After enjoying a Thursday to myself I spent the weekend at Table Mountain with my group. It was beautiful, but I learned that hiking down, rather than up, Table Mountain will screw up your knees. I was in some serious pain the next morning. It was on this same day though that I was able to think about the great gifts God has given us. You can’t stand on top of Table Mountain, look around at its beauty and not be speechless. The beauty of this place is just something you have to experience, and I realized after last weekend in the center of Cape Town that I may enjoy the city, but I’m not a city girl. I like hiking and enjoying a good hike with good friends. Its free, it’s fun, its good exercise, and wherever I hike always seems beautiful enough to leave me joyful.
I’m still not sure if I’ve comprehended that I’m in this place. Knowing that I have been here for well over a month now I am thinking about where my head and my heart are. You get caught up in the excitement of going out with new really great friends, and the time slips away. Some of that time is spent looking too far ahead or thinking about something that you can’t change from the past. I want to reach the goals I have made for myself while I am here, but I want to make sure I am making small goals rather than large unreachable ones. I have to constantly stop myself, amidst being present for my friends, and ask MYSELF the question: what is really best for Hannah? When I know the answer I can work towards it and set limits so I don’t cross boundaries. For example I’ve learned that if I want to be respected, I have to first respect myself. I must not let burdens of my life here, or of the things going on at home crush me. I remember hearing this when listening to a Vintage21 sermon the other week. I must be PRESENT in what is happening (and what I want to happen) here. God has entrusted me with a great privilege and that is to come here and do something awesome. I can doubt my doubt, but I must remember Christ is with me until the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). People ask how I am here, so far away from home, but it is because I know I am supposed to be here. God has said “never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Service learning has been going so well and now we are working to make a playground for the kids. To see that come together would be incredible (http://lpsplayground.blogspot.com/). I have to get busy with the designs. I have to stay on top of my game if I want things to get finished! I am really in South Africa though. It’s quite crazy to talk about a place for so long and then getting there and learning all about it. As much as I hate reading for my Arcadia class at times, or having to ride into Cape Town I am learning a lot from that course. I must see every class or trip as a gift and opportunity to learn more.
As I am learning through my community development course I need to keep somewhat of an empty agenda and just give time to learn and take in the things around me. I have to approach projects with humility and take time to learn about them so the results can be lasting and projects permanent. We also talked about laziness being the opposite of love. That has stuck with me because I have found it to be so true. I have really come to love some people here and I have seen love given to me, but laziness is present in neither. I feel like I was recently in a relationship where I wasn’t giving enough love and thinking that it could have been because I was being lazy made it make a bit more sense. In a good relationship neither party will be lazy, but rather want to put their heart into it. It’s loving unconditionally.
I leave with a story that left me a bit of a mess after Thursday, but I am just now blogging about it. Today I got really emotional when a woman in KFC sat beside us and wanted some of my friends food. We gave her a small piece of chicken and some fries, assuming she would then leave. She in fact stayed beside us to eat. When my friend finished his chicken he had a napkin pull of almost bare chicken bones. The woman than motioned to him that she wanted his left overs. She took food that was garbage to him as her dinner. It was hard to watch and I dismissed my self from the table before I got emotional. I am not sure why it has stayed on my heart so much but I wanted to share it. "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." (Psalm 107:8-9)
I know I have left things out, but I am in the middle of lots of work and my mind is in a lot of places. Hope to lay some more of it out for myself, which will probably get done by blogging again this weekend. Spring break was booked on Friday!! I am flying to the Zambia side of Victoria Falls and I am SO excited. I am going with 4 of my closest friends here.
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