This month went by way too fast! Time is flying these days, well except for today as i am sitting in the Nairobi Airport typing this during our 9 hour layover! I will miss these travel days though. We are heading to Swaziland and I am sad to say goodbye, but excited for the month 10!
Travis (a fellow squad leader) and I took an overnight bus from Kenya to Uganda the beginning of this month and as we crossed the boarder, wonderfully uneventful might I add, we entered Uganda just as the sun was beginning to come out for the day and it was so beautiful! Love at first sight! Not with Travis..with Uganda 🙂 i couldn't get over how beautiful it was. We were on a bus to Kampala, but I was to catch up with my team in Jinja, a town along the way. I had done poor planning ahead of time with Noah so as we crossed the border I tried to get a hold of him before my sim card ran out. I woke him up and frantically asked, "Where are you guys staying?" and all I could get from the conversation was..rivers. Travis said they are with the other team at Rivers Rafters Adventures (turns out that is not the exact name). So as we approached Jinja and almost drove past, we asked the driver, he stopped and dropped me off at the side of the road with all of my stuff..a 50lb pack, 45lb day pack (don't judge me) and a 20lb purse 🙂 I was to go to the gas station get my sim card, money out of the atm, and call a taxi. So I turned back to the gas station and walked toward it and it was closed. Really? It was 8am people! I walked back to the road and saw the butt of the bus driving off..praying for direction I started walking to another one, closed..so I started walking back toward the town sign and many motorcycles (I learned later these are bodas and are a very fun, unsafe way to travel) stopped to ask me if they could give me a ride. I thought wow I'm not gonna fit on that! So I said no and kept walking. I ask prayed again, Ok God you're gonna have to help me out me out here, my muscles are fading fast! I heard a small voice could've been my attitude side coming out, but I felt God say, "Well I've given you 2 motorcycles already!" So, I said ok next one I'll take. He sent one right after that! Ha ha! So I got on with all 115lbs of my shenanigans and said Rivers Rafters Adventures please! He didn't know where that was but took me into town and we proceeded to ask about 7 men where this place was. Finally one told us where to go, couldn't understand the directions but knew it was good! So we rode down a dirt road through a village or two and finally came to Nile River Explorers (the real name). I saw my team and felt so relieved that God had brought me there safely! He is in the details! He cares so much for all we do everyday! Remember to include Him! I couldn't have had as much peace as I did if I did not trust God and invite Him in to help guide me that day!
So the month started off with a miracle, seeing God at work and He is all the time! I remember doing the Experiencing God Bible study by Henry Blackaby (rocked my world, check it out!) But he said to find out where God is at work and join in! One thing I've realized more and more on this is that God is at work! Here in Uganda, but he is working back home too! You don't have to travel the world to see this, but change the way you view your world. Today I heard we are coming to American soil July 30th, I'm thinking it will be a crazy reverse culture shock, but how am I going to merge this year with the next however many I have left??!
Back to the here and now though, so after I reunited with my team in Jinja we took off the next day to meet up with Syd Sparks, camp director at Musana Camps (www.musanacamps.org). We drove 2 hours on a bumpy dirt road deep into the jungle to emerge with the awesome overlooking view of Victoria Lake. Breathtaking. Every morning, noon, and and night we enjoyed the view! We met up with Andrea his wife, Malachi 3 yr old son, and Eva 1 year old bundle of adorableness! We also met the camp staff that work with them. Medi, his wife Eva, Mwange, and others. We teamed up with them and ran the camp the first two weeks that they had campers. The campers are from Casana and many are from troubling homes, impoverished places, or the streets. They are part of a program that helps them out. The first week was 30 girls that loved life and adventure. I had a few days with them and then took off with Noah (in a rather uncomfortable matter together on the back of a boda with 2 packs) for a leader retreat in Kampala. We had a great weekend pouring into the team leaders and encouraging them as they are leading, guiding, and partnering with their teammates to finish the race WELL! We had rest and fun and went to Watoto church together! We headed back for the boys camp and walked in to 40 hyper energetic boys!! These kids had so much fun and so did we. Swimming, singing, campfires, making kites, dancing, eating, hiking, and playing games. It was pretty tough on Sweet Aroma to say goodbye at the end of the week for sure.
The last short week with Syd and Andrea we were able to help clear some brush from their beach front and jungle to create a space for a new building to go up. We also helped plant grass in a round-about that Andrea's Uncle had just finished working on. We took a short trip down to the fishing village that is one step away from the property line. It's a different world as they don't have plumbing or electricity. They go out fishing during the night when the best fish are out. The kids were so welcoming and we taught them a few songs. We had some great meals with the family, Andrea is a wonderful cook and baker as well as Emily and Christin! Our favorite snack was ground nuts and we played a few games of Settlers of Catan at night. It was just a great month of seeing God at work at Musana Camps, in Syd and Andrea's life, and in using this month to bring Sweet Aroma closer as well.
We were able to spend a few nights as a team in Kampala and went to church together. There is something so spirit-cool (new word) about being in a church service with your family. Before the race I was in church 24/7, now I savor the Sundays as they can be few and far between. I went with the girls to UCF again (University Community Fellowship-a church Calvary partners with) and was able to see Pastor Micah and his wife Grace this time. It was a great service as they are celebrating 12 years as a church.
We then went off to Jinja (the source of the Nile river) again for the end of the month debrief with the entire squad. It was a great time of rest and reflection. Some bungee jumped and some rafted the Nile. I chose to raft and it was a lot of fun with the girls in my raft and our fearless guide. We were able to share what we were up to this year with him as well! The next day I went with my friend Nate to visit a contact named Robert that had met his grandpa last year in the states. It was so cool, he is a pastor but also overseer of a ministry and school called Fountain of Hope that has 800 kids! It is also ranked the highest academically in Uganda. It is a boarding school for grade 7 and up as they go to school from 5am-10pm. They are very focused, well behaved kids. He also has a church of about 400 and he's planted a few other churches as well. I love seeing what God is up to-the harvest in plentiful!
So I enjoyed boda rides this month, posho fo-sho (sticky stuff like yummy ugali-not really), sunrises, sunsets, team prayers before the day, yummy home cooked food, oh forgot to add fighting and taking down a poisonous snake, hanging with adorable kids that need a bit of love, fanta, WATOTO, UCF, Sweet Aroma, ground nuts, and termites..ha ha not really but there are some miracuously big mounds out there!
I wanted to get a blog off sooner but my computer has completely crashed, killing the blog I had started. Most pictures and stuff were backed up as we all know you can't trust a netbook farther than you can chuck it, well not even that much. ha ha!
Thanks for being part of this with me! I know many who read this have been to other countries and experienced many of this yourselves. Trust God was the motto for the kids at camp this month. Proverbs 3:5-8. I realize how easy it to say this great phrase and teach on this great phrase, Trust God but actually believing it and doing it in the moment is the true test. Trust Him. He'll bring ya a way out even if it's in the form of a crazy boda boda driver!
Prayer Requests:
-finish well not finish fast
-energy and strength as moving around month to month is a bit tiring
-team unity for all the teams
-good health
-God divine appointments- that there are many more!
-Re-entry..ahhhhh!
