Placement!

Hello wonderful family and friends!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have been working at the wonderful and beautiful camp called Good Earth Village in Spring Valley, Minnesota this summer and I have not had a ton of time to blog.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email with my placement for YAGM!! I cannot explain the excitement I was feeling when I opened that attachment. After calming myself down, I read the letter that told me I would be living and working in Soweto, South Africa! Soweto is a large city located just outside of Johannesburg (see the map below). While there, I will be working for the Diakonia AIDS Ministry (DAM). This organization is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) and ministers to people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS. I found this website that does a good job of providing an overview of DAM and the services offered there: http://www.charitysa.co.za/diakonia-aids-ministry.html. While I do not know what exactly I will be doing with DAM, I have accepted the fact that I will not know everything in advance, and I must instead discover many new things once I arrive.

I am so excited to begin this journey of living, working, and involving myself in the community of Soweto and DAM! Thank you to everyone who has been by my side throughout this journey so far.

If you would like to stay up-to-date while I am in Soweto, here are a couple of ways to stay in contact:

     -My email address is emilycdahle@gmail.com. Please don't be afraid to shoot me an email - I would love to stay in touch!

     -Obviously continue following my blog! I will update this as often as possible!

     -My mailing address while in Soweto will be: Emily Dahle, c/o Diakonia AIDS Ministry, Box 1210, Roodeport, 1725, South Africa. Feel free to send me letters, postcards, etc. I love being pen pals!

Finally, here are a couple of maps to show you all where both South Africa and Soweto are located:

Much love,

Emily :)

It's really happening!

Hello all!

And here begins my blogging journey... I will attempt to be interesting and insightful, but most importantly, I will attempt to be myself and give you all a glimpse into my life. Here we go!

As most of you know, I will be spending the next year in Southern Africa with the Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program through the ELCA. I am INCREDIBLY excited for this opportunity and can't wait to see what God has in store for my future! I'm hoping that this blog can be a place to keep everyone at home updated on my adventures as well as give me a place to process all of my thoughts and feelings throughout this experience.

Ever since finding out about my placement in Southern Africa (FYI - the program is called YAGM in Southern Africa because the church body that we work with also has some congregations in neighboring countries, but I will almost certainly be placed within the actual country of South Africa), I have been on cloud nine! As the summer gets closer, I am starting to realize that it is really happening and I could not be more excited!! Every time another one of my fellow YAGMs post on Facebook or share one of their blog posts (you should read theirs; seriously, these people are incredible) I am overwhelmed with this feeling of joy and happiness. Geez, I just can't get over how blessed I am for this opportunity. God rocks.

Now that I have talked your ear off about YAGM, I feel like I need to mention my upcoming graduation from Wartburg College. I can't even begin to describe the gratitude and appreciation for Wartburg and all of the wonderful people I have met along the way! Today, I was taking pictures around campus and all I could think about was how much I am going to miss this place! However, I will always identify myself as a Wartburg Knight and I know I will always be able to lean on the huge family that I have become a part of during these last four years. Ok, enough mushy stuff. I'm getting emotional again.

I will leave you with a picture I took on Wartburg's campus earlier today. For any future college students that may be reading this, seriously come and visit. You won't regret it.

-Emily :)