Picture this: It’s a beautiful Ugandan afternoon; it rained all morning so the air has cooled down and the sun is just starting to peak out of the clouds. Sitting beneath a mango tree, I look out past our Sunday school class of 30 to take in the view of Lake Victoria. To my left is a bustling little fishing village and to my right is the dirt-floored church we’re working at this afternoon. Standing next to me is Amber equipped with the guitar and a smile. For an hour, we sing every kids song we know (even making a few up as we go), butchering Waves of Mercy because Amber can’t play guitar and I don’t know the words, telling the story of David and Goliath in the most epic way possible, and doing “America’s favorite dance” (the Hokie Pokie, obviously) with more fervor than any human should have.

How could I have gotten tired of doing this?

For a brief moment I’m reminded of why I love doing this so much. Then, after taking 3 hours to go 50 kilometers, pushing the van for half of that, we make it home so late that even though I haven’t showered in 6 days, I still can’t muster up enough energy to take a cold bucket shower in our electricity-less house… and then my headlamp broke.

So let me tell you what I’ve learned from this… I have a bad attitude.

My lesson in perseverance: suck it up, pull it together, re-shift my focus back to where it should be, and keep truckin’. Joy will come, eventually, but that doesn’t mean that I have the right to shut down until then.

 
(Still no pictures, African internet isn’t good anywhere… I’ll post a blog full of Uganda pictures when we get to India in April.)