Here is a video that I just put together after seeing all of my Barcelona videos just lying around without connection on my mac. I tried to feature different aspects of the trip, but I gave you the highlights. So, here ya go, the recap vid almost 2 months later…

[rss feeds, barc recap vid embedded]

Barcelona recap from Kelly on Vimeo.

–I wrote this in Word, when without a wireless signal, while still in Barcelona…

I’m in Barcelona and I think there are a few things that I would like to remember from this trip. Mainly, that I need to take time to reflect, time to just think, and be. The time that I’ve spent in Starbucks, or in Cuitadella park, or downstairs in the hostel have all brought deep thoughts – things that could not have happened if I didn’t take the time to just go, to get away. I wrote this in my journal just today,

I know Lord that a lot of this is about leaving. It’s about discovery and depth, truth and change, light and dark, it’s about patience, dependence, getting over myself. It’s about staying in an unfamiliar place until it becomes familiar. It’s about depth, about giving everything up so I can rediscover it all again. It’s about hiking to the top of a castle hill instead of taking the easy way. It’s about meeting people I never would have met if I had not taken this trip at this moment with these people. It’s less about old buildings and more about new friendships. I’m not sure I would have known much about theses things had I not just done it. Lord I am thankful for these things, the depth of life that exists beyond the commercialism, along the spiritual journey. I am discovering, exploring and I never want to stop. I don’t want to be content with this stuff of this world – or just become something because it’s easy, or there is money in the madness. I don’t want a nicer car, the biggest house, all of these things that don’t really matter. I just want somewhere to call home. Even this jail cell has provided a warm bed, new friendships and undiscovered thoughts.

I’ve journaled a lot since being inside this pocket of western culture. I’ve needed to think, to come away – to avoid the bombardment of things and just read – just think. I’ve been reading Proverbs and I’ve been amazed by their depth, like even a secularist can’t deny the wisdom inside of those 31 chapters.

In the midst of writing this I was finishing my last of the 4 Donald Miller books, Through Painted Deserts. All of this is flavored by his experience and thoughts of driving from Houston to Portland with his friend Paul.  It’s a good read, all of them are. Hard to pick a favorite, they’ve all landed with me at just the right time at different points in life.

I have 100 days left in Slovakia, and really only 63 days left actually IN Slovakia due to my crazy travel schedule over the next few months. Let me give you the run down. Today marks the day before I leave for Spain (I’ll be there till the 26th), 10 days before I leave to go to Hungary for Story of the Soul training. Only 3 and a half more weeks on campus. In about 2 months I leave for Venice, Italy (for a week) then I’ll be back in Slovakia for 2 weeks in June, then we’re off to Serbia for our summer project for a week. Then on June 27th, I fly out. Back to America. I have some crazy emotions about all of this. I’ve learned to live here. I’ve learned how to buy groceries, where to shop, where not to shop, how to get around, how to ask what time it is, how to buy train tickets, how to wash clothes, and how to do ministry. I miss things in America, I miss my friends, my family, I miss my church, mexican restuarants on every corner, the beach, warmer weather, driving, and being able to dry my clothes the same day I wash them. But I’ve grown, I’ve changed, I won’t ever be the same. These lyrics from this Sarah Grove’s song seem to describe how I feel, and how I have felt since I arrived in Slovakia. Here they are:

I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I”ve learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know

If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Next time I write I’ll be in Spain, hopefully with updates and pictures. Pray for warm weather.

Also, Check out the Serbia promo: under serbia summer project it says, “come help change the world”