Well its been awhile, my apologies. I have had some very high point and a few struggles lately but you know me I keep praying and pushing and I'm happy so here we go!
The UPs
-April 30 to May 2, National Baha'i Youth Conference in Northgate South Africa was FANTASTIC! The Baha'i youth had like "coffee house" vibe I would say for lack of a better analogy (and they pointed out that I say like a lot lol.) There was a good mix of social consciousness and style. Amazing youth! to include a group of us who performed a song I wrote (I'm a soldier S.O.U.L. if you can't tell I'm a soldier). Performance included a verse of "I'm a Baha'i" rap, some drumming by Lunathi who had dreads and was sporting a "tree hugger" tee so you know I loved her, beautiful Samantha singing, a young male poet and young female and male beatboxers, an awesome facilitator and muscisian, Grae, a girl on guitar, me and a poet Avuwe who had a bright blondish afro :) Outside of that group I wish I could talk about all the wonderful people I met but what sticks out is a girl who is doing a yr of service is a small village, Kele, and two boys who live at the Centre; Africa and Gino. It seems like a really cool thing to live at a Centre, though I'm sure kitchen work can be a bit rough. Its one of the things I'd like to look into.The conference was about encouraging youth to do 3mths to a yr of service/core activities and highlighted this as the prime time for us to take action citing we have "high energy" and "freedom of movement" All of which I whole heartedly agree and supported my lifestyle of being a mover and shaker. Don't worry,one day I will settle and I'll be none the less happy, especially when I have my kiddies, but for now I got some aspirations that require floating around the beloved earth. Also introduced to music of Raul Midon- listen to "Peace on Earth"! Lunathi recently invited me to do Ruhi intensive in Port Elizabeth, where she lives. Its 16 hours away on bus but she told me not to be held back by that lol, because I would get to see the coast and spend some time teaching and deepening so going to talk to the National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) about it
-Julia got elected to the NSA of Lesotho. YAY I'm so proud, not bad for a 24 year old Baha'i!
-Was looking around internet and found out there is a National Poetry Slam in MN in August. I have never been to Minnesota or a National Slam so I am really excited
and hope I will have enough money to attend the week (August 4-7) and maybe convince some friends to come along.
The DOWNs
-No service trip would be complete without me getting covered in bug bites. Americorps Mississippi March 2009...Butha Buthe April 2010, Bedbug bites! They are all over after a weekend trip to a village and during the day its ok but at night I tend to scratch, which is making them swell. I brought them home with me so I've been having more every day. I got some bug spray and had to handwash my stuff so I hope that they are all gone. I've realized that bedbugs are my Arch Nemisis (i didn't know it was possible for me to have one) because not only is sleep vital, its one of my favorite hobbies- ask anyone- and bedbugs take away that pleasure and they are so small its hard to know if I've got them all.
-ALERT, I lost my cell phone (well it got stolen from a bag I lost). I had a rough weekend. Went to Mokhotlong to visit before moving to Berea. I got to sleep in a place that definitely didnt have bedbugs so that was nice but the bus i took there was too big to pass these trucks parked on the road, so I hitched a ride with a PC volunteer and when we got to Leseng I realized that I had left my small bag on the bus. We found a taxi to MKG where I had to sit in her lap for the first few minutes and she had to pay for me ofcourse, so we got real close, real quick lol. In MKG I saw one of my old dancers and mentioned to him what happened. GOd is great because I prayed about it and was planning to go talk to the bus driver the next morning but he saw the bus come in that night after I went to bed and went and got it for me. The driver said he got it from two women and didnt look inside, so my wallet was there but unfortunately my phone was not included. Still its good because that would be hectic to replace. My phone's memory card has my music, pictures, and antivirus software so thats a bummer! I didn't get to do much there because I planned on visiting schools but I didn't know Thursday was a holiday so no one was around. I also got a cold so though I was sleeping without bugs, I was having trouble breathing. Ok, so its not ALL horrible...I did get to see Slumdog Millionaire for the first time -I know I'm late!!- on Me Lihlahleng's computer and some students who heard I was around came by the office to visit. If you could have seen the faces of the girls from my children's class when they saw "Ausi Andrea" and ran to me. It was so touching and beautiful and part of the reason MKG will always be my "home" in Lesotho if I have a choice of where to stay.
