Welcome, 2013!!!

I was thinking about New Year’s resolutions today; I was also reading the Bible (great combo)! I read when Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) At first, I said, “Uhhhhh…… okay….. care to elaborate?” Lucky for me the answer was, “I did! Read the rest of this Bible.” …Well played God, well played!

As I was thinking about those words, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” I was thinking, it does not say, ‘be better than others’. It does not say, ‘strive to be the best.’ Nor does it not tell us to leave others behind. In fact, being perfect would require us to help others along as well! To be perfect would be to become as Christ-like as possible. To be Christ-like requires drawing others to be Christ-like as well.

I am a pretty competitive guy. Growing up and all through college, it was always about being better than the others. Tests, grades, sports, work. I had to be better. But we are not asked to be better than others. Being better than others requires the ‘relative failure’ of the other (yes, we might both pass a test, but relative to me, the other guy failed, or, I failed relative to him). BUT! If I am working to be perfect, I will desire it in my heart for the guy next to me to pass as well! And that is something beautiful: getting to the point where I no longer want to outdo the other guy.

Does this mean I have to lose every game of basketball I play from now on? NO! If we play, I will win!  But looking for the victory alone cannot be our attitude. I want to look for perfection, and let what happens, happen. I won’t be upset if I lose, I won’t be prideful if I win. (this attitude has yet to show up in my life… that’s why it is part of the resolution! Haha)

Sports are not exactly what I am getting at. I am getting at life. Let this new year bring a renewed enthusiasm for striving for perfection, not to be better than others. Let our perfection reflect what the Gospels talk about. Let our idea of perfection only be complete when our brothers and sisters are growing with us, not failing relative to us! We are not called to be better than anyone; we are called to perfection.

We are human, so we may never be fully perfect… but we HAVE TO strive for it. We have to make it our resolution to strive for perfection at every moment. Even though we may fail in this resolution… First, we have Jesus to fill our weakness. Second… who has ever, in the history of humankind, ever succeeded in fulfilling their New Year’s resolution?! Do not let our human weakness, or potential failure, stop you from striving for that perfection! We are very clearly called to strive for perfection, it must be our resolution!

Happy New Year to everyone!! Just 92 minutes to go for me! J

Merry Christmas (Boxing Day)

Merry Christmas to all! :)

Christmas here in Wau was pretty great! We had mass in the morning and later went around to each of the religious communities and to say merry Christmas! We also had the chance to visit the hospital here to say merry Christmas to some of the patients who could not make it out for Christmas! It was a very blessed day!

Here is a fun little movie quote:

Ricky: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers to the south call you, Jesús, we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Domino’s, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family, my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome, striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or T.R. as we call him…

Ricky: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife’s father, Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. And it smells terrible and the dogs are always bothering with it. Dear tiny, infant Jesus, we….

Carley: Hey, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him “baby.” It’s a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby.

Ricky: Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying grace. When you say grace you can say it to grownup Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus or whoever you want.

Carley: You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow.

Ricky: Dear tiny Jesus, in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists….
Chip: He was a man! He had a beard!

Ricky: Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.

Cal: I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T shirt, cause it says, like, “I wanna be formal, but I’m here to party, too.” Cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party…
Ricky: Okay. Dear 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant and so cuddly, but still omnipotent, we just thank you for all the races I’ve won and the 21.2 million dollars – woo! (the rest of the family says “woo” too) – love that money, that I have accrued over this past season. Also, due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mention Powerade at each grace, I just want to say that Powerade is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day. And we look forward to Powerade’s release of Mystic Mountain Blueberry. Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God. Amen.

Although I do love the movie Talledega nights, that scene did not have anything to do with Christmas. I just got a good laugh when I thought of it the other day.

Unfortunately, I did not have KFC, Taco Bell and Dominos. One thing that made this Christmas unique was the food prepared by the community members! We had a few great dishes prepared by some of the Indian volunteers here! We were talking about what Christmas usually includes in the different countries people are from and the one common thread was food! So, to share the Christmas meal with the community was a blessed time!

One thing that has had more of an impact on my Christmas here in South Sudan is the quote from the Gospel of John:

"In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God

He was in the beginning with God

All things came to be through Him,
and without Him nothing came to be.

What came to be through Him was life
and this life was The Light of the human race.

The Light shines in the darkness and
the darkness has not overcome it."

                                                             John 1:1-5


I used this for a Christmas card I made for sister during our Secret Santa here in the community, and I was thinking about it a good amount during Advent.

Jesus is the light of our life. Let Him be born in your hearts and no darkness can ever overcome you. Let Him be born in your heart and no amount of suffering can overcome the graces he pours upon you.

Think and pray about it for a few days and think about what it means in your life! :)

Sorry this was delayed, it is actually boxing day now… but that’s okay!

Peace and Love during this Christmas season!! :)
~Dan

ps. Boxing Day is a holiday in England, the day after Christmas. 

End of Ze World

Sorry, I kind of rushed this post. I wanted to make sure it was posted before the world ends!

So, after a slight scare that the world was going to end a few days ago (on 12/12/12)… Turns out it will actually end in a week (12/21/12)!! I was misinformed. Thank goodness because I still have so much left to do!

It is a pretty cliché question to ask, ‘what would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow?’ but I think it is an important question! It is important because it tells us what we should truly be doing everyday of our life; accomplishing all of those things that we truly want to accomplish. Like the Tim McGraw song says, “Live like you were dying.”

It is important, but tricky.

