corners of the globe, to all people, everywhere. Going to Guatemala and witnessing how expansive the number of His children is only makes Him seem greater, more magnificent, more powerful, more perfect. We really do serve a mighty God!