and so we'll make the trip

http://www.reelwavs.com/movies/shawshank_redemption/hlfreeman.wav

back and there

So....back in the states.....I keep trying to think what its like, being home I mean...I keep getting nothing....What compares to the bitter-sweet feeling of leaving the arms of a people that never asked questions?, I got there and I just was-FAMILY- Kind of like the kingdom<-from there arms to my family's, who also never asked questions,or expected, we just were, we just are......I try to console myself by saying that I am still just a boy and that I wont always want to whole world.......will I?....
Went to the beach a couple days ago with the Family....There was this hispanic (Maxican for those of us below the Mason-Dixon)....and he was cutting kudzu all day everyday, and on the third day, after working as hard as you would expect for three days solid, he found this old beat-up kite, tied it to a big clump of grass and bathed in the glorious site of his real work flying high as a kite(play on that as long as you like)
He looked up at me on my balcony, almost wanting my approval, if i thought too that in the midst of it all we have to fly kites, lots and lots of kites.....I told him "bien hecho"(good work), and he smiled the most genuine smile to date, and kept it for quite some time.....
Then I took a drive and said goodbye to some things....mostly memories that I guess I thought I could re-live, thinking they may just come around again....And the problem is that even if I could have everything as it was, same room, same folks, same mountains, same love.....I wouldn't take it, everything is so different, everyone is so different, and although the beauty of it all remains......it just doesn't seem enough....
Sometimes it just seems to be me and The Trapeze Swinger turning the last 21 years into folklore that Twain himself wouldn't swallow...
And so it seems that in this moment of acceptance, something begins that will try its best to keep up with the 30 foot giants I mountain biked with, the boys that knew over 200 instruments(some yet to be actually invented), the mountains that knew my name, and even said it every once in a while, my friend with a beard so long he swept the floor with it, the time it snowed 30 feet and school wasn't even canceled, my dog that let me ride him to school(and back).

And I just don't know if that something will pull it off. In fact I am quite sure it wont.

But i'll take it with dirty feet and a smile.

See you soon.

Mike Christmas

seguro, well i am not sure

pictures include, sofia´s birthday, the downfall of my hair and beard, last day of class, and our last outing with our teachers

not sure what to say really- Maybe- if i had the choose to come again would I? not sure
and the thing is, is that if you are actually reading this, we have probably already had this conversation.....

From Flores to San Juan Del Sur I have seen life- the people and the invisible struggle of the indigenous- but to quote Teejay,¨their´s is not a struggle ignored, nor endured.¨ Quite a shame that this struggle has not affect on America, then perhaps we might see a bit on CNN from time to time. From Chiapas where Subcommandante Marcos continues the zapatista revolution of words and truth, to the traces of illegal arms deals from ours truly, remnants of those arms in the hands of the Contras against Sandistas in Nicaragua, to taxi drivers and their stories of abduction........Guns, words, and corruption.....all in the name of for or against communism and power...United Fruit Company what? But yet there is no doubt, you can see Jesus, the spirit of the Godman who endured, you can see his eyes in the people, and i often covet those who have them, wishing that i was able to endure as they do, anything to know more of what i pretend i have figured out........GRACE, and the unconditional love of a man that i just dont understand.

It truly is a beautiful thing right now- in what is going on in Africa cavaliered by the likes of Bono, Invisible Children, and Rich Stearns......But people endure, invisible, everyday. From the jungles of Burma to the farmers in Columba Guatemala- their land taken from them, branded communist for simply sharing food with one another.

It would be so beautiful if any of these words i have wrote in any of these blogs had a solution or even a point some times.....

And so i will leave this place sunday.....bus up through Chiapas and on to Tulum, then home via plan from the yucatan on thursday.....thus ending my bath in people that refuse to face anything, thus bathing myself and anyone else around, in alcohol and misery, refusing to speak of the fact that our problems will become us if we continue to neglect them via buzz......but what have you, maybe i have cultivated a little more patience, though these sharp words might say otherwise.

Dont know if i am ready for SUVs again....dont know if i ever was, dont know if i have ever felt a part of mainstream Gainesville........Gracias a Dios

But what have you, maybe i will pull a Thoreau and become a mountain recluse, then a Donald Miller when i move back in with people after i have realized i am doing nothing......College is back up in the air due in part to mail, and the absense of sending in a deposit, due in part for living in Guatemala when those letters arrived.....who knows, maybe the Burg is calling my name......Blue Ridge where are you?

