There was no way to prepare for Africa.
I, like many of us, had never been before and had no idea what to expect.
I heard things prior to coming, tales really, both frightening and unsettling. For example: “There’s this worm that can get into your body and the only way to get it out is to extract it with a metal rod that you have to stick under your skin and turn very slowly or else the worm breaks and can still feed off of your body”.
Seriously? Just lovely.
Another one of my favorites was, “Yeah, a guy who went on the race found maggots living on his feet after two weeks in Africa”.
How did he not notice that? No thank you.
Other popular phrases floating around included, “Everybody gets malaria”, “You will be proposed to at least once”, “Take up knitting because African church is long”, “You are going to gain weight”, and my personal favorite “Babies will cry when they see you”. So you can imagine my confusion about what was in store for me in this new continent.
And then we arrived in Rwanda. Our ministry for the month was in a town called Nygatare, about 30 km from the border of Uganda. We were pleasantly surprised by our living accommodations that included a fully functioning bathroom, (with hot water showers!) mattresses, and electricity. I can honestly tell you I didn’t think any of those things would be included in my Africa experience. The town was pretty modern, everyone has a cell phone, and the market actually had real peanut butter. There were surprises around every corner.
Then we met the tallest man in the world (aka Pastor Kaleb)… I mean, this guy is like 7 feet tall and weighs about 50 pounds. He told us that our month would be full of preaching at his church and that his wife would be cooking all of our meals. Preaching for our food? Not bad. Our schedule wasn’t quite as full as I thought it would be but here was a typical day for us:
· 9am: Walk a mile and a half for breakfast at Pastor Kaleb’s house
· 10am: Walk a mile and a half back to our house
· 5pm: Walk a mile and a half for dinner at Pastor’s house
· 6pm-8:30pm: Church/preachin’ time
· 9pm: Walk a mile and a half home to sleep
A LOT of walking. Most of the walking included a large amount of people staring at us and little children yelling “Muzungu” (or as you know it in English “white dude”). Everyone wanted to talk to us and I started to feel how a celebrity must feel every time they go to the grocery store. The town dynamic was something to get used and cultural barriers did come up; but attending the church and meeting the people was definitely the highlight of the month. The church has so much passion and they really desire to know Jesus. I loved seeing the little kids dancing around, praying, and singing during worship. It helped me to see that people all around the world, even the kids, are experiencing a renewed excitement in the church. Just when you think something might be stuck somewhere else, you find the exact opposite to be true. That is some good hope to have.
My first time in Africa, I guess you could call it a success. Soon we will be in Uganda for another month of ministry and month 8 of the race. Keep praying for us as we knock off another continent and take one step closer to coming home.
And just in case you were wondering- No one got any worms, maggots, or even malaria. Yes, a baby did cry when they saw. Yes, I was proposed to, although it was in a group setting so I don’t think it really counts.
