It won't be long now!

It just arrived -- the e-mail from South America, confirming my arrival date and time and giving me instructions on how to negotiate the airport, which car service to use, and the name of my Argentine host and her address. Attached was confirmation that my bill is paid in full, along with a map of the location for the campus in Buenos Aires. In the e-mail were also directions from my host's apartment to the subway, and from the subway to the school. The note ended with a reminded that my placement exam will be at 8 a.m. on Monday, January 15th, with classes to follow at 9 a.m. Ohmygoodness... after months and months of planning and dreaming about this day, things have suddenly become very real. This is going to happen, and soon!

It occurs to me that I should post the itinerary of my sabbatical.
December 25-31: vacation days in Knoxville and Ann Arbor
January 1-2: final preparations for travel
January 3-10: visit friends in Albuquerque, New Mexico
January 10-13: visit my father in Denton, Texas
January 14-February 3: Buenos Aires, Argentina
February 3-24: Santiago, Chile
February 25-March 18: Quito, Ecuador
March 19-22: visit my father in Denton, Texas
March 23-27: San Diego and San Francisco, California
(Amtrak "Coast Starlight" from SD to SF on March 26)
March 28-30: Amtrak "California Zephyr" and "Wolverine" home to Michigan
March 31: unpack!

There are still a few things to be done before I leave, but the list continues to shorten by the day. Most important on the list is to enjoy the final few hours of my father's visit. He arrived in Michigan on December 20th, so we've had ten days together. What a blessing! He returns home tonight (New Year's Eve!) on a plane bound for north Texas.

I was especially pleased that he was here for my congregation's "blessing and send-off" in worship on December 24th. During the service of worship, words were spoken to remind me and the congregation of the import of this sabbatical -- the need and opportunity for rest and renewal, the blessing and challenges of language and cultural immersion, the joy of experiencing a new continent in a different hemisphere. Heather Branton was the speaker, and I can hardly do justice to her inspired and inspiring words -- in both English and Spanish! Then I was asked to kneel in the center aisle, and the entire congregation either laid hands upon me or touched a person whose hands were on me. Then Heather offered a prayer of blessing. It was a deeply moving moment for me, as I trust it was for the congregation.

That was my last Sunday prior to sabbatical. Being Christmas Eve, we also had two services in the evening, so it was a very busy Sunday! And also a Sunday of countless blessings, and a grand way of bringing to a close my work prior to sabbatical. I leave buoyed by the joys of that day, and uplifted by the love and care of a congregation I cherish very deeply.

It is truly a blessing as I prepare to leave this place I call home to know that I will be happy to return here when my journey is completed.

Grace and peace, and Happy New Year!

-- Bill