So there are things about having your birthday in a foreign country that make it completely unique.  So just in case you were wondering, if you ever have your birthday in Uganda, these are some things that could happen:
 

 

You could ride in a matatu (a local van taxi) that may or may not be the scariest ride of your life trying to get to a school for ministry.

You could go to a school and sing ‘This Little Light of Mine’ for the 100th time.

You could be sitting in a church with no real walls, no real roof, and attempting to sing along in Luganda for worship(doesn’t work well for me, but Dustin’s pretty good at it!).
 

You might have 100 African children sing Happy Birthday to you with huge smiles on their faces.

You might get some pretty creative birthday cards from teammates due to lack of resources 🙂

Instead of getting a ‘real’ birthday present, a little girl might just give you a mango right off the tree as a gift(best present I’ve ever gotten!).

You might have a pastor who surprises you with a cake and fireworks as candles (not the same as my mom’s homemade cake, but a very sweet gesture).

You might play Hat Trick with teammates by candlelight and headlamp because the power has gone out (again!)

 

 

You might have teammates who will dress up in Halloween costumes to recreate your favorite birthday party as a child (I realize my birthday is in June, it’s a long story).

You might get to share the Gospel with African children and tell them how much Jesus truly loves them.

AND you might just watch people all over the city pray and receive Christ to be their Lord and Savior.

All of this to say I had a pretty great birthday this year.  I never thought I would EVER spend time in Uganda, much less for my birthday, but what a wonderful experience it was.  God is so good and who knows where my next birthday will be??