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| Me Visiting the Hope Team |
My name is Matthew Daniels and I come from a small community called Schley. Its not much but its home. Just a bunch of open fields and cows. Some people might think it would be way to boring living out there but hey, that's the way i like it. Right now my life is pretty hectic between Managing a Domino's Pizza about 50 or so hours a week and going to school (taking Spanish) 2 nights a week. It can be stressful at times but its all how you deal with it. I enjoy hunting, fishing, exploring, hiking, and just about anything else outside. I also enjoy building anything with my hands and teaching others to do so. So basically going to Bolivia makes so much sense!
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| La Paz Bolvia |
The plan is to move down to La Paz, Bolivia (South America) this summer. This is no small town, but a huge City (something i'm not use to). I will be joining the Hope World Wide Team there. They are some amazing people and I can't wait to spend a year with them. While there i will be volunteering in Fundacion Arco Iris, an organization started 20 years ago to help the poor and the homeless children living on the streets of La Paz. The program i will be joining will involve me teaching a group of these kids the things that i know about Carpentry and wood working and assisting them in building small projects that they can in-turn sell and make money. The whole objective is to show them the value of hardwork and give them an alternative to stealing and pick-pocketing. Also i will help tutor them with their school work (the things that i learned here in our schools). Those are a few reasons i am volunteering but the main reason is that many of these kids don't know what it means to have someone genuinely care about them and give them the time to be a friend or a big brother. My Childhood here growing up wasn't perfect but still i felt the love of having people to care about me and my well-being, and something like that can make all the difference to these children. If i can help just one of these children it all will be worth it.
So please keep me in your prayers and pray that God will guide my footsteps and Strengthen my heart to make it a year away from home and my loved ones. I have never been away from home for more then 2 weeks so this will not be an easy task but through trust in God it will be possible and fruitful.
P.S.
The title of my Blog comes from Brad Paisley's song "Southern Comfort Zone". In his song he talks about unless you get outside of your comfort zone you will never grow. I am very comfortable here in my Southern Comfort Zone. Until I step out on Faith I will personally never be able to grow. I have traveled a few times around the States and around Europe and each time it opens my eyes and helps me to understand life and myself so much more. Listen to His song here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HD_1qr4duk
