Only one week left here... sniff, sniff.
Sorry about the post rates... haven't had wireless this year (2010) so it's harder to get on the internet and post stuff. I have a feeling when I get home I'll be able to write all about Africa - what I remember at least.
Love you and can't wait to see you!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Well I'm coming home...
It's official... I've bought a ticket and everything. I will arrive in NC on the 5th of April. To warn you all, I have mixed feelings about it. I am oh so excited to see friends and family!! To relax and hang out with them, to talk about their lives for the past year, share pictures and stories of Gabon, etc.. But I am also sad to leave this place, the many friends I've made here. Below are two girls at church who hang out and wait with me after the service.
And I wonder... will I ever come back here? Mama Jeanine thinks it will be in two months... and it might be - just to warn you guys! Honestly though I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And although that question sits in the back of my mind I'm trying not worry about it.
Awhile back I read this book called "A Million Miles" by Donald Miller - definitely recommend it! Mostly it talks about leading an adventurous life, but it also had some interesting words relating to the meaning of life... here are a few quotes I liked:
And I wonder... will I ever come back here? Mama Jeanine thinks it will be in two months... and it might be - just to warn you guys! Honestly though I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And although that question sits in the back of my mind I'm trying not worry about it.
Awhile back I read this book called "A Million Miles" by Donald Miller - definitely recommend it! Mostly it talks about leading an adventurous life, but it also had some interesting words relating to the meaning of life... here are a few quotes I liked:"For instance, Marcos said, 'The human body essentially recreates itself every six months... You are not who you were in February.'"
How have you changed in the last six months? How have I changed? Just to warn you guys now... I'm not the same person! Oh I may look the same and act the same, but I have been genetically engineered into the 6 billion... okay just kidding... they do a lot of stuff at Bongolo Hospital, but genetic engineering is not one of them!
"I thought about Marcos's conclusions... that we were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us. The point of a story is the character arc, the change." (70)
My latest resistance to change (haven't changed yet) has been selfishness... have I talked about living with people who are more familial and socialist? Let me give an example and then you can give me the rights words to describe the society/culture... I'm not sure those are good words. For example, a guy in Libreville is getting ready to get married. To get married here the guy has to give the family of the girl a dowry of sorts. He has a good job here, but is also working on the side to earn more money. If his family asks him for money he is pretty much obligated to give it to them, and there goes the dowry. In the villages if someone in the village needs money and you (a fellow villager) have it, you give it to them. (Which is one of the reasons there are so many unfinished houses - when people get money they put it into building.) Now don't get me wrong, I actually don't think this is a bad idea as far as the community is concerned. But the "I work hard for my money" side of me kicks in. The attitude of those in need plays a big role in this as well. All this just to say that my character is changing - I hope for the better.
My latest resistance to change (haven't changed yet) has been selfishness... have I talked about living with people who are more familial and socialist? Let me give an example and then you can give me the rights words to describe the society/culture... I'm not sure those are good words. For example, a guy in Libreville is getting ready to get married. To get married here the guy has to give the family of the girl a dowry of sorts. He has a good job here, but is also working on the side to earn more money. If his family asks him for money he is pretty much obligated to give it to them, and there goes the dowry. In the villages if someone in the village needs money and you (a fellow villager) have it, you give it to them. (Which is one of the reasons there are so many unfinished houses - when people get money they put it into building.) Now don't get me wrong, I actually don't think this is a bad idea as far as the community is concerned. But the "I work hard for my money" side of me kicks in. The attitude of those in need plays a big role in this as well. All this just to say that my character is changing - I hope for the better.
Ok so I think I have sufficiently wandered off of the subject. Now to return to our regularly scheduled program.
"Contrary to Freud's posit that man's greatest pursuit is of pleasure, Frankl (an Austrain psychologist who in 1942 was deported to a Nazi concentration camp) argued that life is a pursuit of meaning itself, and that search for meaning provides the basis for a person's motivation. Pain then, if one could have faith in something greater than himself, might be a path to experiencing a meaning beyond the false gratification of personal comfort." (196)
What is the meaning of your life? Have you ever thought about it? What motivates you?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Check me out
I'm the last girl on the right holding up the sign!
http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=499
And you might be interested in the article as well :)
The Straw family has been a huge blessing to me here in Gabon!
http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=499
And you might be interested in the article as well :)
The Straw family has been a huge blessing to me here in Gabon!
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