The typical answer includes everything that we have always wanted to do and then some! It gets tricky because the way we would live, if the world were going to end, would include: go skydiving, rocky mountain climbing or to go 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Choo. I think the vast majority of us (myself included) would have a list that includes so many things that would bring worldly happiness to ourselves. But what does that say about us? What does that say about what is most important to us?

The media and the better portion of the corporate world encourage instant gratification and indulging in what you want right now (think about it, do you think McDonalds would have a marketing scheme based on self denial and sacrifice?). Yes, I would probably want to travel to Tahiti and eat a nice steak dinner. If that is what is at the top of my list when the world is ending, where will that land me after the world ends!? We always ask this question but seem to forget about AFTER the world ends bit. It is like reading the preface to a book, then ignoring the remainder.

What about loving deeper, speaking sweeter, and giving forgiveness that you are denying?! Where will that land us after?! I like the answer to this question a lot more than the answer to the above questions! J If you feel like you would have to go to confession one more time before the world ends, GO TODAY. If you feel like you would have to go to mass one more time before the world ends, GO TODAY!

Let us live everyday selflessly, let us live everyday with hope in eternal life, let us live everyday to be Christ’s light to others. Then we do not have to worry if the Mayans were right or not! Then the answer to the cliché question would be, “Well, I am going to do tomorrow, exactly what I did today.” Our number one goal in life should be to obtain eternal life for ourselves AND lead others to the same. If that is our goal in life, then the way we live if the world was going to end needs to reflect that. And if that is what we would do when the world is ending… that must be extremely important to us. Therefore we have to do that every day of our life. And then the answer to the question, again, can be nothing other than, “Well, I am going to do tomorrow, exactly what I did today!”

So yes! Live like you were dying, live like the Mayan’s were correct! But first pray about it. Let us break away from the idea of instant gratification and self indulgence and focus on what will lead us and others closer to life everlasting! And do that ever day, even on 12/20/12 (the day before the world ends)!  

Is Robin Hood a Saint?

Wow, it has been a very long time since I wrote… Sorry! We are just heading into exam week for school tomorrow! Then students will have break and we will be starting a few “summer” programs for the children around town!

Most people know that I have a lot of time to think. So, in that time I was reflecting on the president’s statement, “We need to teach republican’s that compromise is not a dirty word!” I do not get a lot of news on TV here, but that is one quote and speech that Al Jazeera covered a few weeks ago. And it got me thinking about compromise and if what he said is true, that compromise is not a dirty word.

Typically I do not enjoy talking about politics, but when I was thinking about “…compromise is not a dirty word,” A fun question that directly relates to this quote came to mind: Is Robin Hood a saint? After all, Robin Hood did dedicate his life to helping others. (A saint being someone who now finds rest in the presence of God in Heaven, not necessarily being recognized as a saint by the church)

This question came to mind because from what I have seen in the past months from the president and what I see in Robin Hood is this, they are both compromising morals! Robin Hood STOLE from people to help the poor. He threw morals out the window to help people out. The HHS mandate is immoral, but is part of something that could possibly help some people. He too threw morals out the window to help some people out. So yes. Compromise IS a dirty word if what you are compromising is morality!!

Merely helping people out while throwing morals out the window is NOT ENOUGH! Yes, helping your brothers and sisters in their physical and spiritual needs is one of the most important aspects of life… But to do so with a complete disregard to morality is not service at all.

On the contrary to Robin Hood is Saint Francis of Assisi! He asked for donations to serve others, never stealing to help others. His life was completely and totally devoted to the service of others, yet he never sacrificed his morality to do so! It was probably more work and sacrifice for Saint Francis than it was for Robin Hood. But that just makes it all the more beautiful!!

Here on mission, I have to compromise. I give up watching the evening news so I can get an extra hour of sleep each night so I can wake up a bit earlier to get to mass. At GT and Elon I did the opposite in regards to sleep, I would give up sleep in order to get another few hours of studying in. I both situations I compromise my sleep schedule so I can perform better. The above are not dirty situations, and ‘compromise’ is not a dirty word here.

‘I will skip church tomorrow morning so I can stay out later tonight!’ Compromising mass to ‘have a good time.’ …Compromise IS a dirty word here.

If you lie… you can get away with doing something wrong. You are compromising morals to save your butt; compromise IS a dirty word. Or, rather, you can compromise your butt’s well being to save your morals! All because we know that Jesus will be waiting with His arms WIDE OPEN, saying, ‘you chose Me when it would have been easier to choose to compromise your morals.’

Beautiful end to a story huh? But that’s the truth. Never compromise your morals and Jesus will welcome you home in the end! J It may be a bit more suffering and sacrifice now if we always choose to save our morals, I won’t deny that. But I can promise you it will always be worth it. Do not conform to what people tell you “the norm” is. Pray about morality and how to always choose it.

 “He is the Truth, and the Truth will set you free” Doing whatever you want is NOT freedom.

Peace and Love,

~Dan

Ps. An answer to, ‘Is Robin Hood a saint’: Only God knows that with certainty. What I do know though is that he does not have a feast in the liturgical year and he spent his life stealing and directly violating the 10 commandments based on a prejudice against whole group of people… 

Life Update

The last post was about what is on my mind... now about what is going on in my life! I will talk about it all here, but I will post pictures on Facebook... it takes way too long for pictures to load here! (...and I used to think that it was quicker to do it here! haha)

First, the trip to Gogrial and Akon (pictures already posted):

Great drive! I always love going for drives through new places! I think that is because I love nature and just think the world and landscape is so beautiful The road was not paved, it was like that scene in Ace Ventura when he is cruising through the forest! haha A lot of fun though! :) We visited some brothers from another religious order in Gogrial, then carried on to Akon (about 45 minutes away) where they were finishing up construction on a new church in the presidents home town. It was pretty massive! 

