Beginnings

Exhausted and beaming, I've arrived in Kroonstad.  A fellow volunteer, Kelly, and I left Washington D.C. on time, arrived in Dakar, Senegal for an hour layover (for which we weren't able to exit the plane unfortunately), and then arrived in Johannesburg.  Two sweet old Sisters of Notre Dame, one American, the other South African, picked us up.  It's amazing how nuns, even those without habits, stand out.  I scanned the crowd of faces waiting at the arrivals gate, looking for two women I'd never before seen in picture or in person.  "That must be them," came out of my mouth within a split second of seeing them.  Perhaps it was the small cross around each of their necks, or it may have been their jovial expressions and white hair, although none of these traits is exclusive to nuns, is it?  They drove us the three hour journey to Kroonstad. We stopped a bit more than halfway for a burger (quite an authentically South African first meal haha).  As we pulled into the town, which felt like an otherwise indistinguishable stop off the highway at first glance, I discovered Kroonstad to be quite rural place, or so it seems. It's hard to tell exactly what the surroundings look like since it's just after 10:00pm Tuesday night.  It's hard to believe I left at 6am Monday Denver time.  I believe the time difference to Denver is 10 hours.  Tonight as I journaled, I could not help but feel brimming over with gratitude to the Lord for arriving here.  "What a journey.  What a journey it has been," I wrote as I lay in bed in Kroonstad for a first night's rest.  I feel quite profoundly that the Lord has brought me to this point, purifying my heart and testing my intentions, my sincerity, my patience and my commitment to this vocation to which I believe I've been called.  In the quiet of the night, I thanked God for not testing me beyond what I could bear, for being with me through the efforts of several years to make it to this point in time, to this place.  Now as Maria often reminds us, I seek to deny God nothing, or at least try my best to do so.  Tomorrow, in the posture of JPII, I will kneel down (when no one's around to stare of course) and kiss the ground of Kroonstad.  It is wonderful to be here finally!