Life is a Blessing

I have wanted to write this post ever sense I have been home from Uganda. Now that I have been back for almost a year, I have found the time and the desire to actually sit down and write about the experience I have had and the things that I have realized sense I have been back.
When I first got back from Uganda, I was so excited to see my parents and eat food and take a REAL shower!!! Those were the things that I was most excited about. The next day, my family and I left for our annual vacation to California. I was excited to go and see my extended family and see the beach and everything. On the way down to cali, my family stopped at our cabin that my family worked on a lot when I was gone. It was so great. I loved it; it was just what I had ever wanted. Then we continued onto California. It was fun to be there, I saw all my family and had fun at the beach. When my family and I were getting ready to leave, we were cleaning out the fridge and throwing away the food that wouldn’t last all the way back home. It was so hard for me to see all of this food getting thrown away. The food that hit me the strongest and I just couldn’t throw away was peanut butter. In Uganda, I would eat peanut butter everyday, with everything that I ate. I had gotten really sick from some of the food there so I would eat this peanut butter to keep my energy up and get the nutrients that I needed. So hafting to throw away this food that I had eaten for the past three months, I couldn’t do it. It was just too hard.
After that experience, many different things hit me.
I had just come from this amazing place, that didn’t have showers or running water. A place where my neighbors had run down homes or no homes at all and where some were struggling to find food to eat. I had come from this place where people were struggling to find ways to receive some income so they can support their families. Then I thought of my situation in life, where I have not only one home now but two homes. I have a home where I can take a nice warm shower where no one will walk past and see me showering and a home that I can get a drink of water straight from the tap and not be worried about what is in the water or if I will get sick from it. I have so much food that is in my house, if I am hungry I can go to the fridge and pull out bread or anything that I want and I won’t be hungry. I am so blessed and I never realized how blessed I was. When I was in Uganda, I found me asking myself the question, “Why was I born into the situation that I was born into”, “Why do I have so many blessings in my life”, “Why was I chosen to live in America where I have so many opportunities to make something of myself and live a great life?” “What made me so special?” I have met so many great and smart and humble people who are in these situations that hinder there progress in life. Do they deserve to be in the situation that they are in? I know that if they were in America and had the blessing that I have, they would be so successful and live this great life. They are doing the best that they can with the sources they have.
There is this group that I met when I was there, they are called The Youth Outreach Mission. They are doing so many great things for their town. They travel to different schools and try and teach them about life and ways to stay strong and safe. They give of their time and anything else that they can to help the youth and be there for the youth. They love to serve the people around them. They have the best attitudes and are trying the best that they can to have a good life. As I reflect on my life and the experiences that I have had, I wonder what I have done with my life. I have always wanted to be someone that people can trust and I have always wanted to do something great with my life and make a difference in any way that I can. I have such high expectations of myself but I feel like I am not doing anything to make this happen. I loose sight of the goals that I have and I believe that I become lazy. I have all the resources to make what I want happen. Why don’t I do it then? I have no idea. Sometimes I feel like I should switch with someone who knows what they want and would use the resources they have to make those things happen. Anyways, The point that I wanted to make was the fact that I am so blessed and need to take advantage of this and use these blessings to not only improve myself and reach my goals and full potential, but while doing this, help others reach there full potential and reach there goals. I have been given this life for a reason and I need to stop making excuses for myself and make something out of myself and be grateful for not only the big things in my life but also the small ones. Such as: Showers, food, homes, family, trees and nature, and the main one for me in my life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints and the knowledge it brings. I love my life and am thankful for it.