Ok. I’m fresh out of excuses for not writing. Our team has
an internet stick this month in Uganda, so the blogs should begin flowing
again–beginning with an update on highlights and everything else for
Kenyaa going down the 5L road again.
Liked: There was
a coffee shop full of “muzungus� (white people) in the town twenty kilometers
down the road. We would often venture there to eat somewhat Americanized food
(including mint chocolate chip ice cream–first time I have found it all race!).
I got to meet up with so many of our squadmates throughout the month to just
mull over our lives and process everything we are learning. It was an awesome
blessing to have a place that reminded me there was a world outside of
cornfields and mud huts.
Loathed: The
squatty bathrooms. We had the smelliest outhouse a few yards from the house.
Now this month, my body to get violently ill for a few days, and I ended up
making quite the mess of the bathroom when everything was projecting out of me.
(oh life on the race, how you get way too comfortable with your body
functions). One particular night during this illness, I ended up vomiting rice
all over the walls, floor, door and a little bit in the half toilet and while
this was going on, the power went out. Oh African rolling blackouts.
During this AWESOME sickness, Papa revealed a lot to me
about His heart. He never, ever wills
for us to be sick. Ever. It’s never His doing. He’s our Dad, and what Dad ever
says “I want my child to be sick so they learn a lesson.� None. No dad would
ever say that. So how much more would your Creator desire your health and your well
being above all? Gracious. I could go on about this lesson for a long time.
Learned: how much
our Daddy’s heart breaks for his children. Kaity Grace and I spent the better
part of the month walking down mud roads and through fields to check up on
orphans living in foster homes. One day, we met a shy, little, six-year old boy
named Dennis. She and I fell in love with him in his tattered, filthy school
uniform. After spending awhile with him, we went down the road to visit his
aunt whom he stays with. Before we were leaving, KG asked if there was anything
we could pray for, and the aunt told us that Dennis had HIV. We both crumbled. Little
six-year old Dennis has no idea he has HIV; his parents died from AIDS within a
year of his life. He takes medicine every month and has no idea why. Our
Daddy’s heart shatters for this little boy.
Laughed: A
lot. always. As you read in the last blog, we had chief general squad leader etc
Jeremiah with us last month, and he shook up a lot for us. It was fun to have a
new person around who just threw things for a loop. Last month, we had team
time every single night for over two hours. Most months I would tell you that
this would be irritating and mundane, but last month it was a time of great
laughter and love. the rolling blackouts that hit while we were sitting in the
office doing team time always made for some entertaining stumbles home.
Loved: Chapatti.
It’s the African equivalent of a tortilla. We then taught them how to make
guacamole, which makes for an amazing combination with these chapattis. A great,
great meal every other night.
Other great things about this month that I will never
forget:
–Three of the men on our squad rented motorcycles, and were
gracious enough to take me joyriding through the African countryside (first
motorcycle ride too. Can I just say that I am obsessed?!). During this journey
we pulled over so I could play in an endless field of sunflowers! So amazing.
–I listened to a pretty long list of sermons last month
during the afternoon African thunderstorms. And these grew me and stretched me
and brought me so much closer to having an intimate relationship with my
Creator and Pursuer. I learned so much last month between those sermons, the
gajillion conversations, and the stillness in the blackouts.
–One last entertaining story for you to end on. Jeremiah,
KG, Christi-an and I were sitting in a small-group meeting in a closet sized
mud-hut, and the amazing Africans in their beautiful harmonization began a song
that none of us could quite understand at first. No straight faces were kept
among the four of us. The song was called “Jesus is a winner.� Those are the
only words for five minutes. But. With the accent, the word winner was
pronounced as a word we use in reference to male privates. After much confusion
among all of us, we were able to finally figure out that Jesus was a winner,
and not something inappropriate/ sacrilegious.
