Month 8. I can’t believe it.
To be completely honest I had little to no expectations for Uganda. The way my mind was thinking was that I just had to get through this country to get to Europe. Boy, was I wrong. Uganda blew my low expectations out of the water. This country & this month quickly became my favorite. Isn’t it funny how the Lord will do that to us? I left a big piece of my heart in that country and more specifically in Rukungiri.
Straight off the plane & to the grocery store we found some of our favorites. This is when we knew it was going to be a good month.
We started off our time in Uganda in Jinja for a debrief with the whole squad. We stayed on the Nile River & it was so beautiful. See my blog, sober saturday nights for more on our time there!!
I got to white water raft on the freaking Nile River!!! Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.
Anyone who knows me knows how important family is to me. My uncle Mark owns a couple coffee shops & roasters out in San Diego, CA. Him and the boys were out in Africa sourcing beans and creating relationships with farmers and our paths crossed in Uganda. It was the best afternoon catching up with him. I love him a whole lot and he has played such an influential role in my life and I’m forever grateful for that. I’m not so secretly hoping to live out in SD with him soon!
One of the last nights at debrief was one of my top moments of the race so far. A lot of this debriefs focus was about going back to what the first church was like. Inviting others in & breaking bread together. We prayed for & over each other every night but this night was particularly special. Because we were in such a public area we had people listening in. We invited them into our sessions. We opened it up for prayer and stayed there praying for these people for hours. It was SO COOL. I never want moments like this to end!!
We left Jinja & headed for Rukungiri on a 10 hour bus ride. I’m not going to lie it was pretty rough. The first weekend we arrived I had to opportunity to preach. It’s so crazy to think about where I was just a year ago. I knew I was going to be doing the race but when I thought about preaching I figured I would let others take the lead on that part. In my journal I wrote an entry about this and looking back I just laugh because it shows how much GROWTH I’ve experienced in this area. It was an experience I’ll remember forever.
Our host had go-karts!!
The ministry we partnered with this month, Unified In Mission, planned a soccer match in a village. It was EPIC. The whole village came out. Hundreds of people. It was incredible!
One of my favorite ministry opportunities this month, and probably the whole race, was with Chilli Children. A ministry for disabled children & their families. They provide counseling, healthcare & sustainability within families. Chilli Children provided families of children who are seeking help, with chili seeds. These families grow chilis at their homes and sell them back to this ministry who have buyers in the UK. This creates an environment that doesn’t allow the families to become dependent on the help they’re receiving. My business mind went nuts when I found this out. I’ve seen so many people who rely on help far too long and no longer know how to provide when the help stops and that is incredibly sad. We got the chance to hangout with the children while they received physical therapy & their mothers received counseling. Keep these sweet kiddos and their mothers in your prayers!
While helping out at on the UIM farm land I found my love for baby goats!!
There was was another team staying the same city as us & for Valentine’s Day the boys treated the girls to a day at the salon. We had our hair washed, our nails done & a meal prepared for us. It was so special and so thoughtful. I love these boys so much!!
One day for ministry we took food to families in the villages & got to pray over them!
Our host, Amanda, quickly became a friend to all of us! I miss our throwback car jams so much!!
Lawrence & Seth, staff at UIM, also became good friends of ours. Lawrence became a dad while we were there. We were so happy to meet baby Larry!!
Adventures back to the airport wouldn’t be complete with a flat tire of course. If you look carefully you can see the tree trunk the locals found to help lift the car. Only in Africa, am I right?
Thanks Uganda for the best month. I will be back. xo
