A small town girl, a bunch of Latinos, a little French, a touch of Nepal, and some Texas.

I first moved to Texas in August of 2009.  Just months prior I had finished my undergraduate degree at Kansas State University, and I had no idea what the next step was.  So, grad school felt like an ok fit.  If I were to be completely honest, the entire time I was driving to Texas I couldn’t figure out why I had decided to change up my entire life.  I knew nothing about Meat Science, had only ever heard of Lubbock in songs, and had no real direction for my life.  I guess I was just going with the flow.   So, when I pulled into Lubbock I told myself that I would spend two years there and then high tail it back to the North West and the ranch as soon as possible. 

The best part about plans is that they always change!  God gives us something better; he replaces our good with his great.  Which is exactly what happened the day that my boss asked me if I would like to go to Mexico City.  I wanted to appear like I was open and flexible—even though at that point I really wasn’t—so I said, “Yes!”  Six years later it makes me laugh to look back on that conversation and realize how far I have come.

In August of 2009 I had lived in only two states, Nevada and Kansas.  Up to that date, I had never traveled outside of the United States, and hadn’t really even traveled to many states east of the Rocky Mountains.  I had never experienced another culture, nor could I really say that I even knew anybody who was not an American.  Which was really fine, I didn’t feel lack in my life due to those facts, and up to that point I didn’t really realize that I would even end up being the kind of person who wants to travel internationally.  I really did have a good life, but like I said God replaces our good with more than we can even imagine.       

Then Mexico City happened.  Mexico City is one of the 10 largest cities in the world, is THE largest city in the western hemisphere, and is inhabited by 21.2 million people.  It is also the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.  I am from Mountain City, one of the smallest towns in one of America’s most unpopulated states, a town that is inhabited by less than 100 English-speaking people (80% of which share my family tree).  It is an understatement to say that I was not prepared for Mexico City.  I was really out of my element.  Everything was loud, chaotic, and lacked the block-by-block organization of American cities.  The drivers scared the living crap out of me.  The food was different; who eats beans for breakfast?  I didn’t understand anything anyone was saying, I couldn’t read any signs, and everywhere we went I was the tallest woman in the room with my blonde hair sticking out like a sore thumb.  It was honestly the most uncomfortable few days of my whole life.  What I didn’t realize then was that God was pushing me from a place of comfort for a reason.  He was shaking up my neat little life in order to give me a new perspective, and to bring people into my life that I couldn’t imagine life without.

The next thing I knew I was back in Mexico, this time Veracruz.  Our lab was partnering with a plant outside of the city.  Although Veracruz is also chaotic and lacking the city “organization” that I was so used to, it isn’t quite as overwhelming as Mexico City.  This trip was going much better for me.  We had the opportunity to go to the city center to watch the mariachi bands play, and had found an awesome restaurant that served the best coconut shrimp I have ever had (for real though, I dream about that shrimp).  I also quite enjoyed the fact that the drive to the plant took us out into the countryside.  I love seeing rural places in any country.  I was beginning to relax and enjoy myself, and then it happened…I got sick.  There is nothing quite like vomiting in the bathroom of a beef slaughter plant in Mexico.  Yet, something really amazing happened due to me becoming so sick on that trip.  My friendship with Alejo began.  He checked on me regularly, he brought me Gatorade and water, and was even ready to go to the hospital with me if my symptoms got worse.  He also helped limp me back through customs.  For the first time ever in my life I had a friend that was from another country, Colombia to be specific.  Today I would consider him to be one of my very best friends, and because he has taken such good care of me over the years I tend to really dislike traveling without him.  This trip opened my eyes to the great things that can come from a seemingly bad situation.

For the next two years of my masters I traveled to Mexico several more times.  Each time became easier, and each trip helped develop my life further.  I developed deep friendships with the members of our lab who traveled with me, and eventually I couldn’t wait to travel with them, get back to the places we would go, and see the people that we knew there.  I rarely knew what anyone was ever saying but I always felt like I had certain connections with people we interacted with.  For example, in the municipal plant in Cancun there was an older man whose job was to split the chest of the carcasses with an axe; which is an immense art and talent.  I always took the samples at his position, and over the years—though neither of us spoke any of the other’s language—we developed a bond.  I think about him and miss him even now.

For an entire year after graduating from my masters I didn’t travel outside of the U.S., or for that matter Nevada.  At the time of my departure from TTU I didn’t know if a PhD was something I really wanted.  I had gone home to clear my head and rest myself.  As the months slipped by I felt more and more anxious, I missed the lab, my lab mates, I missed my boss, and I missed Mexico.  I knew it was time to go back.  However, nothing could have prepared me for what I was returning to.  Once again, God was preparing to move in a big way. 