Second, October 31st rosary procession for the end of the month of the rosary:

I love the processions we have here! First because they are always full of children! But also because it is very rare to find such public acts of faith in the US! It was very beautiful walking around the town near the church for about 30 minutes as the sun was setting! It was also amazing to see a procession that was long enough that the end of the line was on a different part of the rosary because they could not hear the front! Very cool witness to the faith by an abundance of children!

Third, All Souls Day mass:

We had off of school for all souls day (but not all saints day... dont ask, im still confused too.) There was mass in the graveyard in the evening which was very cool. Not just the idea to pray for the dead in the graveyard... but because there were at least 4,000 people present!! This is not an exaggeration. I guessed 3000-5000, some other people guessed even more than that. So i think 4,000 is a good conservative guess-timate!  Mass was celebrated by the bishop and lasted about two and a half hours, it was beautiful! 

In other news, life at the VTC continues to go well! Exams are the first week of December, then we have a 3 month vacation from school. I am sure I will be kept busy with work at the parish and with the street children though!

Now that I am giving the exam, and am on the other side of the test, I know a little more how it feels to give tests... I always thought it didn't matter to the teacher how one student does, but it does! I always get sad when even one student does not do well. So, i have a new understanding! -Thank you to all of my teachers who graded my tests! :) 

I'll be sure to keep you all updated on new works that I start when I do not have school!

Those are the main events!! It is almost time for prayer though, so pictures will come tomorrow on Facebook! :) 

Peace!

~Dan

(sorry if there are some bad spelling mistakes, or worse than usual grammar. I did not type this before hand in Word like I usually do!)

Seek Ye First

I have a new hobby… Reading! This should come as a surprise to most people who know me! But in my spare time I have started to read a lot. One theme that has been coming up a lot in the books I have been reading is the message, ‘Never stop searching!’ This idea of never ceasing to search is what makes me want to read more! It is a fabulous cycle: read, learn, and become inspired to read/search for more! (It just took me about 24 years to get in the cycle!)

The only way we can come to know God is by searching! In prayer, in life, in reading, [and most importantly] in the sacraments! If we search, God will answer. I read recently, ‘one of the Devil’s greatest tricks is to get us to stop searching’ (which is what got me thinking, and eventually writing).

One of the most notorious, or cliché, sayings from someone who refuses to believe in God is, ‘I cannot believe in a God who allows so much suffering and pain!’ But I would bet most people who say that never asked ‘why is there suffering and pain?’ and if they did ask that, I can almost guarantee that they did not search for an answer. Asking is good only if you are willing to search for an answer!

Side note:

If you are reading this and want an answer: Free will! One thing that makes us humans, human, is our free will. We are free to choose good or evil. If God were to step in every time someone was going to choose evil, we cease to have free will. If we have no free will, we cease to be human and our ‘yes’ to God is meaningless if the choice is not ours. BUT our ‘yes’ to God is never forced, thus it is NEVER meaningless… our ‘yes’ is the greatest gift we can give! This is just a quick response to get you thinking, to start your search! If you want to continue your search… read the book, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope’ by Blessed John Paul II. AMAZING BOOK! Basically it is an interview with a reporter who asks some very tough questions and JP2 who gives phenomenal answers!

The point of the example is this: the person who has that attitude, or asks that question, never searches. They could eventually end up denying the existence of God. It is about the lack of searching! Something or someone (the devil?) created in that person a hardened heart, a heart that had no desire to search. Maybe it was via comfort, ‘I don’t care about searching for more. I am happy where I am; why bother upsetting the apple cart?’ Maybe the person puts his faith in worldly gratification, ‘Well, instead of searching for the faith and love, I can be happy if I go shopping, have a few more drinks or hook up!’ There are plenty of other examples. With any of these excuses the point is that we are deterred from the desire to search for more.

I used an extreme example of someone denying God because s/he refused to search, but the something similar can be said for those who have a strong faith! I promise if you search for more, you will find it. You can always grow, you can always increase faith, but you have to have the desire: you have to search! I know for me, sometimes pride can get in the way and I catch myself saying, ‘I already read and prayed today.’ Maybe we can catch ourselves only doing the minimum of what we think will get us to Heaven. Yes, the end goal should always be heaven, but your attitude should NEVER be to do the bare minimum to get to heaven. (We know this because Jesus giving us the beatitudes. In addition to following  the commandment, He gave us ‘open ended commandments’ that we can always work on perfecting in our lives; we can always SEARCH for a greater understanding of the beatitudes!

You have to want to search! Like in scrubs when JD is lifting a couch he yells, “YOU GOTTA WANT IT JOHNNY D!!! YOU GOTTA WANT IT!” God has already put that desire in your heart to want more. All you have to do is make the first step (ask a tough question and search for the answer) and He will do the rest! J

                                                                                                                                                                           

I just finished reading, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope’ and just today started a book called, ‘To the Field of Stars’ about the camino de Santiago! I am extremely excited for the new book. It might make my day dreaming and staring into space worse than it typically is! But none the less, I am excited!

Looks like this post was a bit longer… Hope you made it through and will click the link to my blog next time I update it!

One final thing: This song sums up what I was trying to say!! J Seek and God will answer!

