Two Worlds - March Reflection

I think I might have just had the best two weeks of my life. It all started at the beginning of March where all ten of us South African YAGMs and our coordinators, Brian and Kristen, came together in Cape Town, South Africa to share about a week together in fellowship and reflection. It is so enjoyable to be with each and every one of the 11, to share stories, struggles and laughter about the year so far. Even though we are all serving in South Africa, we each live our different lives, are all experiencing different things and have our own stories to tell. It is so encouraging to be able to speak with someone else that knows exactly what you are going through and knows exactly how you feel. I am blessed to have each and every one of them, for we are all different in who we are, in our gifts and where we come from in the States. But I am most thankful that now we have this one common bond of being ‘09-10 South African YAGMs, and I know that this bond can never be erased. It is so crazy to think that our experiences in South Africa have made these 12 U.S. citizens closer. We bring our two worlds together to relate to one another, uplift each other, and get to know each other on a much more intimate level that maybe no one else will ever be able to understand.

The end of our retreat wasn’t the end of my excitement. For the first time, my parents traveled thousands and thousands of miles to visit their youngest daughter in South Africa. They surprised me a night early, the last night of our retreat, and I was just ecstatic to see them! To all my Steelers fans out there, I ran and hugged my Mom so hard it was as if Polomalu ran and tackled his opponent. But the best part about them coming early to see me is that they got to meet all of the YAGMs that I have become so close to, and it was so special to me that they got to put faces and personalities to the names that I have kept on referring to over and over throughout the year. This time, two worlds of mine collided and it brought my past and present together.

Although I was very sad to see my YAGMs leave Cape Town, I was so excited at what awaited my parents and me on their first trip overseas to South Africa. We had many plans, but I had one rule: I wanted no stress during our time together. It had been 7 months since we had last seen each other, and during these last 7 months we all have gone through our struggles and withdraws from one another. Our relationship has deepened, and I have truly realized what wonderful family I have that completely encourages, supports and uplifts each other daily. As the saying goes, ‘distance makes the heart fonder’. But there was going to be nothing more special than sharing this part of me and my life with my Mom and Dad, which before this experience might have been so foreign to them.

After exploring Cape Town and the Garden Route for a few days, the three of us made our way up to where I have been living in South Africa, Bloemfontein. This part of the trip was the most special to me – where my two present worlds truly collided. The first night we arrived, I took them out to dinner with a few of my really good friends that I have made here. As much as I was excited for my parents to meet the people in my life here in Bloemfontein, I was just as excited for them to meet my parents. I feel like in order to get to know a person you need to know about their past as well as their present. With my parents there, they could now get a glimpse of where I come from to truly understand the person that they see from day to day.
But my friends are just one part of my Bloem life that I wanted my parents to experience. The next morning, I took them to the Rocklands Congregation of Bloemfontein’s Lutheran community where I have been attending on a regular basis. I could only smile as I led them through the service, heard them try to sing church songs in Sesutu, and took them up for both offering and Communion. It was so awesome to lead my parents, who in every other situation in my life has led me, and so special to share these moments with them. They were able to meet my supervisor and his family and the people of the congregation, and got to experience for themselves the wonderful, lively church services that I get to experience on a weekly basis.
On our last day in Bloemfontein, I took my parents to three of my previous worksites that I have talked about for months and months. First, I took them to the Children’s Ward of the National Hospital where I have volunteered for the past two months. It was good to see the faces of the staff that I had been apart from for two weeks and my parents got to meet the people I had formed such good relationships at the hospital. They were able to see the joys of life that I saw in the premature baby room, and they were also there for me when I found out two of the children that I became very close to died the week I was gone. Next, I brought them to the Sunflower House, the children’s hospice I volunteered at during the first four months of my year. Again, I introduced them to the staff and all of the children that had been such a large part of my life. It was so surreal to see my parents playing with the children that they recognized from photos and again my two worlds were colliding – worlds that seem so far apart at times, but were together there in one room at that moment. Last, I took them to Carel du Toit, the school I had volunteered as well. It was so special to me that they were able to meet the staff there, who in many ways became family to me here in Bloemfontein.


