Three years passed, as I built a new life in the United States.

I found a wonderful job as Director of Communications for Tierra Nueva and The People's Seminary in Washington State. The office provided all of the latest equipment, software, and training I needed to get my work done.

I rented a cozy studio apartment. I bought a used Saturn. I acquired health insurance. I signed up for a gym membership. I purchased a new TV with built-in DVD player. I watched movies from NetFlix. I read countless books in coffee shops.

Life was good.

Yet I continued to follow the disturbing news from Guatemala:

• Street crime raging out of control.
• Levels of poverty and extreme poverty on the rise.
• Drought conditions and malnutrition in nearly a third of the country.
• A weakened judicial system reinforcing rampant impunity.
• Threats and attacks against journalists, political activists, and human rights advocates.
• Worried whispers of a return of a return to Guatemala's dark past.

In April of 2003 I traveled to Guatemala to visit friends and see for myself what had become of my second home.

The experience was indescribably powerful: the flow of emotions, the renewing of relationships, the sense of homecoming ... but also, sadly, repeated confirmations of all the worst news I had heard while in the states.

It wasn't long before the seed of an idea began to take root in my mind. It was - by every measure - an imprudent, impractical, and implausible idea ... and yet it seemed to make perfect sense: I had to return to Guatemala!

And so, I find myself in the all-too-familiar process of selling off all my worldly possessions (ok, except for the books). On November 18th I will climb into my car and drive across the United States to my home in New York. I will spend the holidays with those that I love, and come the New Year, I will once again dedicate myself to the struggle for peace and justice in Guatemala.