Blessings

It’s Friday! Class this afternoon, and then it’s the weekend! I’m so excited. This past week has been a good one. My work load wasn’t as intense as usual, so I had more free time to go to mall runs, go see “Valentines Day” (which was really stupid), lay out by the waterfall, and just hang out with friends. It’s been really wonderful. :)

On Tuesday, we went to the 5^th option for our service sites. It’s a place called “Entembene” and is in the Mphophomini township. I fell in love with this place. Basically, from what I understood of it, each person there would pair up with a social worker that works for Entembene and spend the month really investing into one or two families who are affected with HIV/AIDS. We would essentially do whatever they needed us to, whether it seems mundane or not. We would simply be there to help them out. And I love that. I love that I would really get to know a family, hear about their struggles and triumphs, their hardship and joy, hear all their stories…it just sounds awesome. We all signed up for our top 2 choices today and they said they’d let us know soon. So be praying! I just want to be put wherever God wants me.

Something that was hard about visiting this place though was understanding the reality of many people’s situations. The lady who was showing us around said something that has stuck with me the last couple days…she was talking about schools nearby and how the most expensive school in the neighborhood is 400Rand per year (a little over $50) and most families can’t afford that. The part that hit me was when I realized that, while shopping in Durban this past weekend, I spent 350R on presents for myself and others. I spent that much money on things that are fun but not necessary, while these families can’t pay for their kids to go to school. She went on to say that some of the schools are as little as 100R per year (that’s about $13-14) and that some families can’t even afford that. I laid in bed that night, thinking about the annual cost of APU and just feeling overwhelmingly blessed by the Lord. I’m trying to focus on the “blessing” part of it instead of feeling guilty, because my initial reaction is guilt. But God has blessed my family and me and although I don’t understand why, instead of feeling guilty I need to pray that He will show me how to use my blessings to bless others.

Also, I got my care package from my family last night!!! I was SO excited :) Mom, the Sees candy was the BEST idea. And Michaela, everyone couldn’t believe that my baby sister painted that card!! They were blown away and kept talking about how talented you were. And Dad, interesting fact about the hummingbirds….and I love you too :)

Alright well I have my Zulu midterm on Tuesday (AHHH!) so I should probably go study for that but I want to leave you with one last thing. Wednesday morning, I had breakfast with Gloria, the woman who is in charge of everything that goes on at AE and she said the most wonderful thing while we were talking. She was talking about how she is so tired and wishes she could get more sleep but then she said this: “I lay in bed so tired but then I hear the birds singing and think “The birds are praising God before I am! I have to get up and spend time with Him!” :)

With love from South Africa,

Alex