Seek Ye first the kingdom of God,
And His righteousness,
And all these things, shall be added onto you, 
Alleu, alleuia

Man shall not live by bread alone,
But by every word
That proceeds from the mouth of God
Alleu, Alleuia
Ask and it shall be given unto you,

My Pilgrimage

It is no secret that I day dream a lot (SLMs, this should be no surprise to you especially). It is also no secret about what… as the one picture on facebook suggests, I am day dreaming about walking to Santiago de Compestella! I dream of walking up to the resting place of St. James and saying, ‘wow, this man knew Jesus Christ Himself!!’ I guess you could say, I dream of being a pilgrim.

The never failing Wikipedia defines a pilgrimage as “a journey of moral or spiritual significance.” The definition of a pilgrim, again, relying on Wikipedia is, “a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying…”  Yes, typically we always think of a pilgrimage as a physical journey to a religious, physical, worldly place. If we are blessed enough to afford the time and funds, many will take a pilgrimage to Rome or Jerusalem or Santiago or a Marian site.

… but what if we think about our entire life as a pilgrimage to Heaven!? Usually when I think about things like this, I have to bend the definition a little or tweak the meaning of something. But for this one no definitions have to change… just our perception on how we think about it! Life is indeed a journey and we do indeed hope to be journeying to THE holy place! We are all pilgrims in life. When we sin it is as if we are taking a detour (*detour* Jesus’ life and death made sin just a detour, never a dead end)… Reconciliation, the Eucharist and the other sacraments are guidance and direction to the ‘Holy Site’ (Heaven!); they lead us to where we want to go… they lead us to our Father.

So, although I day dream about walking in Spain or visiting Rome and Assisi, I should be dreaming about my ultimate destination (God willing!) of His Heavenly Kingdom and striving to model my life and put my feet on the path that leads there! If a Camino in Spain is part of that… THANK YOU GOD!

Dreaming of the day I will say, “Wow, I know Jesus Christ Himself!” …Working so that I can one day say that. …Shaping my life so that I can one day say that. That is what I mean by making your life a pilgrimage. Making a pilgrimage takes some dreaming. But it also takes work! If I dream of Santiago all day long, but never make the steps to get there… they are just dreams, and if it is just a dream, it stink because it never become reality. So yes, dream! For thinking of life as a pilgrimage, don’t dream about making the pilgrimage, dream about the end goal, because you are already on the pilgrimage!

Don’t let the dreaming hold you back from the ‘walking’… Don’t stop focusing on today because you are caught up in the dream (this, I think, is one of my biggest problems!). Today is the only way to get to tomorrow, and tomorrow is the only way to get to eternity in Heaven… so focusing on Today is how we have to get to THE Holy Place.

Just something that came to mind today as I was thinking and talking about El Camino de Santiago!

Peace!

~Dan

I realize I go between saying ‘you’ and ‘I’ and ‘we,’ probably making my posts torture for English majors, and I am sorry! I get confused because everything I write about are personal stories or things that are very relevant in my life, or things that I need to work on… But I am talking to everyone, so it all gets mixed up. It is just an engineer’s English (there is American English, British English, Australian English… then Engineers English)! haha

And, here are some pictures of a fabulous sun rise here in Wau on my way to mass in the morning... I like to take the longer way around so I can see the sun rise. Some days it is not so great... Some days I am so blessed to see such wonders! 

Enjoy! :)

Happy Mission Sunday!

Greetings from Wau!! 

Today was ‘mission Sunday’ here in South Sudan (and I think everywhere else too)! It was a good day here in Wau… we had a special collection that would go to benefit the mission as well as a sort of fair after the Arabic mass. Many of the parish families came out to help support the mission and have fun winning prizes for games such as ring toss, knock the bottles off the stand and a soccer passing game (I don’t know if these games have real names… but they’re basically the same ones you would find in the US…) I won just 1 game, dropping a coin into a cup in water (reminded me of the ones that Taco Bell always used to have!! Taco Bell offered burritos or tacos, we offered biscuits… but now that I won it here, I’m ready to go back and win some burritos!!)

But the day made me think about missions in general. Even though my ‘job title’ would be Catholic missionary, or ‘Salesian Lay Missioner’ but I don’t think mission Sunday is really talking specifically about people in South Sudan, or even those people described (in the traditional sense) as ‘missionaries’ in the US. I think it is talking about every person who believes in Christ! Every human has a mission, and thus, every person is a missionary! It is extremely important to find your mission in life. Christ called us to serve… not necessarily overseas, or with an official organization, but He called us to serve our brothers and sisters and our community! It is tough to call ourselves Christians if we are not living and working for a mission to serve others and extend His kingdom in the place we are at.

Pray about your mission. If someone asks you what makes you a Christian, and your best answer is “Because I go to Church on Sunday” or “Because I believe in Jesus” …FIND YOUR MISSION! Those are both extremely important things. And yes, our unified belief in Jesus IS what makes us Christian… It is like asking, ‘What makes you American?’ and answering, ‘I was born there’ when there are infinitely many more answers (ill mention some of the cliché ones like ‘freedom’ or ‘loving baseball’ or ‘apple pie’). Our faith needs to be more than the technicalities! Our faith needs to be a lifelong passion or mission. Something that draws us AND others closer to Christ. Below is an amazing quote about love:

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, falling in love in a quite absolute final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you will read, who you know, what breaks your heart, what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decided everything.”

-Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

That love that Father Pedro is talking about will answer what your mission is!! Fall in love, and make that your mission. Your mission will be what you put your heart into. Yes, we will all need to work and most of us will have families, but we must also find our mission as Christians! How will we glorify God? How will we bring others closer to Christ? Saying you believe in Jesus and going to Church can’t answer these questions fully! (I must admit… I am a bit spoiled, my job is my mission… and even if I have bad days, I still have to live my mission! J)

So, on this fabulous mission Sunday… FIND YOUR MISSION, fall in love with it, and LIVE IT EVERYDAY!! J

Ps. An extra prayer for missionaries in South Sudan is also greatly appreciated today!! J

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

Today's post will be dedicated to pictures! :) Just a few that I took over the past few weeks! They can show where I live, work, play and pray! :) 

Picture 1: I want to know.... have you ever seen the rain? Falling down on a sunny day? It is not a tornado... It is just raining, but i thought it was really cool to see the boundaries of the rain that was coming down!! (and it wasn't completely sunny... But the sun was there! But, i would still safely answer yes to my questions.)

Picture 2: This is the street that I live on. The door you can see is the Salesian sister's health clinic. Usually during their hours, there is a TON of women and children out front. They have a food program in the mornings and early afternoon.

Picture 3: You cannot see it very well, but this is the moon and a star underneath it. The moon is really cool because it is just a sliver. Then with the star beneath it... pretty awesome! Oh, and to make it even more perfect... that is the Salesian church here in Wau! Morning mass is at 6:45, it is really nice watching the sun come up through the windows at mass! :)

Picture 4: The Vocational Training Center (VTC) that I work at! I thought it was a nice picture with Don Bosco, the name and the S Sudanese flag flying!

I did not think of this when I was uploading the pictures... But i now realize that the 4 pictures I selected show (almost) perfectly the 4 oratory criteria!! Home- the street that I showed in Picture 2 is the road that I LIVE on. School- Picture 4 is the school I teach at. Church- This one is easy... Playground- This is a bit more abstract, but the rain coming down was taken when the community I live with went down to the river to swim and have some fun, play in the river!

So, hope you enjoy! :) Ill work on some more next time.. They uploaded pretty fast, so hopefully next time I can get some more up like this too!

Have Patience

I see that I am kind of slacking on the writing! L I might have mentioned this in one of the other posts… but it is because I go to bed right after dinner… and my ‘prime time’ for writing is after the hour of 9:00PM. But dinner is not until 8:30, and I have to wake up at 6:21 for morning mass. So after dinner, at 9:00 I have to do battle with my shower and get ready for bed. By the time I am ready for bed it is creeping up on 10:00 and I am left with only my 8 hours of sleep that I need to get to be able to function all day! So, eating dinner at 8:30 kind of puts a cramp in my writing… but I will see what I have in me before my ‘prime time’! J

I shall first start with a general update! Teaching is in full swing now, and I have had all of my classes a few times each. 4 classes of computer (2 are me showing, 2 are them working on an assignment I create), 3 classes of English, 3 classes of Math and 1 class of religion. This is all per week. Each class is about an hour or one and a half hours. These classes are being taught at the Vocational Training Center (VTC) and are for all of the different trades (electricity, carpentry, masonry, computers, printing, welding and auto mechanic). The students range from about 18 years old to 30 years old in my classes (the VTC students in general range from about 8 to 50 years old).

One thing I know I struggle with here is patience! I want to speak Arabic fluently… I want to be able to love fully... among a few other instances where I know my impatience can get the better of me! As the feast of Saint Francis was recently celebrated, I was thinking about his patience. I always see the saints as the guys up in heaven who did God’s will on earth (and rightly so, that is all true)… But I rarely think of their struggles… They were real humans; they sinned and had frustrations/hardships too! I always thought that if God came down and told me where I was going in life... life would be just peachy and I would never be frustrated or impatient again. But as I was praying about the life of Saint Francis, I thought about his calling. God said to him, “Francis, repair my church” So, here you have a man, who had a divine calling, ‘repair my church’. Life must have been easy after that right? Wrong! It must have taken even more patience than before the clear calling! How am I to rebuild? What do you mean? When? Where? These answers were not clearly given, as we know he started to rebuild the church at San Damiano, when God really meant HIS Church (I am not going to talk about this now… but also think about the INFINITE patience God has with us, and even his saints, too!). Now, I am not Saint Francis, so how this applies to me is in love. I get impatient here sometimes because I know I want to love to my full potential, but at times I catch myself being too impatient to pray for God to fill me with love first! It is impossible for us to love, if we first do not allow God to fill us with love! Yet, I find myself praying endlessly to be able to love everyone I see… but then I forget to pray for God to first fill me with love. It is as if I want to skip that vital step in the process of loving… I get impatient! L Much like the fabulous game Othello, ‘A minute to learn, a lifetime to master’ (it takes a minute to realize that we must allow God love us BEFORE we can lo

I talked about St. Francis because one, he is one of the best examples of how we humans can live as Christ-like as possible and two because it was his feast day… But I also thought about St. John Bosco (as I am a Salesian missionary). He had divinely inspired dreams, yet was never given a clear understanding of what they meant until he saw them lived out! Imagine the patience that took!! Having a vivid dream children turning into wolves and then into sheep, but not having a clear understanding of what it meant until years later when he witnessed as close to that as nature would give! Patience like I cant even imagine!!

Ill leave you with a life changing song! (okay, that may have been an exaggeration… but it’s a good one! Thank you Tracy for showing me this!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kn6Z2Mop5I

I was going to put up a few more pictures... but the internet is slow today, so maybe later this week I will post some pictures!

My Cold Shower

For all you Scrubs fans, the title is meant to resemble the title of a Scrubs episode… they are all ‘My [Something]’.

