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!"