Well I have unsuccessfully kept this a secret long enough, so now I invite you to join with me in excitement. I am going to Africa. I leave in May and will be back in July. I'm overjoyed and cannot stop daydreaming about what will be happening in the upcoming months, not just while I'm there but also the time before and after. I have no doubt in mind that I will return changed, impacted. I will fall in love and my heart will break. I will smile and cry. I will experience more than my mind can fathom.
We leave a week after school gets out in May. When I say 'we', I mean my friend, Kristin, and I. We are flying to Uganda to work in an orphanage and a school for six weeks. There are about 150 AIDS orphans living on the site and around 250 kids in the school. Then we will fly to Kenya to work in a small orphanage for three weeks. Kristin and Sara have been to this orphanage already, and I'm surrounded by stories, pictures, and videos from their trips there. Going to Kenya will be special because it will bring all of their pictures and stories to life for me.
God has such amazing plans that I cannot even begin to see. Please pray as I prepare for this new adventure, and also pray for the people I will come in contact with, not only there but also here in the US.
This is a video of pictures from Sara's first trip to the orphanage in Kenya, where Kristin and I will spend the second half of our trip.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
How I Love Days Like Today
Today was close to perfection... and it's only 5:30. Slept in at my friend Sara's dorm and woke up to the promise of chocolate bread if I hurried and got ready for the beach. Chocolate bread captivated my heart. Then Kristin, Sara, and I went to Pacific Beach which was high class for us. Normally, we have some interesting experiences at the beach. For instance, the last time we went to Ocean Beach we had creepy guys throwing footballs at us which was their way of trying to hit on us. Surprisingly, we just weren't attracted to guys hitting us with a football. Weird, right? (I hope you all are picking up on my sarcasm.) That type of thing does not make for an enjoyable day of napping and reading. Pacific Beach is huge, so we could spread out and not have to listen to annoying conversations and be hit on by creepers. Then we walked to get frozen yogurt, and just to add to the greatness of my day there was mango froyo which is my favorite. I loved having a relaxing day with my friends, and the fact that I can go to the beach in the middle of November. Now it's back to reality which means homework, homework, homework. Kristin and I have spent a good amount of time in the Nease lounge having "study parties" lately. It's even gotten to the point of her having to wake me up cause I'm snoring passed out on the couch. Hopefully, we won't be in there that late tonight.
Today wasn't the only good part of this weekend. Friday, Kristin and I had to go to Target, and as we were leaving, we noticed two guys sitting outside waiting for the campus shuttle to take them back to campus, so we offered them a ride. Yes, I pick up strangers on occasion. It ended up being a great and entertaining idea because one of the boys decided to tell us a ghost story on the way home (it's not as sketchy as it sounds) and pretty much made our car ride 10 times better. Yesterday I was suppose to drive one of the school vans for Kristin's tutoring ministry to the aquarium. We picked up kids at the church and were pulling out when the van was making a weird noise. Kristin got out to look and saw we had a flat tire. Bummer. But with ministry comes flexibility. The kids and tutors jumped in the other vehicles and made it safely to the aquarium. I was blessed to have a man from the church change the tire on the van and safely make it back to campus which was one of the longest, scariest drives of my life. No aquarium for me sadly, but my day turned around. I went with Sara and Audrie to Toyota, which was pointless because they did nothing to fix Sara's car, and then to a thrift store which had 40 percent off Christmas decorations. Score! On the way back to campus, we decided that it was the perfect day for passion tea lemonades from Starbucks and then a nap in Sara's bed (by far one of the most comfortable beds so I tend to spend as much time as possible in it). Then it was our friend Lauren's birthday, so a big group of us went bowling at San Diego State University which was a lot of fun. We ended the night at California Pizza Kitchen. All together this was an amazing weekend!
I'll let you all in on how my brain works. When I have something to look forward to, it never leaves my mind. I will think up every possible and even extremely rare situations surrounding whatever event I'm waiting to occur. For example, between April and August, all I thought about was Point Loma. I would imagine everything about it, good and bad. I'm almost always living in possibilities. Weekends like this, especially days like today, I'm here. I'm present. I'm enjoying each individual moment, and it surpasses all of my daydreams. I'm blessed to be here; I haven't forgotten that.
Today wasn't the only good part of this weekend. Friday, Kristin and I had to go to Target, and as we were leaving, we noticed two guys sitting outside waiting for the campus shuttle to take them back to campus, so we offered them a ride. Yes, I pick up strangers on occasion. It ended up being a great and entertaining idea because one of the boys decided to tell us a ghost story on the way home (it's not as sketchy as it sounds) and pretty much made our car ride 10 times better. Yesterday I was suppose to drive one of the school vans for Kristin's tutoring ministry to the aquarium. We picked up kids at the church and were pulling out when the van was making a weird noise. Kristin got out to look and saw we had a flat tire. Bummer. But with ministry comes flexibility. The kids and tutors jumped in the other vehicles and made it safely to the aquarium. I was blessed to have a man from the church change the tire on the van and safely make it back to campus which was one of the longest, scariest drives of my life. No aquarium for me sadly, but my day turned around. I went with Sara and Audrie to Toyota, which was pointless because they did nothing to fix Sara's car, and then to a thrift store which had 40 percent off Christmas decorations. Score! On the way back to campus, we decided that it was the perfect day for passion tea lemonades from Starbucks and then a nap in Sara's bed (by far one of the most comfortable beds so I tend to spend as much time as possible in it). Then it was our friend Lauren's birthday, so a big group of us went bowling at San Diego State University which was a lot of fun. We ended the night at California Pizza Kitchen. All together this was an amazing weekend!
I'll let you all in on how my brain works. When I have something to look forward to, it never leaves my mind. I will think up every possible and even extremely rare situations surrounding whatever event I'm waiting to occur. For example, between April and August, all I thought about was Point Loma. I would imagine everything about it, good and bad. I'm almost always living in possibilities. Weekends like this, especially days like today, I'm here. I'm present. I'm enjoying each individual moment, and it surpasses all of my daydreams. I'm blessed to be here; I haven't forgotten that.
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