Prayer from a Pisikoa

Dear (insert preferred deity/deities/spirit(s)/guide(s) here)

Thank you for all the wonderful blessings you have put into my life. Every night I go to sleep unspeakably thankful that I crawl into bed under a mosquito net and not layers upon layers of blankets and thermal underwear.

Please remind me every day of the beauty and love that surround me all the time, even when everything feels hopelessly bleak.

Give me patience to endure (dinner with the rowdy kids across the street, lessons that fall flat, endless hours of nothing to do, getting work done, etc.) and still be a pleasant person.

Help me build the relationships necessary to starting (and eventually finishing) projects. Help me get to know the people around me who can provide resources, help, and friendship.

Please send more rain.

Please help me find the strength and courage to be the PCV I want to be.

Give me patience to endure and still be a pleasant person.

Thank you for the good karma that comes my way. I think I’ve paid my dues to get a few occasions of good luck, so thanks for remembering me every once in a while.

Help me cultivate a gracious and giving heart. I understand now more than ever the importance of sharing when you have, so that you have good credit to borrow with when you have not. Help me to open my heart and resources to those who have so generously shared with me.

Remind me to find growth and learning opportunities from my frustrations instead of stubbornly holding onto complaints and grudges because it is so easy to complain. Don’t even get me started – my list is probably 5 miles long.

Give me patience to endure and still be a pleasant person.

Help me find motivation, inspiration, and initiative for both professional and personal pursuits.

Please, please, please find it in your heart and my good karma reserves to let me have running water while my sister is visiting.

Thank you for the periods of good health. I know they aren’t permanent, and the longer they last, the more I worry about the next storm, but help me not to worry – it only makes things worse.

Give me patience to endure.

Help me to learn to trust the process and the people around me.

Thank you so much for my PC family – they provide relationships and resources I desperately need and without which I would probably not survive.

Help me to forget worries, anxieties, stress, negativity, cynicism, etc. etc, and help me to remember optimism, hopefulness, idealism, laughter, and a light spirit.

If there’s anything I’ve forgotten, please work on those things too.

Natalie