doing the little things with love.

I promised my dad I would write a blog post tonight...so here I go!

Things have been pretty good lately! I am sick though...I had to go to the hospital on Friday because of these really bad chest pains I've been having...the doctor was not sure what it was...maybe bronchitis, phemonea...not to sure to be honest..it really sucks...and I'm in quite a bit of pain...but on a positive note...i got to see what a hospital in Africa looks like. Very interesting. Very sad. not very much equipment to work with at all..very basic...so many patients were just in beds in the halls because there wasn't enough room for them...it was hard to see.

So there is a little girl that lives just across the street from me and just the other day she saw a little orange on the ground and literally sprinted for it..once again I found myself in awe of how much i had and how I so often take things for granted...a dirty orange...and she got so excited...its so amazing to see these peoples mind sets.

Speaking of mind sets...I was talking to one of the teachers at my school and i was explaining depression to him...and he didn't really understand the concept because its not very common in a culture such as Tanzania's. It got me thinking about how its possible that so many people can be dealing with such deep emotional issues in north America and the people who I see suffering everyday don't even understand the concept of it..Shouldn't it be the opposite? Perhaps something is wrong with the way we are going about things. "There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much."

Cute story time! So it was one of my little boys birthdays the other day so I made him a birthday crown and got him some candy and got the class to sing him happy birthday...it was really nothing...or so I thought. His mother ended up calling the founder of the school to express her gratitude...he was telling me how happy she was and how grateful she was! All that thanks for a paper hat and some candy? Man. Really got me thinking about mother Teresas quote: "in this life you cannot do great things, just small things with great love." ...who knows who you can impact through the smallest act, be it a smile, opening the door for someone, having a conversation with a stranger or even making a paper hat for a child.

More exciting news! Starting Wednesday I will be coaching soccer to a group of young girls! I am so excited! Girls don't get much opportunity to play sports here so the fact that I get to help out with that makes my insides tingle :P (If anyone has any ideas for drills please email me!)

Ok, I still have a whole lesson plan to make...and I gotta get on that!

Hope all is well on the other side of the world.

LOVE YOU!

Monica.