Thoughtfulness...

I am spending my days overwhelmed by the people here. 

The love and smiles, the challenges and hardships mixed into their everyday lives. 

Everything about the people seems so simple and yet so complex. There is no such thing as simply fixing things, there is always so much going on in the background. 

Everything about NetWorks is based on relationships and it makes so much sense. 

How can you help someone without knowing them, without finding out the cause or the root of what they need?

I am falling in love and heartbreak each day, being challenged about my English worldview, taught by the children who running barefoot in delight in the mud and dirt. 

Their smiles bring so much joy to us, they run down streets to greet those who have been here investing in their lives for years, grabbing that hands of us newbies, patiently asking our names and understanding we have no idea what they are saying. 

 Each place I have lived in my short 23 years has had its own challenges; be it financial, spiritual, material or personal. 

Yet there is something about this place, with its challenges and heartaches that breeds hope and joy deep inside of me.

There is something about this place that makes me feel life has more purpose, that it truly matters what you do and how you live. How we choose to spend money, and use stuff... that the world isn't just there for us to use but it is there for us to cherish and love.

As much as I know I am here to serve, to give out what I can, I feel like I am receiving things. Hard, beautiful, crazy, lovely things from my Father in Heaven.
A new understanding of God, especially from those I am working alongside, their wisdom, their passion, their way of seeing things...it all reflects God in new ways for me.

These past two weeks have quite simple just reminded me that life keeps changing, challenging, growing and surprising us.

Rachel
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