Thursday, July 10, 2008

Can it really be?

excited. nervous. ready for adventure. at peace.

When people ask me how I feel about moving to Dakar, Senegal, one (or many) of the previous thoughts run through my head. Can it really be true that I'm moving to Senegal? Sometimes I wonder who signed me up for this. When that thought pops into my head, it serves as a great reminder that the Lord is faithful. He often provides little moments that make me so excited to go. For instance, I was at PFO (more about that later), and I woke up so excited to be working in a Muslim country. I mean, I was really excited. I cannot explain it except to say that God has really opened my heart to these people.

So you may be wondering what PFO is. Pre-Field Orientation is a two-week training program for people going to work at Christian schools around the world. It was great mental preparation as I get ready to leave for Dakar on July 29th. We focused on Third-Culture Kids (TCKs), transitions, culture, and teaching. I also had the privilege of meeting some wonderful people. I got a chance to reconnect with old friends from Spain as well as make new friends. It was such a blessing to be around other people who are going through the same things. Sometimes, I found myself thinking or saying: "I feel the same way" or "me too" or "I'm normal." (well the last one may be open to debate ;)) It was inspiring to be in a room with people that would literally be scattered around the world in a few months. Just among my roomies, we were covering four different continents: Africa, Europe, South America, and Asia.

Well I better bring this first post to a close. I hope to update this site regularly with my thoughts, feelings, and happenings in Dakar. I cannot promise that it will be thought-provoking or an English masterpiece, but hopefully, it will give you a glimpse into my life.

Stay tuned as I touch-down in Dakar on July 30th.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Annie! I'm sorry we've lost touch over the years since our days as workout (and everything else) buddies at Miami. I'm happy for you and your upcoming adventure. I hope I find something for myself as exciting and rewarding as I think this experience will be for you. It's so easy to fall into routine (even a bad one) so change can always be good (albeit scary)!

Leslie said...

Yay! I KNEW you could do it! I've already got you short-cutted (bad ENglish from the ESL teacher) from my blog page, so I'm excited to be updated.

I'll be praying for you! Hey, do you have a field address yet?

BDC said...

Annie, thanks for letting me share vicariously in your mission. You inspire me to put myself out there - remembering our NHS buddy speech!