Amazing Gifts

“Everything is a gift from God: it is only by recognising this crucial dependence on the Creator that we find freedom and peace." -Pope Benedict XVI 

Sometimes it takes an enormous gift to realize how absolutely blessed you are. In less than one week, I've been blessed beyond compare with two huge gifts. Those of you who know me are well aware of my love for Uganda and how much I miss its beautiful vast, clear blue sky and copper colored dirt, (or African Snow as they jokingly call it there). Those of you who know me are probably extremely annoyed by just how much I ramble on and about the people, and the birds, and the food, and every possible aspect of daily life in that beautiful country. Most of you know how hard I've been trying to go back, most of you know that last year I applied to my church's missions trip to Jinja, Uganda, even though I was a year too young for the trip. Getting the phone call saying that I wouldn't be going home was painful, very painful, but I tried again this year and this time...  I'm going back home....

Scovia, Esther and I, it's pretty obvious which one I am :D

A road side duka

Home... "Home is where the heart is..."

Home...  that brings me to my second amazing gift. 6 months from now,  I might have a new home, a brand new culture to capture my heart. In January 2013, I finally submitted my application for YES abroad through AFS, an exchange program to one of 13 different Muslim countries for 10 months, (read more about the program at yesprograms.org). 6 days ago, on February 28, after a long excruciating wait, I finally saw these words "We are please to inform you..." I couldn't move, I was shocked, relieved, and beyond excited for the path ahead of me. Out of over 1,000 applicants, I am one of 120 semi-finalists for the program. On March 22nd-24th, we will all meet in Chevy Chase, MD for the IPSE, (In Person Selection Event), where we will be interviewed and participate in group activites. 65 students will become finalists and spend 10 months in an amazing country. I cannot begin to explain to you how amazing this opportunity would be, how much I would learn, how much I could take away from this experience. It would be extremely, extremely hard to live anywhere without my friends and family, but "with God, all things are possible." Please keep me in your prayers the next couple weeks as I pursue this chance of a lifetime.