A few days thoughts...

May 14th

I have no vision of the future as soon as I return home.  I see beyond the summer though.  I see myself working hard from August to May to graduate with lots to be proud of.  I see myself working after I graduate, or coming back here, or studying.  As for the summer there are so many places I COULD be, a few places I really WANT to be, and then the one big thing I SHOULD be doing and that is working.  For now I must remember to do what I can for now while I am here and from there just remember what Proverbs 27:1 says—“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  By trying to plan things I am “writing God out of the equation” and after all he has done for me that isn’t fair.  My prayer is this, that whatever happens benefit God’s glorious kingdom and that I can take the love I have gained and learned through loving others here home with me in June.

One thing that has been constantly in my head this week is “Love conquers all” or "Amor onia vincit" as it was when Chaucer wrote it.  I believe this is true and no matter in what context you are talking about if you have love for something you will have the passion and drive to make it happen.  

May15th

Today I went to church in town and when I walked in I was overcome with comfort to be in a church similar to Vintage 21 (where I go in Raleigh) but also with encouragement that there were so many young people in Stellenbosch worshiping together.  It was also confusing and convicting.  I guess those negative feelings came because while many things have given me hope since being here and seeing so many young people in this setting ready to serve Christ is exciting, there is still the largest income gap in the South Africa in Stellenbosch. Left with something for me to think on...

May 16th

The last day at Lynedoch there were many emotions as presentations of videos highlighting a beautiful semester were shared.  Tears filled my eyes several times watching the clips and seeing the photos and also hearing people talk about their time at Lynedoch.  While we were presenting I awaited a phone call that the delivery for playground supplies had arrived.  This was such an awesome reminder that we are really only beginning this kind of work, and that even our work at Lynedoch is only beginning.

May  17^th

I want to blog before my sister and John get here because I know that once a part of home comes to this place it will have an even more different feel.  I don’t know what to expect for their time here as far as what they will get out of it.  I hope that they can be more than tourists and put on lenses of someone who may have been here for longer, as I have.  This may help this understand my love for this country, for Lynedoch, and for the awesome people I have met or fallen in love with.  The people that I love most at home are coming to see where my heart is here—what a blessing.  I see parts of my life coming to this place and so for once I may not just see this as Stellenbosch life and then when I talk to people at home think about it as my “other life.”  Safe travels to all coming here, leaving this place after an awesome semester, or going on adventures!

 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39

Afrikaburn-April 29th to May 1st

AFRIKABURN
a beautiful weekend

With beautiful people

In this beautiful place

Celebrating beautiful life

In a beautiful way

Let the love continue… 

I don’t know where to begin to explain this weekend.  It was like living in a snowglobe for a weekend and it wasn’t until we drove back tonight that I realized how far from civilization we had been.  Part of that is probably because everyone lives so well in community out there that you just see yourself in a whole new world.

When we explored the campsites we met some amazing people and there was so much love everywhere.  There was a wall with quotes of love and thoughts and prayers and then we got to go to a tent with spiritual healing and they just spent time praying for us and the women prayed as if they knew Maria, Cindy, and I because the things they said in their prayers to us.  They asked that love continuously flow through me and I pray that same prayer.  I love to love and I love to give love and I was able to do both of those things not only this weekend but everyday here in South Africa.  Because I wrote so long ago about Afrikaburn and because my friend Maria is such a great writer I will share some of her words about the weekend:

“This is the concept of Afrikaburn- there is absolutely no buying or selling of anything in the desert, whether it be water or drugs. Everyone willingly comes to Afrikaburn to contribute and to share themselves and their supplies with anyone and everyone camping along. There are families with young children as well as adults who come together in the desert for the same purpose- to experience one community with continual and uninhibited happiness. Artists work to create their own sculptures or create a themed camp that is open to everyone else at the event. It was these art pieces that formed the main event of Afrikaburn on Saturday night: the burning of their spirits… You live for others as they live for you; no boundaries, no questions, no expectations, just acceptance. Acceptance in its purest and most simplistic form. Afrikaburn showed me everything in humankind that I can stand to be proud for.” –Maria

Overjoyed

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Marianne Williamson

This quote is so beautiful, and when watching the youtube video of Meredith’s new president-elect I was happy she shared this with me.  I am overwhelmed with emotions right now, most of them positive ones that are feeding really good energy throughout my pores as this amazing holiday wraps up.  I am indeed filled with love right now; for my new friends here, falling in love, and just feeling loved returned to me from so many directions of my life (my friends here, my new family here with these people, my amazing family at home, my amazing friends in Raleigh and Laurinburg, and my community group).  Perhaps this is why the greatest gift we can give IS… love. 

I am also feeling overjoyed and when I think about why that may be it is because life seems beautiful right now.  All $3,000 we wanted to raise for the playground has been donated and I could not be more excited about the things that I am hoping will happen out there in the coming weeks.  I have heard it said by some that these kids may just use the playground for a bit, and then ruin it and our work would have been wasted.  That is they don’t have the HOPE in these children that I do, and that I know the rest of the LSCE crew does.  I see the FAITH these kids have and how no matter what material things they haven’t been given, they are so spiritually wealthy and it has been inspiring.  You can only give these children more HOPE by showing them that there is someone who does believe they can do anything.  It is important to remember that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1).  Therefore, if we love on these children and see the problems that are evident as problems and not the people as problems we can have progression.  I don’t think it is fair to see a certain people as a problem.  You can’t progress from that and that is why when someone enters a community like Lynedoch, they must do it with compassion and hope.  I couldn’t stop thinking about Corinthians 13 when I was writing all of this: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love (v13).

Another thing that stuck out in Dr. Jo Allen’s speech to Meredith College was when she spoke about change.  She talked about COMFORT as a mixed blessing, and automatically I thought about my life here in South Africa and my time in Italy.  I thought about how comforting it is to be at home, but how in both Italy and South Africa, and even at my cabin in the mountains I have a place to call home.  She reminded students that it was critical to travel new pathways.  I wouldn’t trade the things I have learned while abroad for anything in this world.  They have shaped the person I am and the way I think.  I am so thankful for the many pathways I have been able to walk down and how unfamiliar places became home to me.  I am able to learn the most about myself in these places.  Comfort can be found in many things and change is a beautiful thing if you are progressing towards peace for your life or the lives of others.

I end with this thought: Can I be this happy when there is still so much peace no left in the world?  Someone has to be there to pull you up when you are down, or rather to go and sit by you and walk with you through your hard times.  Maybe I have been given the strength of happiness for this moment so I can allow peace to grow from the happiness I may create in someone else.  I also must remember that sometime all I can do it pray.  I must believe in the power of prayer and allow the hurt I have been feeling for the people affected by the tornados to lift burdens, even from 5,000 miles away.