So! I guess I am kind of keeping with the goal of writing once a week! The work here in Wau has begun to pick up, and I am passed the stage of 1 week, or the length of missions I have done in the past! It is starting to feel more routine and like a home instead of a short term mission trip or vacation, where I know I will be going back to the US soon. I have been teaching a class of religion once a week, OT history. I will begin teaching 3 sections of math and 3 of English, in addition to 2 sections of Microsoft powerpoint. I also had my first adlib math class yesterday! They said the teacher was not there, so I went in, looked at their notebooks and went from there. I taught about area, volume and unit conversion. It went really well, considering the second official class I have taught in my life was a spur of the moment thing.

My favorite part about life in Wau is the schedule I have: The morning consists of daily mass and Morning Prayer before breakfast. Then there is a morning and afternoon work session with lunch in the middle, running from 8:00A to 5:00P. The afternoon has youth center from 5-7, where I usually go to play basketball, badminton or on the playground. After youth center I have about an hour to read before evening prayer, rosary and then dinner. I sleep soon after dinner! (One of the reasons the blog has been lacking is dinner is usually around 8:30P at the earliest, and finishes after 9:00P, so by the time I get ready for bed, it is 10:00 and I have to wake up in 8 hours! So there is not much time in the evenings, when I do my best writing!).

The biggest challenge is the language! There is so much I want to say, but I do not speak Sudanese Arabic… or any Arabic for that matter! I try charades, but that can only get a man so far. Many people speak English, but the kids I work with do not. The positive side of this is, everyone is always friendly about it, and patient with me… and watching the new guy attempt Arabic always brings a good laugh and a smile to peoples faces!

However, it is now time to discuss more important matters. My cold shower. I have very reliable running water that comes from a shower head, but it is not heated. It is common knowledge than we all do our best thinking in the shower… as is perfectly portrayed in the Hampton Inn commercials from a few years back. So here’s what I was-a-thinking: But first, let me paint 2 contrasting pictures for you: First- Dan comes home from a hot day of work, I was just playing basketball for the past hour, I made the 10 minute walk home from the youth center feeling great, loving the community, seeing all the kids out playing soccer on the field as I pass by. I have about two hours until evening prayer, so I decide to take a shower. I think to myself, “SCORE!! NO hot water. It will feel so refreshing to jump in the shower and clean up before reading, prayer and rosary!” Life is good. Second- Dan comes home from a day of work, I was out playing on the playground with the kids because it is raining, and no one is really playing any sports with balls. I head home in the car because, again, it is raining. I am loving life looking out at the houses and seeing some kids in uniform still coming home from school. I have my afternoon tea with the other volunteers and see that there is about an hour to read before evening prayer and rosary, so I do. After dinner, as the clock hits 9:00 I am thinking about bed… but wait! I have not showered yet! I look into the bathroom with a grimace on my face, and tell myself to ‘man up’. An internal battle rages within me… should I ever shower again in life? At that moment, the option of living without showering seems pretty good. But I know I have to shower and clean up. So I do. I silently ease into the shower as I am crying inside while asking ‘why?! WHY?!’ After a few minutes I get used to the water and it is not so bad.

After I am used to the water and on days when the shower gets the best of me I always think of this analogy: How incredibly similar is my relationship with the cold shower like my prayer life?! Hear me out: So, when I am feeling great, I want to do nothing else other than pray. I cannot wait to get home or go into the chapel and pray. It is truly the highlight of my day when I am in the right mood! However, I hit those days sometimes when I am having a hard time. I hit those days when my mood feels a little ‘colder’ and the thought of prayer makes me grimace and wonder if I should ever pray again! We all have those days when we do not want to pray, when other things are on our minds and we tell ourselves that we are too busy to take the time to pray. But in those times, we need the prayer even more! We have to take the time and make the effort to talk to God and tell him what is on your mind! I feel like in 5 minutes of quiet prayer and reflection, God can tell me more than I can concoct in my head in 5 hours! And that is precisely why it is in those times of distress or discomfort that we have to pray all the more! I think that is one of my greatest weaknesses when it comes to prayer… So during the good times, I have to pray that I will stay strong in the bad times! J

Once I have finished using my $1000 dollar bottle of baby shampoo (I didn’t bring shampoo, and all they had available here was baby shampoo for a ridiculous price… and I have to go to a pharmacy to get it, not just a regular store… Any readers who went to Ghana with me? This might seem like de ja vu to you!) I lay down to listen to my three songs (Country Roads, John Denver or Keep On Loving You, REO Speedwagon; Lord, I Need You, Chris Tomlin; and Hosanna, Hillsong) before I go to bed and realize life is pretty darn good if I am blessed enough to have access to consistent running water!

This was a bit longer… But I hope you made it through the whole thing! J

Love Always!

Now Time for a few pictures of my room and where I live! :)

 My room: Complete with an A+ mosquito net (no holes, and is very long to tuck under my bed with out having to worry about me kicking it out at night!)

My Building: You cna see some of the fruit trees that are growing. We have passion fruit, custard apples (my favorite), guava, papaya and limes. 

Putting the Dan In South Sudan

WOW! I finally made it… to WAU!

