¡Me Hallo! - I've Found Myself! - WE'VE Found OURSELVES!

Way back during my REACH time in Ecuador in 1997 I remember learning the Spanish phrase "me hallo" from my host uncle Tío Humberto. He was asking me about how my time was going and how I felt about being in Ecuador, eating the food and learning Spanish. I told him I liked it and it was going well. He said ¿Te hallas? I didn't know exactly what he meant and I needed to look it up in my dictionary back then. But when I found it, I agreed. ¡Me hallo! I had found myself, I fit in, I belonged there. That's the way I felt back then, after being in Ecuador for several months and that's what I'm looking forward to about going there again.

That's also how we feel where we are here in Houghton, New York at PFO.

 PFO is dedicated to teachers and their families going all around the world to international schools. So far we've met teachers going to Ecuador, Suriname, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China, Taiwan, Germany, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda. It is amazing! WE BELONG! All of these people are passionate about Jesus and passionate about teaching kids from all over the world! We've loved every minute.

We moved in on Sunday and will be here until next Friday, almost two weeks. At first, I didn't want to do this because of how much time it takes, but Naty insisted and now I agree. This is so worth it. 

 All the classes are on the campus of Houghton College. I'd never heard of it before, but it's a great place...

in rural western New York. I've loved biking and running here in the evenings. Great for soul care!

We've had classes every morning and afternoon with topics such as: serving with humility, understanding culture, TCKs Third Culture Kids, the TRANSITION experience, cultural differences, personal differences and professional strategies. We also have mentoring/advising times with the recruitment coordinator from our school.  

Gaby and Marcus have also had classes about their identity and preparing to move to other cultures. They are also making friends with other kids moving or already living all around the world. The kids with them in this picture are also moving to Quito and their flight date is the same as ours, July 25!

It has been so good to see them making new friends and enjoying this time too.

We definitely feel at home with these folks and more and MORE convinced that we are going exactly where we need to go.