So the past month or so has been utterly nuts. I know I’ve
been delinquent in blogging, but we didn’t even see a sign for internet from
August 1-August 21. So what have I been
up to?
On July 30th, we left Tanzania and headed to
Jinja, Uganda for white water rafting the Nile. After an 18 hour travel day, we
arrived at Adrift and set up our tents (at midnight). The next morning, we set
off down the Nile. It was an incredible experience. They say, “Do one thing
every day that scares you.” I kept thinking, Well, what if you do 6 things that utterly terrify you in one day? Do
you get a few days off?
my head on almost every one. I did fall out and bobbed down the white water
until I was rescued by a kayak man and
then taken to another boat to wait for my team. That was on a class 4-5, by the
way. Not exactly something you want to swim in, but it was quite an adventure.
for about 15 minutes. We eventually had to bail out into another boat, as ours
was totally full of water, and then climb back in once we were free. We did not
get to go the 14 foot drop because the water levels were too high. (But I was
relieved about this, because I did not enjoy the swimming/drowning process in
the rapids.) The Bad Place wasn’t so bad, and soon we were done, enjoying
kebabs and soda on the shore. Did I mention the lunch they served us was
probably my favorite meal in Africa? Fresh brown bread, ham, cheese, avocado,
and heaps of pineapple. SO GOOD!
We headed to Kampala for our cultural briefing on Sunday, August 1, and then
headed out to the North Mbale diocese, in the shadow of Mount Elgon.
We spent one week in Kalawa Parish, one week in Buginyanya,and one week in Nbongo. Then we went back to Kampala for four days before our
travel day to Nairobi and then Ireland.
Some highlights from ministry can be found here.
Kampala was supposed to be a time of serving at a
conference, but the conference was canceled so we got a few days to relax-we
saw Inception (crazy movie), ate some good food, caught up on e-mails and
Facebook, and basically just relaxed.
Then it was travel day: read the blog here.
28-29, were debrief-we met as a team with our coaches and all five squad
leaders, explored Dublin, and got some shopping in. The Awakening conference
started on Monday and went through Thursday. It blew my mind-I am still
processing everything that happened. We also got to explore Dublin some more
and enjoy some traditional Irish food.
While in Dublin, our team changed, and I am delighted tointroduce to Kathryn. You may recognize her from Team Again for the First Time
(our all-girls team in Thailand), or as the keynote speaker from my USC extension graduation in Thailand.
though sad that Jonathan has switched teams.
And now we are in Romania, in Bucharest, gearing up for
another month of ministry, at Casa Shalom.
And for a quick run-down, here’s what’s up next: October we
have an ATL (Ask the Lord) month, so our team will be praying about and finding
a contact to work with in one of the following 6 countries: Bosnia, Czech
Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.
In November, we head to the Ukraine for our final month of
ministry (well, about 2 weeks of ministry), and then we have final debrief.
We head back to the States on Saturday, November 20th,
and I will be back in California on November 22nd.
So that’s where we’ve been and where we are going. If you
have any ministry contacts in those 6 countries mentioned above, let me know!
It’s hard to believe we are already in the last few months. l’ve heard this is when
time really starts to fly, so pray I make the most of every moment.
Blessings & love,
Glenalyn
