Life in The Bush of Africa

 

 

 

 

 We arrived at our ministry site in Mbarara, Uganda about a week ago & it has been just fabulous! We are getting the full African experience with no running water, no electricity, and living in our Pastor's house that is under construction & placed in the middle of nowhere, Uganda. Aside from feeling like a dirty bird most of the time, I am loving this basic lifestyle with dinner by candlelight, squatty potties, and bucket showers. 

The ministry we are doing is teaching at schools, playing soccer with kids, preaching at high schools, churches, open markets, and even door-to-door evangelism. It has been extremely fruitful. With many months of manual labor under my belt, the relational ministry these past two months in Africa has been refreshing. Planting seeds is so important, and I'm thankful for all those months, but it is nice to see God move right in front of our eyes as we preach & see people join the family. 

Overall, Uganda has been a country of laughs. I don't think I've ever laughed so much with the people, during hilarious cultural differences, or just random odd situations we seem to get ourselves into here. So to take a break from my usual serious, heartfelt blogs, I am going to tell ya'll a funny story about our bat friend who lives with us. 

   So last Sunday, we were staying up late, talking about random things as we always do and just enjoying life together, when all of the sudden we heard Emily (who we thought was sleeping) in the next room, say in an hurried voice, "THERE'S A BAT IN HERE!" Our initial reaction was freak out/laugh hysterically/run around like bats, ourselves. We grabbed our trusty head lamps, went the two steps into the other room, and hid under the bottom bunks until we spotted the poor bat with our light. Long story short, we screamed a lot, crammed 4 girls onto the bottom bunk bed because that was our only shelter from the terrible bat, and eventually Pastor Solomon came in to our part of the house to calm us down. He told us that the bat had been living in the ceiling with them ever since they built the house, and assured us that it wouldn't bite us – or our worse fear – poop in our mouth while we were sleeping. He laughed his big African laugh at us, flapped his arms around like a bat & poked fun at our silly American fears. Side note: our contact this month is by far one of the most hilarious people I have ever met. He cracks himself up constantly, and is so on fire for Jesus. 

I am thankful for these funny moments God has for us, for the awesome people here, and for welcoming, loving hosts.