It was quite the journey. For a guy who has traveled quite a bit… I would have to say this was one of the most interesting and longest adventures I have been on! So, how does one get from Malvern PA to Wau, South Sudan (SS) you ask? I will summarize-

First, the logisticals:

Drive from Malvern to Philly airport. Fly from Philly to DC, layover in the airport for 3 hours, fly for 13.5 hours to Addis Ababa, layover in Addis Ababa for 3 more hours (fun side note: our ticket said departure time was 1050, but boarding at 14:45… this caused some confusion later! …our bags arrived 4 hours later on a different flight after sitting in the rain in Addis for that time). Then fly for 2 hours to Juba, SS. Once we were all in Juba, we stayed at the Salesian site in Gumbo for 2 nights while we had a little orientation and learned some basics about SS and the mission here. Then, Wednesday morning Steve and I woke up at 6 to make our way to Wau, but because they are redoing the run way in Wau, we flew into a town called Aweil. Once in Aweil, we got in a taxi with a supreme court justice and a nice lady and drove 3 hours to Wau where we were greeted by father, who drove just Steve and I to the Wau site! So, it was very tiring, and not the easiest to get to… but I am here! And I could not be more excited for what is to come! J Total time: 41 hours of physical journeying over 3 days. Luckily, although I was tired, I was not out of it, because I was able to share this journey with 5 amazing SLMs, who made even a layover in Addis after a 13 hour flight seem fabulous! J

Second, the REAL reason I am here:

This one is a lot shorter. It is because ‘I said I CAN because I trust in God’. If for even one second I would have doubted myself… I might as well not have even packed! Okay, so that was a bit dramatic. But really, when we say “I can’t” we will never get anything done. How many times do we just say, “I can’t do that”, “it’s not for me” or “I’m not able to”? All those things are just us hiding behind the reality that we are scared to try and put our trust in God. In scripture, we are told over and over again that we can do anything if we put our trust in the Lord! Example: Peter walking on water. He said ‘I can’, and then walked on the water… As soon as he started to say ‘I can’t’, he fell in! Of course, we all know the end of the story, The Lord saved him as He always does… but think about it, how often do we stop having faith and saying ‘I can’t’? Or, even worse, never take that step out onto the water because we never say I can to begin with!? The important thing is the trust in the Lord part… Just saying I can, and then jumping in will cause you to sink… so really, it is more of a faithful “We can!” not an “I can” (We being you and the Lord).

So, to sum up: Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something. It is a lie. If we have true faith and trust in God fully, we can do anything. If you hear the voice telling you that you cannot do something, quote the famous John Locke (the Lost character, NOT the historical character)… “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do!” It has been a very tiring 4 days of travel, but I am so blessed to be where I am here in Wau because the community has done so much to ensure that I feel at home and am able to catch up with myself after all this traveling!

I will be sure to update as soon as I start working, for now I have been acclimating myself to the different centers and projects they have before I fully begin working with them! 

I love you all!
~Dan

Contact Information

Sooooo.... I leave for South Sudan in less than 2 days. and I thought I would post my contact information:

email:
daniel.glass10@gmail.com


So. about the mail. There isn't really a mail service here. So, send stuff to my home in philly. Presents and gifts are encouraged still! haha Just, to me in philly, and nothing perishable because I wont get them until I come home. haha

mail:
Daniel Glass

Salesians of Don Bosco, don Bosco VTC, WAU Western bahr el Ghazal, Republic of South Sudan

I would email me instead of mail stuff at first, just until I can make sure that address will get mail to me!

Also- you  can comment on my blog posts! That would be fun to get feed back! :)

400+ miles, 3 amazing people, 1 amazing weekend!

So, today was my first day back at home after a fabulous trip to the DC/Baltimore area! The trip made me feel so incredibly blessed! As I was puttin' along through the state of Maryland it dawned on me how truly blessed I am to have friends and loved ones who will put me up for the night when I come to visit! And, not only give me a place to sleep, but give me a place to sleep when I didn't really have amazingly concrete plans, it was sort of planned within the week it happened! And, in addition to the short plans, they always went out of their way to ensure that I was comfortable and felt at home! J Before I go on, I want to say how much I love all of you and how thankful I am for all of the people God has put in my life! J

The highlight for me was being able to share time with close friends and family. Staying up late and just talking- having truly meaningful conversations about faith, love and life. Yes, my first ever MD crab cake was life changing… and swimming in that waterfall was a blast (even if it was only 60)… But being able to listen to a friend's deeper feelings and to share my life with friends makes the MD crab cake look like a microwavable crab cake. I would take time shared, like I had this weekend, over anything else, any day. J

The worst part of the whole trip was when I was driving home from DC, going through the Baltimore Bay Tunnel (BBT)… Many of you know that I like to hold my breath in tunnels, testing if I can hold it for that long. Well, typically in the BBT I need to keep an average speed of about 50mph to succeed (I have driven it A LOT of times and have tested the conditions for success). This time however, it started off great: going about 60 mph. Soon though, I caught up to other cars… I ended up going about 30 for the last portion. I failed. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel (literally) and I could not hold my breath any longer. I was extremely frustrated (I mean really, I was about 100 yards, could see the end, but failed! L) After I collected myself from the fit of rage I threw at the cars going too slow, I realized again how blessed I am to be able to say that the most upsetting/frustrating/angering moment since Thursday was failing at holding my breath. If that is the case, I am doing pretty darn good! J haha Similarly, today I saw a hole in my underwear and got frustrated making a rope rosary… Again, if that is the low point of my day, I am EXTREMELY BLESSED!!!

Then I thought, it is really weird how days can go by and we don’t even notice all the blessings, but as soon as you fail at holding your breath, or see a hole in your underwear you think it’s the end of the world! We can NOT let the good moments pass by, and we can NOT let the bad moments eclipse the all the blessings! As Brother Rob said in his good night at the pool on one of the last days in NY, 'In times of trial, you can either be bitter, or better'. We have to choose to be better in times of trial, so we can move on and always enjoy the blessings that are constantly surrounding us. Never forget how blessed you are. 

Anyhow, I ramble. So Ill just say thank you again to Christy, Albert and Kate for welcoming me into your day and homes! J I love you all!