So perhaps we will talk soon, i have missed you so, dont forget that
Goodbyes here for now, but as Che said,¨the moments of goodbye, always cold, always less than you expected when you find yourself unable to externalize an inner feeling.¨

p.s. palabras y sentamientos, continuare. ojala que tu puedas realizar que mis palabras son de mi corazon. lo prometo. habria vivido aqui por siempre, si tu hubieras venido conmigo.......entonces, siempre recuerda y dime cuando yo olvido, por que es serguro...... TE AMO

For Matthew

So the word is on the street, Terrorists(apparently those that can appear to be Mexican), have tried crossing the border into the States, from Mexico, with that in mind, and with the fact that i will be getting into the states the same way, i figured i´d cross like this(refer to picture above).........The caption which is not there simply says.......
..............................Whaaaaaaat??........

Upon telling Matt this he insisted upon a picture.....so Matt.....this is for you.

ojala que uds. tegan un buen noche, y recuerda......esperanza es una cosa buena, possible el mejor

Miguel

so apparently, Christy took this picture at my darkest(which would be a mixture of fluid out of any place possible for two days)
the bottle i am embracing as if my first born? Why of course! The guatemalan version of pepto bismol....But like ole Baylor always said,"if it wasn't this it would be something else"(if you know that quote i am uber proud)
What am i getting sick of? well if you are asking......defending.....in general...

Christianity
America
living in Guatemala

but since my time is limited, i will just touch on America, especially considering i should probably stop trying to defend Jesus, I dont think he needs my help as much as he wants my life.

America?
Apparently, if you are from Europe, history has been erased....You know the holocaust? gone
The fact that the entire rwandan genocide could be placed on the shoulders of the UN and Belgium? gone
The French occupation of Algeria ending in bloodshed? gone
(to name a few)
What are you talking about miguel?
All I hear is how horrible the ole U.S. of A is.
Now> do i agree with the War?NO.
Our history in central America(United Fruit Company, CIA backed Coup)?NO.
The fact that Pro Choice Everything on Demand is slowly corrupting any sense of responsibilty for our youth?NO.

But thats not my America......mine has hospitality, great food, mountains, and People...beautiful, loving people.

And as far as the powers that be? I would simply say that they are all right(Europe and all those that think i was dying to hear you recite last nights World CNN highlights) . We are no better than you. Just no different. No worse

(that soapbox was pretty sketch, i'm glad to be off it)

But life is so beautiful......I mean that

Me and Christy will be busing it home through Mexico May 26. I must say that as bitter sweet as it will be, im not dredding it.

I read through the easter story in all 4 Gospels and it was Good. Dazzingly Good

Miguel
(cuando yo regresso, tu y yo....si! Tu! vamos a comer comida, mucho mucho comida. por que entre tu y yo, yo estoy um poco enformo de este comida)

Acycleworthgettingover

Do i only choose to put myself down to watch you do the same?
And if you do, what have we done?
What is new?
Our conscience perhaps?
Or are we worse off then before? Prideful of our ability to admit and repent.
(Not like those righteous ones we always hear screaming from stage)
(¨We´re different¨)
(or are we?)
Perhaps I tell you I like attention?
Do I mean it?
Or do I just want you to parade my humbleness?
Am I just wanting attention again?

Seems to be an exhausting cycle

Perhaps we will come to the point that our shortcomings are embraced just long enough to think and thank for Grace....

he visto algo nueva, teejay tambien

does in and out of 4 countries in 6 days sound as beautiful to you as it does to me? the jist of it was this.
playa el zonte el salvador on sunday and monday
monday night we made friends with a security guard in san salvador, so we slept on the sidewalk next to him until 3 a.m. then we left for managua nicaragua, then granada, and stayed at the bearded monkey hostel and such a lovely experience...meeting people such as a southern hippie from Boone N.C. and our new great friend oscar from jersey...oscar spoke in a such a way of the Gospel....i dont know...i might not have ever heard someone speak so passionatly about the Gospel, wanting to know more of it, or drop so many F-bombs. Direct quote. *i mean this guy(Jesus) was getting nailed to the Cross and forgiving the Fuckers as they did it, thats crazy!*
then on to san juan del sur, about thirty minutes from costa rica, where we shared a meal with our french amigo fredrick, and got stepped on by our french roomate at the hostel(Teejay was on the floor and he(the frenchman was quite drunk)
then home, but not before we slept in the lobby of a sheraton in san salvador waiting for the bus again.....
It was all fast, and all beautiful, me and teejay prayed, which was almost strange for me, the first time in a while, but opposed to what i have been telling myself, the Spirit seemed to have been very interested....revolution is fading from the breath of the people, but you can still smell it, the guns remained and the resolve has faded....these people are crazy for life, in one way or another, and it is contagious.....
he visto personas sin ropa, sin comida, pero con sonrisas como el mundo....hemos visto vida, y nos gusto que hemos visto.....estoy vivo y tu tambien
puda vida
miguel