Now the real excitement beings! I know I have been in Africa for quite some time, but I feel like now is when I am really going to have those life changing experiences.  Today, I took my one and only final exam! I am now done with my classes (except for Zulu), and it is only March! The first semester was amazing, but I am ready to get off of campus and go into the communities at our service sites! I also want to make the promise that there will be more blog posts during service sites! However; before service sites we are going to finish out this week with a bang!

Tomorrow, I am going zip lining on one of the tallest zip line courses in the world! I am not a fan of heights but this is a chance of a lifetime, just like everything else I do here.  Better yet, on Friday I leave for a three day safari! I cannot wait to go out to the bush and finally see the major Game in South Africa (also known as all of the characters from Lion King).  It is going to be such a great experience and I will be sure to share it with you when I return!

After this week we will finally be starting out service sites.  This is what I am most excited for, and it is one of the main reasons I decided to come to Africa.  I will be spending the next month, everyday from 8 am to 4 pm at Riv Life.  It is an amazing community that brought me to tears when I visited it.  Here I will be doing anything and everything.  I will have to opportunity to help kids, do community projects, and do home visits to patients with AIDS.  I cannot wait to finally go into a community and become involved and form relationships! Serving is one of my favorite things to do and I am so blessed by this opportunity.  It reminds me everyday of why I chose the career I chose.  Picking Social Work as my major was a very difficult decision.  And whenever I tell someone what I am studying, I get one of two responses; either “Wow, you must have a big heart” or “Oh, that’s nice”.  It is hard to hear, but then again I am not doing it for others.  I am praying that Riv Life will strengthen my desire to serve people for the rest of my life.  I pity the people who don’t respect my major because I am simply doing what I love and fulfilling a calling I know I am supposed to be involved in.  Social Work doesn’t make a lot of money and the cases are not shut and close, but I don’t not do it because of those things… I do it because my heart finds joy in letting others know that there is someone out there that cares.  I do it because I learn how to humble myself and what a difference it can make if you just sit and listen to someone else’s story.

I cannot wait to share my love and faith through Riv Life for this next month and I know I am going to have the hardest time leaving.  But when I go back home and hear those discouraging comments about my major, I will look back to Africa.  I will remember the smiles and laughter. I will remember the stories of the people. I will remember the ones who I helped and the ones who I wished I could have helped.  I will remember the changes I will see happening, no matter how big or small.  I will remember the way that I impacted Africa, and most importantly the way Africa impacted me!