-Julia was gone for 2 weeks :( After she went to help travel teach for a week, they asked her to extend it. I went to the conference when she got back so we finally
met up sunday night. I was left in the care of her younger sister Elizabeth (my sister's name too!) and her friend but they were speaking a lot of Sesotho so I felt a bit out of the loop and its just not the same vibe so I'm very happy to have Julia back, though I will be leaving for Berea on Monday and will miss her again!!
-I'm struggling with being humble while independent, I wont indulge on petty exampless, but I just don't really like to accept people doing things for me and I know most of the time its probably just being helpful but I keep fighting internal aggrevation about it. I'm the type of person, teach me how to fish, don't bring me the fish but I'm frustrated with myself that I'm not more accepting. "when the Beaver offers you a fish, you take the fish" (Dr. Dolittle 2 reference, i know old school)
-I almost got my wallet and phone stolen in Joberg! Basically I felt a tug on my bag and turned around to see a guy had unzipped it. He said "oh sorry" and walked away. The streets were so crowded and it reminded me of philly except more people selling stuff on the street so I was overwhelmed. Its real crazy I think people expect to come to U.S. and see so much difference but if they've been to Joberg theres not gonna be much more to get excited about in US cities, except maybe more concerts/clubs and diversity of people
The ALL AROUNDs
-I'm 23. I was feeling kind of old at the Youth Conference when they asked people to raise your hands if you are over 22 and no one did lol! I just barely got called out since my birthday was 8 May lol but I don't feel any different being a bit older except pretty soon I'll be too old to audition for MTVs Real World lol. What a loss!
-Running out of internet time and want to apply for jobs, especially in LA. This trip is really making me strive for dreams, I haven't failed at what I've put time and effort into (not to say there arent hard times) but I have more dreams and its important for me to know I put effort into achieving them. Among them is still getting closer with Faith...possibly through a trip of service in Haifa Israel (been really considering that so anyone who has been, I would love feedback) and trying to put some umph into my poetry and writing which means probably moving to Cali since L.A. and Nashville are the best places for writers from what I have researched
-I've been reading even more. Read Revelation of Baha'u'llah (first book in series); it was powerful reading the stories of early believers and martyrs. What stuck out the most was the story of Siyyid Jafar (don't let Aladdin deter you) he was a believer who became imprisoned when the governor raided their village. After the troops were leaving the people were without resources and so the governor gave them corn but in order to get it, each person had to spit on Jafar's face. I mean violence and persecution are difficult things to imagine but to have to stand behind a gate and let people look at you and spit in your face is just amazing to me, he even encouraged those who were nervous because he knew it was the only way they'd have food. That was really the most powerful story for me. I've also been skimming through Kitabi Aqdas and Iqan again and Bible still. As far as service, still doing dance classes but having trouble keeping with children's class and jyg with the traveling and sickness and etc. Hoping to be more stable with things in Berea.
Praying has been really effective for me. I know prayer can't fix everything literally, but the spiritual station it puts me in makes me so much more ready to accept and work through things. And I think its important that I don't ask God to fix everything. I ask him to make me more detached and to provide the means for me to be an effective servant, which is pretty much fairly good health and steadfastness. Its been so beneficial. When I got back to Butha Buthe I was crying after the weekend I had and my ears had popped in the taxi and wouldn't clear out so they were hurting on top of my cold. SO I laid down and prayed and I was so thankful when one of my nostrils cleared up enough for me to get some rest. ANd when Phomolo knocked on my door in MKG to give me my wallet, I was so grateful for that as well. So I feel blessed through my little struggles that I remember to pray and be happy of triumphs; great or small. There's a prayer that says "O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.
O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord." Sometimes I feel guilty when I've been in a bad mood and say this prayer but its such a reminder of what I should focus on. I never believe that the power in prayer is simply recieving good grace but recieving spiritual power to cope with the struggles of the physical world.
Well I hope to write from Berea soon,
Keep me in your prayers,
"Intone, O My servants, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men. Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul. Thus have the mysteries of the Revelation of God been decreed by virtue of the Will of Him Who is the Source of power and wisdom."
With open arms and open heart,
spread hope,
Andrea Hope