When I left TTU our lab group had a few Spanish-speaking members from different countries in Central and South America.  When I returned to TTU our lab had a few English-speaking members and the rest were from abroad.  The lab itself had become a culture shock.  Today it is even more so.  At first I was a little bit unsure where I would fit amongst so many international students.  I wasn’t sure if we would have anything in common or if I would be able to foster any friendships.  God blew that closed-minded way of thinking apart by the way of a jovial and kind Honduran girl named Martha.  I have to be honest and tell you all that at that point I thought Honduras was in Africa.  Anyways…it turned out that Martha and I had quite a bit to talk about, and we honestly have not stopped talking ever since.  She taught me that you don’t have to be from the exact same background to be able to connect with someone.  With this realization I began to slowly befriend many of the people in our lab, and I have found that I have plenty in common with people from all sorts of cultural backgrounds; even bigger than that, I have been able to see the world from outside my own perspective. 

Thankfully, I was able to continue to travel once I returned for my PhD.  However, Mexico was no longer the only country our lab had projects in.  In my time as a student I have traveled to Mexico, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Honduras.  I have had the most fascinating conversations and experienced things I would have never imagined.  There was the time that the sweet lady in the plant lunch room in Costa Rica handed me a dainty cup and saucer with coffee in it, and asked one of the men to tell me, “This one is yours, because you are a lady.”  Or the time that we were in the cooler and the power went out.  Or just recently, when we had the chance to sit at a beautiful wood table on a patio, on the most beautiful ranch ever, and hear a Honduran cattle rancher tell us stories about how they built their ranch and can do everything from A.I. to embryo transfer, and even corn silage.  Or how over the last three years I have listened to more Spanish than English, and have enjoyed it.   AND, There are about a hundred other stories I could tell, not all of them are good or fun, but all of them are small steps in a journey that changed my life for the better.

There is something powerful that happens in those moments, a part of you that shifts.  It is almost like all of a sudden you feel like the person you just met understands you better than people you have known for years.  You find connection and similarities between their story and your own.  You catch yourself communicating without really speaking, and it is almost as if God reached right down inside of you and showed you a new part of yourself that you didn’t know existed.  It has been my experience that those moments only seem to happen when you are uncomfortable, when you are stretched, when you have stepped out of the familiar and the safe.  I honestly don’t know what my life would look like had I not been dropped into a lab full of so many cultural backgrounds.  I am sure it would have been good and that I would have been happy.  However, would I have ever sipped wine and talked about French food with a French girl?  Would I have ever stood on a volcano in Costa Rica and talked about Cyclospora with a Costa Rican?  Would I have ever had the opportunity to reach out and show my condolences to someone who’s family was directly affected by the earthquakes in Nepal?  Would I have ever been given the chance to mentor students from another country?  Would I have ever known Honduras is in Central America and Ecuador is in South America…?  Maybe on that last one…my whole point is that had I decided in 2009 that things that shook my security were too big and too scary... I don’t think my heart would feel so full and so satisfied.

One of the last countries I was given the opportunity to travel to was Honduras, and I fell in love with Honduras. One of the most beautiful things about Latin culture is how warm and inviting the people are.  However, Hondurans are (in my opinion) the warmest.  To prove this I have one last story, when I first met my friend Martha's mother she was visiting the United States.  We went to lunch together and had the most fabulous time, but neither her or I can speak to each other.  Yet, I left knowing that I loved Martha's mother.  I chalked this up to the fact that Martha's mom is such a happy, joyful person.  However, when I traveled to Honduras I met another friend of mine's parents, and once again I left knowing that I loved them...even though I had never spoke a word to them.  This same experience has happened again and again in that country.  It is the first place, other than my own home, that I have felt sad to leave.  That is because Honduras is amazing.  The agriculture, the people, the food, the landscape is all beautiful.  When I think about that country, I think about my sweet Honduran intern telling me how "bossy" I am when she means to say "busy", and how when she writes to me she calls me "My Jessie."  I think about cattle with floppy ears and silly faces.  Most of all I think about how free and happy my heart feels when I am there.  I truly know that even if I never go back to Honduras in my life, I have left a piece of my heart there.

So, before you stop reading I want to dedicate this to the beautiful souls that have walked into my life, and say thank you for the beautiful experiences you have each given to me.  Thank you for sharing your culture (even if it was your other state culture), your friendship, and your hearts with me.  As I close this chapter my heart feels heavy, but only because I will so deeply miss each of you.  However, due to the theme of this blog being about courage and stepping out of our comfort zones, I know I have no other choice but to step forward.  Thank you Texas Tech, ICFIE Lab, and all of the amazing hearts that I have met along the way, I am better for having known you.  Finally, a special thank you to the woman who made everything you just read possible.  My boss, friend, example in Christ, and so much much more.  She has never given up on me, even when she probably should have.  She has shown me what a heart for service really looks like, and most importantly she has taught me that our God is willing to do miraculous things when we choose to follow.  Thank you, Mindy, from the bottom of my heart, for giving a small town girl a chance to see the world.