Little Orange

 I hate the feeling of loneliness, but I knew I would experience it being so fare away from everyone and everything. I'm in a whole new world, and it will just take time to adjust. I'm thankful Leah and Piet are here; they are truly a blessing.  A volunteer who was here for 6 month  just left the other night, and everyone was very sad to see her go. She had built some great friendship while she was here.  Abel, a new friend of mine, said to me the night the volunteer left " I don't want to get too close to you, because then you're just going to leave." He was very close to the volunteer and it was hard on him to see her go. It must be hard for the people living and working here at the orphanage.  People come in and out of their lives. But they also get the chance to meet awesome people from all over the world.

Refilwe is a great place to live.  I’m living on 72 acres with a large river that divides the property. Lately I have just been sitting out on the grass by the  beautiful trees and reading my bible. I’ve heard that  monkeys live here, but I have yet to see one.  I was just spending a lovely afternoon  at one of the Godparents house, Mama Julia, when I discovered the internet was down today. I was hoping to connect with people from back home.

Loneliness comes and goes but it never stays for very long.  There is nothing here to distract myself from those feelings so I just allow myself to be, and then shortly after it will vanish. All it takes is a conversation with someone, or a friendly hello, and then I feel at peace again. I know i'm here for a reason, knowing that helps.  I'm learning to accept negative feelings because they are only temporary. . Piet was telling me that the mission field can be lonely and hard, but that is when we grow the most and when we learn the most about ourselves.

I've made a cat friend, I call him Little Orange.  I'm not sure who he belongs to but he wanted to come into my cottage last night, so I let him in. Shortly after I let him in, it started storming and gushing rain. The last time I saw it rain that hard was when I was in the tropical rain forest of Belize. It's almost as if the heavens opened up a giant waterfall. The storm itself was very relaxing, I love hearing the sound of rain.

 I like having little orange around.  I assume the feelings are mutual because he follows me everywhere I go. I guess he has been feeling a little lonely also.