The last day came too quickly, but I guess we all know that every good thing must come to an end. It was so important for my parents to come to South Africa and I am so glad that they did- not only to see me, but to see where I have been, what I have been doing and who has become such a huge part of my life. The night before they left, my Dad (who at the beginning was less than thrilled about my moving to South Africa) said to me, “I am so glad I came. I see what you have been doing, and I feel much better about you being here. Now every time I have a selfish thought about you being here and not being with us at home, I can remember what we have seen.” And my Mom asked me, “Okay, so where are you and then we going next? How about a tropical island?” When they said these things to me, I almost burst into tears at the change in their hearts. I think it’s so amazing how God works! But it just brought me back to my personal mission for the year –1st Thessalonians 2:8 - “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us” - to love those who I serve with my whole heart, share my life with them and to share my God-given experiences with those I love back home. I am just so thankful that I could experience this trip with the two of them, and to think that my parents will go back and get the opportunity to share with those at home what they have experienced just encourages me. These past few weeks will hold some of the most precious memories I have and alas, my two worlds are now connected to make one.

Not Just Any Other Christmas

December Reflection

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. Usually school takes a bit of a break, you have an excuse to stay inside on the extremely cold days, and you find a reason to do absolutely nothing and everything you wish with your closest family and friends. If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with Christmas music and start listening to it the day after Thanksgiving, and I am such a fan of watching Christmas movies on ABC family’s 25 days of Christmas. Also, I love all of the Christmas traditions – it gives me something hopeful to look forward to in the middle of a cold December. I love finding the family Christmas tree out in the snowy mountains, decorating the tree with the family and some hot chocolate, baking and decorating piles and piles of Christmas cookies, Christmas Eve church service and singing harmony with my sister to all our favorite carols, my own family traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning including the food and watching Ralphie’s 24 hour marathon of the Christmas story all throughout the day. All in all, Christmas has become all these things and imagining a Christmas without it seemed impossible.

Well, this Christmas was not just any other Christmas: this Christmas was my first Christmas away from home, the United States, the Northern Hemisphere, but a Christmas in sunny, warm, South Africa. I always wondered what this would be like- and now that I have experienced it for the first time, I’d like to share some of my memories with you!

In South Africa, or more specifically the people I have come into contact with in Bloemfontein, Christmas is surrounded by schools’ and business’ summer holidays. So many people associate Christmastime as a time of vacation to the sea and many don’t have yearly traditions. This came as a surprise to me since Christmas is all about traditions! Many people at home, or at least in Pennsylvania, associate a ‘White Christmas’ with the season, and it just felt so strange to me when the whole week before Christmas was over 90 degrees. I rarely saw Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas music or Christmas movies– and at first, I was rather distraught. I only heard Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is you” and saw a pine Christmas tree while I was walking through a mall. I felt I could only find Christmas in certain places and these places were scarce. What is Christmas without these things that I have relied to mean Christmas for me each and every year?

Unfortunately this year, I was quite under the weather for the holiday. After a wonderful Christmas Eve spent on friends’ family farm, I became extremely sick with severe stomach pains on Christmas day and the day after, and I was taken to the hospital on the evening of the 26th. Afraid that I might have appendicitis or some other stomach infection/virus, the doctors at the hospital decided to admit me into the hospital. I would have been scared and nervous to hear this in my own country, let alone a foreign country, but subconsciously I knew it was the best decision for my health and I knew that I would be in good, safe hands. Nevertheless, it is always a bit frightening being sick, away from home, and alone.

But the truth is, I was not alone at all. I had a wonderful group of people surrounding me here from Bloemfontein to support, uplift and encourage me all along the way. During my two day stay at the hospital, I had many visitors that came every day to see how I was feeling and to see if I was doing better. I can’t express my gratitude and appreciation for all the visitors and how much their presence meant and continues to mean to me. I have really been blessed by the people that I have gotten to meet here so far, and I am so thankful for their love and their friendship. And although my family and friends at home and my coordinators could not be physically here to be with me, very encouraging words, thoughts and prayers were supporting my family and me. I don’t think I could have gotten through this experience without ALL OF YOU - And to me, this is what Christmas is all about. Christmas reminds us that Christ came to earth to live with us, to love us, and to be one of us. Each one of these special people, and all of those who have been kind to me, extended their homes and their lives to me, or has kept me in their thoughts and prayers have been Christ in my life.

