I am officially overwhelmed. Being a college student, you may assume that I'm overwhelmed by coursework and campus involvement. Although I do have quite a bit of homework and numerous meetings and events to attend, being a college student actually isn't overwhelming me. Yes, I've spent a couple nights staying in the library until it closes. Heck, I even woke up at 6 AM the past two mornings just to have a few extra hours in my day for homework. So sure, I'm busy, but what is really overwhelming me began over Christmas break and has continued through the semester.
Over Christmas break, I spent eleven days in Managua, Nicaragua on a short-term missions trip through Dordt's AMOR program. Our team consisted of nine students, one admissions counselor, and a retired missionary. We built a classroom, painted just about every wall in Managua, practiced some Spanglish, and learned more from the Nicaraguan Christians' faith than they learned from our interactions with them. While there, we also saw some severe poverty and corruption. Every home we saw was in need of repair. Over half of the students at school were sponsored to go to school because their parents could not provide the $4 it cost to send their children to school. We visited La Casa de Esperanza (The House of Hope), a mission serving the Nicaraguan people by rescuing children from the city's brothels and providing them with homes, food, and the Gospel. All our water was bottled or filtered because of the lack of pure water in Managua. Hospitals were few and far between, and even when those in need could get to a hospital, the nurses were quite unskilled and often lacked appropriate supplies.
Enter this semester. Three courses provide perfect case studies to explain my overwhelmed feelings.
Geography. A course for a middle school social studies endorsement. I was not excited about it. Memorizing maps and types of landmasses did not sound exciting to me. I have definitely never been a busy work/memorization fan. On the first day of class, Jolynn--a lively, energetic adjunct from Northwestern College--blew my expectations out the door. She introduced our major, regular assignments: world issue and regional research papers. The first world issue paper was assigned, and I decided to focus on child sex trafficking and slavery after my experience at La Casa de Esperanza. Whew. It's all over. People die every day due to STD's, violence, and hunger from the prostitution and brothel life. Regional paper assigned. Issue: Causes of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. The causes were immense. After a quick Google search, I had to narrow down a list of over 25 causes to the biggest three for my paper. This is real, I thought, SO real.
Linguistics. I decided to complete a KSP Contract for this course, simply because the class has fascinated me from day one. After hearing about the 10,000 Australian Aboriginal children kidnapped by the government and sent to live with white Australian families in an attempt to get rid of the Aboriginal culture and language, I knew what I needed to research and write about.
KSP Book Discussion. Book being discussed: Enrique's Journey. The non-fiction book, written by a journalist, is the true story of a Honduran boy's journey to America to find his mother, who immigrated illegally when he was five--ten years before he began the journey. The book is gripping, devastating, heart-wrenching, and controversial. Never an expert on the immigration process, I am learning so much about the regulations and complications surrounding immigration to the United States. Hearing the stories of immigrants who lose limbs and lives by riding trains North to America sheds a whole new light on the situation.
That said, you may see why I am overwhelmed. There's so much that needs to be done. There are so many people in need of help. There are SO many ways to help. I know I want to go into mission work, but what do I do? I'll be skilled to teach English, but is English really enough? After I graduate, where do I go? How do I know where God's calling me to go? Brooke Fraser, in her song, "Albertine," writes the line, "Now that I have seen, I am responsible." I've seen. I'm responsible.. for all of this? For now, I'm simply trusting God.. waiting on His will to happen.. and praying for the problems in the world.
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