Last year, I declared a moritorium on two things:  taking classes and travelling to sing.  And it served me well…I needed to sit and listen.  From that decision to basically stand still, a lot of good things came…I heard more clearly the call of God in my life, I was baptized, I was licensed, I made a CD, and I calmed down enough that I started to, finally, sing pretty well.

And once all that happened, I was feeling pretty good and pretty grounded — so I immediately went back to taking classes and travelling to sing. 

By the time I had finished my class in Music and Social Justice, and had worked myself into a time crunch that left me less than the time I thought I needed to prepare for this singing adventure, I was pretty much in a panic and thinking that I had just fallen into old patterns and I was about to get in trouble again.

I spent much of Sunday worried that I had made a mistake — that I was just doing what I had always done.

Oh, so not so.  This trip has not been a mistake.

In this one week, I have become more comfortable with the Spanish language.  I could survive on a day-to-day basis if I had to do so; with more study I will be better than that.

In this one week, I have learned that all the hard work I have done on my voice has paid off;  I actually can sing.

In this one week, I have learned that my Spanish diction is not bad, particularly for someone who has only been working on it for a month.

In this one week, I have learned that my fears that my voice was too big to sing with guitar are unfounded.

And, in this one week, I have been introduced to a whole world of beautiful music that I never knew existed.

With deepest gratitude, I thank all those who made this week possible. 

And, I can’t wait to get home.