Blogging is so difficult. It’s hard to put into words what’s been going on.
I haven’t had that,”I’m in Africa” moment. Basically the whole time I’ve been here I’ve been numb. My heart is hard, and I haven’t wanted to soften it because I know it will break. It will break my heart to see everything around me. And it will change me forever. Africa has been such a culture shock and has been really overwhelming at times. But amongst all of these feelings, I know my “This is real life. I’m in Africa” moment is coming. And it’s coming soon. My heart is slowly softening and breaking for this country.
On Saturdays we go to the church and hang out with the Compassion kids from like 9-5. There’s about 200 of them, and 11 of us. It’s CRAZY. There was this little girl that Danielle and Adam got to hold and love on. I never got to hold her or talk to her because I was “too busy” with other kids. At the end our day the little girls mom came up to us and informed us that the girl was HIV Positive. She’s 5 years old. You know, you hear about this stuff in America, and yes…it’s sad. But it’s COMPLETLEY different when you put a face to the name “HIV Positive.” it’s heart breaking. Little Sandra is just one case. There’s about 1000 people just at the church that are living positively.
Something that God has been reminding me of is that the 12 disciples that Jesus chose, we not people that were accepted in society. They were looked down upon by everyone. But the beauty of this story, is that Jesus looked at them and said, “I choose you. You are fit for the Kingdom.You are beautiful in my eyes.” when we went to visit the prisoners that’s exactly what came to mind for me. These men have done terrible things in their life that society highly looks down upon, but Jesus accepts them and invites them to follow him, no matter how awful everyone else thinks they are, or what they have done. I think we should all strive to have this mindset. We should not be quick to judge, but quick to give grace.Â
Here’s some tidbits that have happened this week:
-A 3 year old boy at the church saw me and Tatum Monday at the church, and literally screamed bloody murder(unlike any other cry I’ve ever heard) for 30 minutes. He had never seen a white person and he was terrified of us. Ha.
-NEVER, ever ask an African woman if you can hold her baby. You will be holding/taking care of child for the next 7 hours because the mom peaced out. Apparently babies are always safe with white people so the moms just leave. It’s fantastic.
-Me and Glenn waved at 2 young kids the other day, and they replied..”You give me money.”
-2 nights ago there was a HUGE spider in our room late at night. Ending product goes like this…our bed broke, Katelyn peed her pants, Rebecca had a panic attack, and the spider still lives.
-This morning I found my pretzel m&m’s I bought on the airplane from Houston to Georgia. Just yesterday me and Rebecca were talking for about 15 minutes how badly we were craving pretzel m&m’s. It was a gift from heaven. Rebecca cried when I came out with them. It was great.
Thank you all for the constant thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it a lot. I love and miss you all greatly.