Throughout this time, I could only think and hum one of my favorite Christmas songs sung by Point of Grace. The lyrics are as followed: “Oh Immanuel, God with us, Spirit revealed in us, so we may show your hope to the world.” Whether the people of Bloemfontein or those back home know it, I can see Christ within each and every one of them. They have given me hope that through their friendship, love, and support I can survive in a world beyond Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the United States or even the northern hemisphere. Christmas isn’t about the weather, the music, or the gifts – it’s about remembering what we inspire to be because of the birth, life and the death of Christ. It is my hope that this will serve as a reminder to me throughout the rest of my time here and when I return to the United States to extend the vision of hope to all who I encounter because of Christ in me yesterday, today, and forever.

I hope you had a merry and blessed Christmas this year. It is my hope that this New Year would provide you with blessings of hope and that you would be always reminded of Christ’s love in your life.

Undomestic Goddess

November Reflection

Although I have not always had time for it, reading has always been a passion and hobby of mine. A few summers ago, I finished an easy-read by one of my favorite authors, Sophie Kinsella, called The Undomestic Goddess. (Sorry if I ruin the story by explaining the plot). This romantic comedy of a book tells the story of a high-profile London professional that has a nervous breakdown due to her hectic and stressful lifestyle and unexpectedly flees the city life to enjoy the calmness of the countryside. While keeping her identity and whereabouts a secret, she disguises herself by acting the role of a housekeeper, although she has no clue, in fact, how to be a housekeeper. Throughout the book, Kinsella tells the hilarious tale of how the main character figures out how to become a respectable housekeeper, even though simple household tasks were way out of her comfort zone to start. The reader also sees how the main character finds fulfillment in these tasks and how she grows in ways she never thought she could throughout the process. A few years later- I look back at the book and realize this is now my life.

Chores like cooking and cleaning have never been my strong point, and I normally try to avoid doing these things as much as humanly possible. At home, I rush, rush, and rush and I NEVER make time to clean or cook. They are usually placed in the last lines of any to-do list that I make; so you could say it was never one of my top priorities. What I have found that during my time in South Africa thus far, is that God has put me in positions where I have been doing these things- a lot. I have become the master of doing dishes, perfected the art of folding clothes, and even been acting as lunch lady: cooking, baking and serving food for others. It is funny the way God works; to see what ways he chooses to humble us. He is definitely working through my imperfections and frustrations and has allowed me to learn from others while making special relationships with those who have been able to teach me. So in this reflection, I want to share a few recent stories that have highlighted the ‘undomestic goddess’ in me and how I am growing through attempting very tiny things like dishes or cooking.

Baking at the Sunflower House:

On a normal Monday, a few weeks back, I went to the local children’s hospice where I volunteer every Monday. I was doing the morning dishes like I always do and Michelle asked to talk to Anne and I (another volunteer from Germany) in her office. When we went in, she handed us this magazine filled with recipes and she told us that she wanted us to bake muffins that day for the kid’s afternoon snack. Great, I thought. I like to bake – but then again, I am used to baking things from a Betty Crocker box. Anne and I looked at each other, said we would do it, and off we went. This is where the trouble began.

First, the recipe was completely in Afrikaans. Granted I am trying to learn the language, but there was no way I was going to be able to decipher the entire recipe. We luckily got someone to translate the recipe for us into English, but I have come to find that when you translate something from one language to another, things tend to get ‘lost in translation’. So there we were with a sort-of recipe and we went off to find our ingredients. We were then told that we didn’t have the exact ingredients from the recipe to make the muffins (including the main ingredient), but that we should use what we had in the kitchen and improvise. Oh great, I thought - if there is one thing that scares me the most when cooking or baking, it is improvising or tweaking the recipe.

