We're Spreading Our Wings and Flying!

"There goes my hero, watch him as he goes..."

-Paramore

Well with growing up comes saying goodbye to all of my lovely guy friends and watching them go off to these cool places to serve the Lord. -Jealousy!!- Ohio, Romania, South Korea, the Phillipeans.... Just to name a few. A few months ago, (I may have mentioned this already) I decided that while all of the guys my age were off becoming who they need to be, I would do the same.

Hopefully next summer (most likely the one after...) I will be off to Africa to volunteer my time to people who need it most. I have done a little bit of research and where I would like to go most is either Uganda to work in an orphanage, or to Ethiopia to teach English in a school. I think I would rather go to Uganda, since I have been to Ethiopia, but I would love to go back to Ethiopia. I cant think of a better way to spend my time off of school while I will either be doing nothing or working.

Here are a few pictures I took while I was in Ethiopia 2 years ago.

The people there are amazing. They take nothing and make something of it. I wish I was that kind of person. Fortunate people look at the people of Africa and say it makes them feel sad for them. Then they forget the picture. I think people tend to shy away from things that make them uncomfortable and looking at extreme poverty definately makes fortunate people uncomfortable. By no means am I saying we should drop everything and move there to help, but we dont need to ignore it either. Maybe all we need to do is learn from them.

These people are truely happy. I will never forget the smile of a little girl running down the road to see us. She had no shoes and had probably never seen herself before, but she had the most amazing smile I had ever seen. That, was a happy girl. The Lord doesnt punish His people by where he puts them. He just puts different people in different situations. Dont we all have trials anyway? In the scriptures it says "Charity suffereth long..." and it also says that charity is the pure love of Christ. If your life is made of charity and long suffering, is there any way you could not know some form of Christ? It may not be the exact person I study the life of when I read the scriptures or go to church but God does not forget His people. Charity is charity, no matter who preforms the act. I believe God loves all His children, no matter what circumstance they are in.

I hope I can learn this by giving what I can and opening myself to become a way for the Lord to help His people in need. After all, the Lord answers prayers through other people.

Have you answered a prayer today?

Night Owl Insights

"If there is meaning in life at all, there must be a meaning in suffering....Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete."
-Victor E. Frankl
I have officially discovered that I do my best writing late at night when no one can inturrupt my crazy thoughts running wild. This is why I like reading late at night, especially when my reading inspires insights like this one. When I came across this paragraph, I immediately knew I needed to write about it-- not so much for me (at the moment), but for a good friend.
This paragraph came out of a book written by a WWII concentration camp survivor. The book was given to me as a graduation present and although I wouldnt have read it had it not been given to me, I trust the person that gave it to me, so I'm reading it anyway. The book starts out with the most part of 80 pages describing the sufferings and thought processes of a prisoner in a concentration camp. These 80 pages are kind of hard to make it through. But when you reach a certain point, the writer starts talking about attitude and no matter what they were going through, there were always those who took it better than the rest because of their attitude.
The sufferings of these prisoners is beyond all comprehension by us outsiders. But then, all suffering of others cant be determined for sure. We all have trials that are the hardest thing for us individually at the time. Although this quote doesnt make the suffering any more fun, it makes it a little more worth going through. It seems almost impossible that your attitude could have much effect on your level of suffering, especially when its coming from an outside force, but I know that attitude has a great effect on not only how much you learn from the suffering, but maybe even your whole outlook on life. I know my suffering has been worth while only because of what I get out of it when all is said and done.
I was once told that my writing is very dismal (I know that wasnt the exact word choice, but I dont remember what the word choice was). So, as a favor to a friend I will stop the sad writing there and end with the happy news of my changing life. :)
Well my mother is happily, stressfully married now. The wedding was very stressful and very fun. Not only was she 45 minutes late, missing her own rehearsal, we had to pin the sleeves of her dress on. We started about 35 minutes late. I was yelled at a few times for running in 3 inch heels and almost falling. The reception and party that night were great and she had a great time seeing all her friends. She did not like everyone staring at her. I got mad and told her thats why she had a wedding like that. She said oh.
I have started looking for apartments and jobs in Salt Lake. I'll soon be leaving the nest and attempting to make it some-what on my own. I have already appointed friends to remind me to buy food and eat, and I will put an alarm in my phone to pay bills and do important things that are important to living. Hopefully I wont die.
Well my brain has hit the wall for the night. Hopefully it wont be too long before the next set of exciting news. With all these changes coming so quickly there doesnt seem to be much time to stop and think about the things going on. Happy reading and happy 4th of July.
May you make your suffering worth while. ;)
Good night and good luck.