For Such a Time as This

March 23, 2011

Hi.

So this morning, I woke up at 6 to skype Francesca only to find… THERE IS NO INTERNET!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! SO sad. I miss this girl so stinking much, it’s not ok.

So I aimlessly wandered around our forsaken campus, searching high and low for a good internet connection! Alas, I was dismayed. Zachariah (he had to get up early for his service site) tried to help, with no avail. Boo.

And then… all morning I just felt super crappy. Headache. Cough. Achey. Cold. Hot. And the grand finale? I almost threw up three times. At Ethembeni, the staff wasn’t even going to be there today. PLUS I had a big Zulu test. All of these items added up to me NOT going to Ethembeni today. It was really weird, because I never skip out on things (besides high school. Yeah, I never really went to school.) because I believe in dependability, responsibility, and follow through. But today just seemed to be SCREAMING: “STAY HOME!!!”

PS: there are many people here who are severely homesick. That makes me so sad! I can’t imagine trying to thrive when you can only focus on America.

I think I am wired to travel. Although I miss many wonderful people, 21 choices and Disneyland, I don’t want to come home. I am here NOW. I have been called to South Africa for “such a time as this.” And I don’t want to waste a single moment wishing I am somewhere else. So, I feel amazingly blessed that God designed me for traveling, exploring, and growing in new environments.

I got to chase a monkey out of my room today. THAT was fun. I left the room for literally 30 seconds, came back and BAM, MONKEY IN MY FACE!!! I was the bigger monkey J

I got to have an awesome talk with Amanda. She provided a lot of really cool perspective. She’s a wise one! J She reminded me that I will NEVER get this time back. EVER. And I will spend the rest of my life wishing I had this time back. It is IMPERATIVE that I take every moment in. Live to love. I feel like I’ve been doing a good job so far. But still, it’s an excellent reminder.

Another excellent reminder? Life’s not about me. Seriously, it’s something good to keep in that head o’ yourn J

I studied my butt off for zulu! Gahh! This was an oral final, which is scary, because I’m visual. Auditory stuff is not so positive…

But by the time I went in, at 7:40 PM, I WAS READY.

My goal? To add as much personality as humanly possible and smile TONS so my professor would be blinded enough by my sparkling disposition to NOT notice my mistakes! Crafty, eh?

My plan worked well! I only missed 1 ½ points out of 90!

Those one and a half suckers came from one ill-fated answer.

In Zulu of course, she asked me, “What do you like to eat?”

“Witch doctors,” I haughtily reply.

I MEANT to say MEAT! Oops. FAIL. Oh well. If I was going to get points off, THAT is the way I would have wanted to do it. So, success J

The stars are beautiful tonight. So here I sit, writing my blog beneath them. Hurrah.

As I sit, I am reminded of the Lord’s goodness. His strength is sweet and His hope is full.

And that’s all I need.

SO here I am, for such a time as this, in South Africa, perfectly content with glittering stars and my Jesus.

Life. Is. GOOD.