Next, I find that it is completely frustrating that the United States uses its own measuring system while the rest of the world uses the same metric system. This recipe called for milliliters instead of ounces and cups – so again I had no concept of how much of the ingredients to put in – and then we had to multiply that by 4 (to make enough). Improvising due to the lack of measuring utensils, we improved and worked with what we had and used small medicine cups to measure out milliliters out of all the ingredients. When we finally had all the ingredients together and measured, we put the mixture together, but something did not look right. It looked all too runny and the consistency did not seem right so we added and added things to it until it looked right and finally said- “hey, let’s just try it!”

So with our eyes closed and fingers crossed, we put the first batch of muffin batter in the oven. Forty-five minutes later, we pulled out fresh muffins that still seemed a little wet in the middle. When we finally decided that the muffins were done, about an hour later, we pulled them out and took the first taste. They were actually good! So, we made the rest of the muffins. The muffins were all finished and cooled when we gave the kids them for their snack, and they seemed to really enjoy them. It is such a great feeling when you know you are a part of creating a smile on a child’s face even though they have no idea you made them. I was just overjoyed the next day when I found out that none of my babies got sick after eating them – We had fun creating the muffins, the kids enjoyed eating them, and no one got sick: Success!

Kitchen at APD:

Unlike many of the other South African YAGMs, I have and will continue to rotate volunteer worksites about every two months to expose myself to many different organizations in Bloemfontein. At the beginning of November, my primary worksite became a center working with persons with disabilities. I have to admit I was a bit discouraged at the beginning since I had started to make deep relationships at my previous worksites, but I saw this as a new opportunity to try something different and meet different people so I remained optimistic. So on my first day I came in with an eager volunteer’s heart and a big smile and was handed a broom and a dust bin. You could only imagine what was going through my head, but if that’s where they needed me – then that was what I would do. At the end of the day, I ended up in the kitchen where I have stayed the past few weeks.

I have to admit the first week wasn’t pretty – I think I peeled and cut up to 3 huge bags of carrots, my fingers were permanently orange, and I always got embarrassment and frustration when I flung carrots around the kitchen when cutting them into small pieces. Cutting peppers, lettuce, pumpkin, and onions was even a chore for me, but I was persistent in trying my best and the ladies were kind in showing me how they cut the various vegetables for the different dishes. I can’t count the number of times I cut my hands cutting things – I seem to wear permanent band-aids on my hands. But as the weeks have gone by, the two pairs of women have increasingly given me bigger and bigger tasks to do – which to some might be very simple and novice tasks, but for me, felt like a personal victory in kitchenland. The ladies began to trust me more and appreciated my hard efforts. Now, they allow me to flour and fry chicken by myself (even though I burnt myself on the first piece I put in the frying pan) and they let me make my own salad creations. They are teaching me Sesotho along the way, I have had the opportunity to read the Bible to them during tea time and we are starting to give each other hugs when I leave volunteering. Last month, the thought of working in the kitchen would not have been a comfortable idea for me- at all, given how I feel so incompetent to do anything. Now that I have tried it, I have put those insecurities behind me and instead, I feel a sense of worth knowing that I am preparing and serving meals for the special people that I have come to get to know at the center.

I think the best part of my ‘undomestic goddess’ experience is that, like the main character of the book, I am finding such fulfillment in what I am doing and I am growing so much in the process. I continuously put myself outside my comfort zone and make myself do things that I feel uncomfortable doing. Even though it is only making muffins or cutting vegetables, throwing myself into these situations has allowed me to make myself say ‘yes, I can do this’ instead of feeling inadequate, looking at situations from the outside and being afraid to jump in. In addition, I am learning to laugh at myself more. As I continue to fling carrots around the room, get soaked while doing the dishes and drop things on the floor, I have learned that I cannot be prideful of such silly things. I have faults and imperfections and I am trying to learn how to let go of my constant quest for perfection. Last, I am really learning to become interdependent with the people I work alongside. Learning the metric system from my German counterpart or learning how to cut vegetables from my fellow kitchen workers has really allowed me to depend on others’ skills in order for my success. While these are small examples, I am thinking of them as baby steps as I continue to throw myself into other situations. I want to maintain the ‘yes I can’ attitude, continue to laugh at myself, and depend on others to teach me things that I do not know. I am just so thankful for these humbling God-given experiences as I continue to learn and grow every day, and I just encourage all of you to throw yourself out of your comfort zone more often and try something new, laugh at yourself a little more and let go of your imperfections, and continue to open your ears to others and listen to what they have to teach you. Trust this ‘undomestic goddess’ – as you do these things, you’ll find the fulfillment in the small things of life and you’ll never ever be the same.

