Hello, hello there blogging world!
I know, I know, it’s been a while since my last post.
A big part of me wants to make an excuse in saying that I haven’t blogged for the past month and a half because around this time last month, my netbook died on me, thus leaving me computer-less. However, I don’t think that’s a good enough excuse because my lovely friend Savannah has been so generous in letting me use her computer whenever I need to (yeah, she’s amazing). & Along with that, I now really have no excuse because my other lovely friend Amanda just gave me an iTouch. She literally just handed it to me and said I could use it for the next 4 months and maybe even beyond that. Whoa, talk about generosity (thanks Amanda! You’re amazing). Every day I am humbled more and more by God’s provision and people’s generosity. I’m convinced that I’ve been surrounded by the most amazing people on earth both back home, here on the Race, and in every country we step foot in. Whew.
So in reality, I think that the only thing I have to say about my lack of blogging is that I have been simply lazy and for that I am sorry.
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(Before I go on, can I just tell you about the precious moment I’m having right now as I write this? Yes? Okay, good, because I was going to tell you regardless of your resposnse. J … So I’m sitting in a chair with my new favorite 2 ½ year old friend, Ryan. He’s the son of Flavia, the woman who cooks all of our meals and he’s the most precious child I have ever encountered. We’re sitting together, listening to Seryn – I’m typing and he’s dancing and clapping in his seat to the music, sometimes taking a break to mess with the buttons on this computer or my iTouch. So precious – my heart is full. Yeah I know, I’m turning into a mom more and more every day).
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Anyway, I’m sure you’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to these past two months outside of what you know from my facebook posts and/or emails sent to you.
Well, allow me to recap for you!
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Last month my team spent our time alone in a city called Kitale in the country of Kenya. We lived and worked at an orphanage/school in the area called Great Mercy and had a really amazing experience there. Last month was the month most of us had been waiting for all year – a month to spend working with children and building relationships with people in the community. Great Mercy was founded and run by a married couple: Judith and Evans. They’re both powerhouses and have made a huge impact on the city of Kitale through their work for the Lord. The children we worked with ranged from the ages of 3 to 21. We did anything and everything to help out at the school – from one on one counseling sessions with the children to teaching classes to educating them about drinking clean water to leading Bible studies to running together after school. God really gave us a lot of opportunity to help Great Mercy in every way: spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. What a satisfying month it was!
My favorite memories came from the runs we had after school at 5 pm. The sound of the children’s bare feet or flip flops hitting the dirt road in front of, beside, and behind me will be a sound I will never forget. Over time, I developed a few faithful running buddies, my favorite being a ten year old named Brian. Brian was new to the orphanage when we arrived. Judith and Evans found him living on the streets with his mother and brother and brought him to the orphanage to give him an education, food, a bed, and a better life (his brother soon followed a couple weeks later). Running with him every day and seeing him transform from a frightened, zoned-out boy who would run away from the orphanage to a joyful boy who wanted me to share in every moment with him was an amazing experience. Seeing him blossom in such a healthy environment and become the boy that God created him to be has probably been one of my favorite experiences on the race.
& The friendship I created with Brian while running every day after school is one that I will never forget. It’s amazing what a simple run off of the property can do for individuals. Brian couldn’t speak a word of English, nor could I speak a word of Swahili, yet we became closer every day as we ran together. This ten year old boy could run faster and farther than I probably ever will be able to, yet he would always stick by my side (or at least only go a few steps ahead of me). We would challenge each other and push each other to run further and faster than I had originally planned. We would race to the finish and smile at each other as we passed back and forth on who would win each time. We would make fun of each other as we ran along (mostly him making fun of me for being so “slow”) and laugh at the miscommunications we had. & We would gain more and more freedom from each run as we both had a lot of personal crap in our lives to overcome. Each run helped us (or at least me) let go of more and more pain that we were working through. Whew. God is good.
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Moving on to this month… we’re in Uganda! How cool! Uganda is a country I have wanted to visit ever since I was a teenager and began to hear about the movement Invisible Children was making to free the child soldiers here from the Lord’s Resistance Army (no, we’re not working in any of the areas where that captivity once existed). It’s really exciting to finally be here and see what the country is really like.
This month, my team is partnered up with another team full of amazing women. We’re living in the outskirts of Mbarara, Uganda with a pastor named Solomon and his family. Solomon is hilarious, his wife is a powerhouse, and his children are beautiful. Our home for the month is simple and comfortable, made of cement with a living room and three bedrooms attached. We have couches and bunk beds. We have an amazing woman named Flavia who volunteers to cook our food every day. We have amazing women who volunteer their time to wash our clothes and clean up the house for us every day. We have no power, no running water, and have to use a squatty potty as a toilet. The squatty potty is infested with bugs, the house is full of flies, and a bat flies around in our rooms at night. Those last few things seem disgusting, and they are, but the love we have grown for this place overrules them all and makes them to be more funny to us than anything.
We have been working in the village’s school – teaching classes, joining in physical education, and painting with the kids. We’ve also visited a few other schools, preaching and encouraging the students to follow God earnestly. We’ve visited hospitals and prayed for the sick there, as well as sitting down and meeting the families who are visiting their hospitalized loved ones. We’ve gone door to door in our neighborhood and shared the joy we get from our relationship with God with our neighbors. We run in the mornings/afternoons and typically have 3-10 children run with us. Basically, we collect children as we go along… not because we try to, but because we’re “mzungus” and we’re running for exercise (which is a strange thing to do here). We have stretching and workout sessions afterwards with the children who join us. We play soccer and Frisbee at the local park. We have dancing competitions with the kids who hang out outside of our home every day. We simply just love, listen, laugh, encourage, talk to, and commune with the people God surrounds us with every day, and it’s beautiful.
Uganda is quickly becoming one of my favorite months on the race. It seems like every month gets better and better for me and I’m okay with that. J
I’m excited to see what more God has in store for us here in Mbarara.
I’ll try to keep you posted as soon as I can!
Love and miss you all.
<3 Em
