Back at Launch in September, our squad got some pretty big news. Our original route had changed. We we’re suppose to spend December in Botswana, January in Swaziland, and February in South Africa. But instead of going to Southern Africa, we would venture to East Africa and spend our months in Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Teams hadn’t been in this region in over a year and half, and we knew this meant we would be the experiment squad for these three months. So after three months in Asia, we had our first continent change and landed in Uganda at the beginning of December.
The first week of the month we spent in Jinga, Uganda having debrief with our whole squad. Our coaches and mentor flew out from the States, and we had lots of one on ones with our leaders. We had time for teams to debrief, evening talks, and awesome worship. It’s a time to be filled again and also a chance to rest and play with people we haven’t seen in a few weeks. One day, our adventure was white water rafting class 5 rapids on the Nile River. It was for sure a race highlight.
We arrived at our ministry site at the end of the week, Kinaawa, Uganda, a small village outside of the capital city, Kampala. My team was working with a Pastor and his church for the month. We lived with him and his family in the village. Honestly, there was a lot of adjustment that had to happen for most of us. How we lived was very different than what we are use to at home or even what we experienced the past three months in Asia. The seven of us shared a room with some other creatures. We prayed over our bunk beds at night, and thankfully when one broke, no one was hurt. We took bucket showers in the corner of the room, and going to the bathroom meant walking to a hole outside. It took some time for our stomachs to get used to our new diet, and we all still fought bouts of sickness all month. We didn’t have running water, and often the electricity went out for days at a time. It was humbling to struggle through living like millions of other people. I definitely became aware of my princess tendencies this month. Like I said, it was just an adjustment.
Ministry varied day to day. We preached on Sundays and Wednesdays. We did some community work like picking up trash and painting schools. Our favorite days were Saturday when we met up with most of our squad and had sports days in different communities. One things that was challenging about this month was that a lot of our ministry didn’t look or feel like ministry. We were honored guests at a primary school graduation, and we went to several houses to be served lunch throughout the month. It’s hard to see how that’s impacting the Kingdom, but I’m beginning to see that usually your presence is the best thing you can give someone. Which makes sense, because that’s what I long for most from The Father.
Since it was December, Uganda is where we spent our Holidays. It was hard to be away from home during the holidays, actually that’s an understatement. Often, it didn’t even feel like Christmas, and I was often wanting it to be over so I wouldn’t be missing home as much. But it was really awesome to celebrate in a way I never had before. Christmas Eve we did work in the community and that night we had a Christmas program. The family acted out the Christmas story for us. We danced and ate popcorn, and the pastor even dressed up as Santa for us. We had two church services on Christmas and a giant lunch with the whole family. In between the services, our team celebrated with a Secret Santa, stuffing ourselves with chocolate, and watching Christmas movies. It’s a Christmas I will never forget.
I’ll be honest, and you can go back and read some of my brutally honest blogs from this month, but this month was hard. I had to adjust to living without a lot of comforts I usually don’t even think about, like running water and a real toilet. It was Christmas which made thinking about home a daily struggle. It was also our first month living with our hosts. It was great to be around a family, but I was exhausted from feeling like I always had to be “on”.
And though it was really really hard, I also have to tell you that this month was so good. I’ve developed an amazing dependency on God. He had to be the first thing I went to every morning, and I loved how he never failed to speak to me. I learned a lot about my imperfections and then he blew me away by showing me his gracious love. The amazing thing about struggling is that I got to see God’s grace. And not just see it, experience it and be amazed by it. In a month when I missed home, I experienced God has my home. He was my Comforter. And though I wish I could have served him better and been joyful always, I was still is delight.
I told you in a blog that this month was hard, but God was telling me it would be worth it. And He was right. I wouldn’t trade a second of that month. It was all so incredibly worth it.