Fear Not

October MUD Reflection

This month has been a month of many challenges, tremendous growth, and much change in my life and my experience in South Africa. In the early morning of Tuesday, September 29th, my host family and I experienced a house robbery. Although no one was physically harmed or hurt, my host family and I were very emotionally shaken from the incident. Not used to being a subject of crime in my little Pennsylvania hometown, I guess you could say my ‘small town safety bubble’ had been burst. I knew these things could happen to anyone, at anytime, and in any place around the world – but once it actually happened to my hosts and me, I found myself shocked, scared and fearful. Nevertheless, I knew my time was not done in South Africa and that God would still use me for his glory. I still felt Bloemfontein was where I felt God was truly calling me to serve, so I chose to remain in Bloemfontein after a period of processing and discernment with my wonderful country coordinators.

The weekend prior to the incident, I had the wonderful opportunity to go and visit one of my fellow South African YAGMS at her placement site. I was experiencing what I’d like to call ‘a one month slump,’ which I define it as an emotional rough patch one month after getting to South Africa, and her host family kindly and warmly opened their home to my visit. The two of us even had the opportunity to meet up with another one of our fellow volunteers for a part of the time. It was such a refreshing weekend of fellowship that allowed all of us to share our happy experiences with one another as well as our struggles and to provide words of encouragement from one volunteer to another.

That Sunday, I had the privilege of attending a church service held by her host mother at one of the local churches. I had many opportunities to talk with her over the weekend, and she had listened to my struggles and provided me with many words of wisdom. That day her sermon focused on struggles and perseverance, and I felt God’s presence in that small church just knowing that she was speaking His truth. Throughout the sermon, she referenced a simple psalm. I didn’t have time to read it, so I placed a random paper bookmark in the page quickly so that maybe I would come across it and read it later.

After the incident, I took a lot of time to process my thoughts and feelings about what had happened. I am generally a fearful person that tends to be scared of a lot of things. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to let one unfortunate incident stop me from what I feel God is calling me to do in South Africa. I was able to calm down, look at the situation from a distance, and put things in a bigger perspective. However, my fear of another break-in was still deep down within me. I readjusted well to my life back in Bloemfontein, but my lingering fear manifested itself in my inability to sleep at night.

After many repeated nights of inadequate sleep, I knew I couldn’t handle much more. My fear was becoming all too consuming whenever the lights would go out, leaving my mind to wander endlessly. One night, knowing I couldn’t do this on my own anymore, I turned to my source of comfort, strength and truth – the Bible - for my answer. I found that little slip of paper that I had put in my Bible a few weeks prior to this night and I read Psalm 27 which my friend’s host mother told the people in the congregation to read that day. It goes something like this…..

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall, Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me in safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.
I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Over and over throughout the Bible, the Lord tells us not to fear but to have faith and trust in him. “Fear not” is the most commonly found phrase in the Bible used time and time again for generations since Creation, but how many of us actually believe that? I know that God tells me not to fear, I have heard that since I was a little girl, but I still allow fear to consume my thoughts and actions.

Why? In my opinion, there is one thing to read the Bible, but I feel really believing in His Word is something completely different. So I ask myself, do I actually believe what I read? I know if I had read that psalm on that Sunday, it wouldn’t nearly have had the effect that it did that night. But God knew what he was doing when I put that bookmark in my Bible during that sermon. That night, I felt God speaking to me, telling me to believe and to give my fears to him. I prayed so hard that night reciting these words over and over, and that was the first night I slept well in a long time.

So let’s pay attention to what we are reading and really start believing in what the Lord is trying to tell us. Sometimes it takes challenges and restless nights to finally understand – but I feel he uses our weakness and brokenness to get through to us. I love the verse 13-14: “I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” My impression and my optimism towards South Africa has not changed because of what has happened – in fact, it has only made me stronger for the better as I continue to serve with a joyful heart alongside the South African people and love those around me more and more.

