Doing Well...

Family!
I know you have all heard from my mom about how I am doing so that is all out of the way. I know she also sent you a personal update from me as well at the beginning of the week.

I am continuing to do very well. I am getting along with the team here and making friends easily. At the moment I am in our city office...which has a cable modem (PRAISE GOD!!)...and I am finally able to get online. I have been trying for the last few days to get on, but the internet has been down in the office complex due to lots of people using it. I'm not sure I will be able to try everyday, but I will get online as much as I can. Sometimes, because of appointments we have, I only have 15 or so minutes, so it is usually a quick try or just a few emails and then I'm off again. You will continue to hear from me as much as the internet allows me and as much as the electricity allows me.

Zim feels like home. I knew it would, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. I completed my first week here on Wednesday and it has only felt like a few days. God is so good!! I'm kissing and hugging lots of babies and small children who don't have anything. When I say they don't have anything, I mean, no shoes, maybe only one pair of clothing they use until it is falling off of them and only one meal a day....made of the corn porridge I told you about and some sort of vegetable like greens or cabbage. The orphanages have been extra special this week. We are handing out shoe boxes from Samaritans Purse to some of the orphanages and when the kids open the boxes, they kind of just stare at the contents. They are unsure of what to do with little trinkets, they have never seen a stuffed animal or a small doll before and don't know what to do with them. We have had to literally take them out of the boxes and show them how to use them or play with them because they have never seen anything like it in their whole lives. I watched a little girl eat strawberries and pineapple for the first time in her short 8 years. I can't describe to you the look on her face as she started to chew and taste the sweet and tart tastes. These kids have never eaten anything other than bland food that is only eaten to give them some nutrition. Dorothy took me to a grocery store last Sunday and literally there is NOTHING on the shelves here but some wilted vegetables, some blocks of butter, and bottles of soda.

People in Africa are starving to death when there are people in the world who get mad when their ipod stops working or when they are inconvienenced with not being able to get their favorite flavored ice cream at the store. It is so important to count your blessings. Thank God everyday for things like electricity and hot water, because there are people in this world who are living without. Never take for granted the small things in your life because someone in the world may have no idea what it is like to have a doll or clean water or constant electricity. Thank God that you don't have to stand in line for an hour to withdraw money from your bank account or have a limit of only $2 a day that you can withdraw. This is Zimbabwe. This is what the people here have to live with. Standing in line for everything. Paying out of control amounts of money for small things. Its crazy.

I love you. I miss you. I will write more later. I'm off to do a school assembly.

Thanking God,
Gina :)