And if the salt has gained new flavor?

I have now arrived in Akron, Pennsylvania and am with the SALTers from around the world. Its been a wonderful couple of days. I'll move on to visit my brother and EMU people in Harrisonburg, then to a family reunion at Laurelville Mennonite Camp then to Liz' friend's wedding in Newton, Kansas. then I'll take a train to Purdue and hopefully connect with friends from Camp Tecumseh (where I worked last year) and friends from Purdue, then my parents will come pick me up. and take me back to Elkhart. All of that is extremely exciting, but I'm sad about the fact that I'm already exhausted. Not doing consistent exercise for about a year will take a toll on you.

Its quite apparent that the same affliction has fallen on most of the rest of the SALTers as well. Evidence was shown in the disappearance of tone and muscle size during our ultimate frisbee game the other day. My calves are still killing me. I've started out into vegetarianism as well and I'm struggling to find sources of lots of protein.

But personal fitness was the least of our worries. Today we had small-group meetings where we talked about our greatest struggles this last year. It was quite powerful as many SALTers shared deeply about being trapped in social or physical boundaries. We all were trapped at some point because of language difficulties, some people unexpectedly had to learn an indigenous language. People shared about tough host family, work, and community situations that they dealt with the whole year. In a few cases, they were able to come out at the end with an acceptable resolution, but a lot of them just had to learn how to cope. Some people who were bubbly last year are now startlingly quiet, others where had appeared muted and emotionless last year expressed powerful emotion and passion.

Its been tough. We are tired. We were hit with things we never expected and confused for months over things that shouldn't have been ours to worry about in the first place. We have cried nights away, spent hours clearing out abused intestines, and run away to hundreds of worlds in the books we read. I think we have all come out of the experience stronger. We have more understanding of ourselves and definitely more understanding of foreigners and their cultures. We have developed passion for personal and community development, passion for right relationships, passion for life, love, and peace. Please, be gentle with us.