Don’t Talk About It, Be About It

September MUD Newsletter

A few weeks before I left for South Africa, a group of my friends and I from home came together to hang out on a random Saturday night. I knew most of the people that we were surrounded by that night, but there were a few people there that I did not recognize within the group. One person in particular that we ended up sitting close to kept repeating a phrase that now resonates over and over in my mind. After anything I or anyone else said that night, he would say “don’t talk about it, be about it,” and that would be the end of it. Then, I thought this phrase was the funniest and the most annoying thing I had ever heard, but I thought it was quite a catchy phrase. However, now this phrase has such a more profound meaning for me and for my time during this next year in South Africa.

Throughout our orientation week in Chicago, my fellow YAGMs and I went through many seminars and workshops attempting to prepare us for our future year of service volunteering around the world. Under the ELCA’s Accompaniment Model, the YAGM staff and alumni repeatedly encouraged us YAGMs to not just DO but to just BE throughout our time abroad. Being a task oriented person who values my time by what I do or what I accomplish, I kept asking myself, ‘how do I just be’? In theory it makes so much sense that to “be” with people is to live with people, to stand alongside people, to walk with people. In theory it sounds great, but coming out of a college lifestyle where all you do is go, go, go, and do, do, do, it still seemed an odd concept to me.

In my attempts to process these words and figure out their intended meaning, I would say this phrase ‘don’t talk about it, be about it’ jokingly to other people in the YAGM program- but I was still trying to figure out how these words really applied to my life and my future experience. At this point, this phrase only signified that we would have to put our words and theories that we had learned and discussed during orientation into practice and that we would have to carry out these ideas with our actions once we got to our placement sites around the world.

Now that I have arrived in South Africa and have been here for about three weeks now, the meaning of this phrase has still held the previous meaning that I had thought of before but now has taken on many more meanings as well. As many of you know, South Africa in its past history was a previous British Colony throughout the Colonial Era. Because of its English past and as a result of worldwide globalization, English is a commonly known language throughout the country especially among the younger generations of South Africans. However, what you might not know is that South Africa has a total of 11 different official languages representing a widely diverse population within the country. Therefore, English is becoming a universal language that ties these different groups of people together in order to communicate.

However, although the English language may be the language that binds different groups of South Africans from different regions together, it is not often used within households of many South African families, among friends within neighborhoods, or within workplaces in cities such as Bloemfontein (or that I have been in contact with anyway). Afrikaans, Sesutu, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, and Swazi are among the different languages that I have come into contact throughout the duration of my stay. While it has been such a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to different languages that are so uncommon in our home culture of the United States, it has definitely posed as a difficult challenge to overcome especially in these first few weeks while I am still trying to learn and familiarize myself with the Sesutu language that is spoken commonly here in Bloemfontein.

In my experience in South Africa thus far, I have seen myself doing a lot of “being” and not a lot of “doing” or “talking”. What once was just a concept that I thought was so foreign throughout the YAGM orientation week has now become my everyday life. For me, this experience so far has given me the ability to experience a part of South African life that I might not have if I was only concerned about talking and sharing with others instead of listening and being. What I have found is that actions are truly louder than words. Although I may not understand what the members of my host family are saying to one another, I can still sit with them, laugh with them, and be a part of their lives. Although I may not understand all the words and phrases of the workers of my work site, I can still eagerly volunteer to help, listen to the stories of a fellow worker, and work with a servant’s heart alongside them. Although I may not be able to sing or understand what is going on during a long church service, I can still stand up and dance together with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with a smile on my face. So it’s has definitely shown me that “”being”, either by listening to others’ stories or sitting silently and observing while not understanding, is much more important than talking and evaluating my life by what I have done or accomplished.

As an encouragement to you, either at home in the United States, in the other YAGM locations, or within South Africa – take the opportunity to talk less but to listen and look around more to what is going on around you. Together, let’s not talk about it, let’s just be about it.

Here's to a wonderful week in Chicago :) I hope all my YAGMs enjoy!