Wednesday, August 5, 2009

sometimes it's hard, but that's okay...

today i am having somewhat of a rough day...if you read my last blog, you know that i have relocated to nashville for the next 5 weeks, as i venture out with an organization called Pray With Africa. i landed in the states wednesday night from nairobi and 3 short days later made my journey to nashville. we started our training sessions on monday and i am thoroughly excited about our work, about my teammates (as they are awesome!), what's to come the next few months...

but it's also hard, and that's okay too...i am fairly adaptable, but 3 days time to completely switch my life is finally catching up with me. we are doing a lot of learning, and research about africa, and watching the film we will be showing on the road, and it is making me really miss being on the continent, being with the kids, being with my friends in eastleigh, and being with my friends/team. i have had a very soft heart today and on top of all that, we watched a film this evening called "War Dance"...it is a phenomenal film about the children in northern uganda who travel to kampala to compete in a national music festival, but it focuses a lot on the hardships and unbelievable atrocities they have witnessed and sometimes even done themselves. its heartbreaking--and it made me miss being there more, but also empowered me to keep going and is inspiring me more annd more to spread Pray With Africa's philosophy.

i don't want to end on kind of down note...so let me share some hilarious moments that have happened so far...today we had a hula hoop session, where we learned some awesome techniques and despite the fact that my hips don't lie, i kinda stink at it, but it was so much fun! and yesterday we played a game called bigger and better. we started out with a paperclip and went out in groups to exchange our paperclips for bigger and better things, in the hopes of finding decorations for our house! here's our list of what we ended up with: a rolling office chair, a real chair, a foot massager, a lamp that doubles as an ash tray, a regular lamp, bubbles, a painting, a vase, an end table and a bookshelf, a rug, an empty plastic container and a coupon for two free tacos...we rock!

so all in all, it may be hard...but it's also very, very good!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey there, Nicole. I've been thinking about all you've been through the last couple of months, I know I'd be totally emotional about it, too. I'm glad you're sharing your feelings with us, you know you have my prayers and support. Is there an address we can send "snail mail" to you? Keep your chin up and keep smiling!

Love you,
Kay