Oriented

Wow! Orientation was the most blessed time of my life! If it is any indication of how the next year or two of my life will be going I am ecstatic to begin my work! :)

Before I go on about how orientation was such an amazing time... I guess ill fill everyone in on what I was being oriented for. My mission work that will bring me to Wau, South Sudan. Whats my mission you ask? My mission is to love the people of Wau as a teacher, on various street children projects, as a Sunday School teacher and in any other way that might come about! It is my mission to give selflessly to everyone I come in contact with and try my best to bring Christ's light to them! We depart September 2nd, so please always have me and all missionaries around the world in your prayers! :)

Basically, orientation served as a way to get to know my fellow Salesian Lay Missioners, go over guidelines, talk about what will help us on mission, some Salesian ways, there was a service week, a retreat. Most of all though, it was a time to grow in love... the most important tool for mission!

Anyhow, my thoughts on orientation. Two thoughts kept coming to mind throughout the orientation:

First- "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (Mt 17:4). Every place we went I was convinced that that was exactly where I was meant to be at that moment in my life. I felt such joy to be able to share the experiences with such amazing people and build some great friendships! Whether we were playing kickball, listening to a presentation or serving at the soup kitchen. At every moment I could look back and say, "Lord, It is good for us to be here". Fun addition to this. I didn't know this at the time, but about 4 days after this came to my mind, it was the feast of the transfiguration (where this line comes from)!

Second- Each night, I had the feeling that I never wanted the day to end! I could lay down at night and say, wow, today was the best day ever! I know a lot of people in the world today do not like bubbling happiness and enthusiasm... But if you find your calling and live it, even 6:00AM will be a delight! As Brother Rob said in one of his good night talks... In tough times, you can either be bitter, or you can be better. There is no reason you should choose to be bitter, no matter what the situation is! i.e. you can be bitter about waking up at 6:00A or, you can chose to be a better man for it, after all, you have that many more hours in your day to be better!

It was not all candy canes and lollipops though. Some nights I would get impatient or tired and maybe a bit testy. (Any SLMs reading this... I am sorry for those times!) I think that was the most trying time on orientation, the long days. They started to wear on me. I'm not a huge fan of mornings, and I do not drink coffee... so you can only guess how much of a delight I was at 6:00AM wake ups. (yes, i know i said even 6:00 will be a delight, but that is not to say it was not a struggle sometimes!)
Other times I would get nervous that maybe I was not going to be 'good enough' to do mission work, or, as my last post talked about, that my life would be too difficult if I chose to make Christ my life and work on missions.

Dont worry though, those times of fear were quickly squashed by God when I head Him say, "If you live for me today... I will have you in my hand tomorrow!"

In The Mountains

When I told people I was going to get hiking in the Smoky Mountains alone, people always asked if I would get bored, or what would I do? So, to answer anyone who was wondering what went on for four days alone in the mountains.

I am Alive!! J and when I say that, I mean more alive than just stating a fact that bears did not eat me. I feel like God really made me come alive last week while I was in the mountains. I know it sounds cliché to say I went to the mountains as a quiet reflection time and then felt Gods presence… but that is truly what happened!

First, It was amazing to see so many signs from God within a short 4 day span! From random small silly things like me praying for a headache to go away and it happening before I knew it, or the morning prayer psalm being about a raven crowing, and a raven literally started crowing to big things like constantly (well, almost) walking in a prayerful state or being so filled with love at every site I saw that I was filled with song (and anyone who knows me for more than about 5 mins, knows that is not typically who I am, to be filled with song! Haha).

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before I left I kind of fell hard, I heard Satan tell me I threw away any chance I had of a normal life by choosing to do mission work, he told me that by serving God I would be poor and lonely because I was not doing the logical next step after graduation. There were some long sad nights when that was all that would be in my head… Before I even got there, God told me. ‘You’re right Dan, you will not have a normal life. You may never be an engineer, and I can’t promise marriage, but what I also can promise you is that I did not call you to be ordinary, or just to take the next logical step. I called you to be my child and to love with all your heart and I will ALWAYs take care of you and fill you with joy and happiness’ Thus thwarting the lie the devil tried to pull me down with.

Then I was so focused on seeing bears, that’s all I thought about. So literally within 30 mins of arriving, God showed me bears. I was driving along, and Boom. Bears. 2 of them on the side of this scenic driving loop! God basically said, how foolish can you be to focus on bears when there is so much other glory to be seen here?! My mission was no longer to see bears, but it was to see God in the mountains, and others that I met. Had I not seen bears on the first day, I don’t know how the rest would have gone down!

So, to sum up, God spoke to me on so many levels, all the hard heartedness I felt in my past semester was smashed away by the awe and glory of Gods kingdom on earth!

 Another way to sum up is with this quote a friend reminded me of: 

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness” 

— Pope Benedict XVI

Words can’t really explain the relaxation and freedom I felt by getting away from the frustration and stress I used to feel… but this kind of explains why one would want to go on a solo retreat to the mountains! J

~Dan 

New To The Game

For the past few years, i never saw the point of blogging. I always felt like my life was too plain for people to be interested in what I have to say or what I did. However, after being accepted as a Salesian Lay Missioner I realized that not only would people be interested in hearing about where I am or how i am doing, but that God had made my life more than plain or dull. It was clear that the adventure I would be embarking on would, at the very least, be exciting. I began to see that EVERY human life is interesting, and NO human life is dull!

So, as I start my life after Georgia Tech and Elon, I would love it if you would pray with me along the way.. As I will keep all of you in my prayers, please keep me in yours! :)

Also- I am new to this game, so please bare with me through the mediocre grammar and potentially random posts!

~Dan