Jet Setting

The traveling has begun.... and I am exhausted but exhilarated by what God is doing in Africa and how he is using his people to spread the Gospel! 

So I am going to fill you in based on each trip..... 

Adi, DR Congo October 17th - 24th:

On the 17th my boss, Megan, and I hoped on a plane to Arua, Uganda. In Arua we were met by Akuma, the head surgeon/mokonzi (head of the town basically, most important guy) at the Airport and from there we "danced" - bounced through the biggest pot holes you have ever seen, seriously, ducks swim in them when it rains - for three hours over the Congo/Uganda border. 

When we arrived in Congo, I was just expecting to get there and have dinner with Rachel and Lisa, two short termers from Canada that we were there to check up on. But that was not the case. Apparently, Rachel and Lisa had told Akuma that Megan is in charge of sending short termers to different areas in the Central Region. Akuma took this to mean that Megan was a mokonzi bigger than him. So, of course, he had to honor her. And honor he did. 

We got out of the car to the sight of students lining both sides of the road leading to Rachel and Lisa's house. The were singing and dancing and ushering us out of the car. We stood with the children lining both sides and saw three women walking very slowly towards us holding a hoop of flowers for Megan and a bouquet of flowers for the both of us. The women walked towards us slowly in a wedding march style, and then from behind them two girls came dancing up and then chucked, and I mean chucked, handful of flowers at us. This continued for about twenty minutes until we had walked the length of the road. At the end of the road there were about fifteen chairs set up and two chairs for us at the front. We then were greeted with about five different speeches and a few songs by the youth choir. It was nuts. Traveling with Megan sure has some perks. 

Rachel and Lisa are working at the hospital in Adi. So on Monday we went to do consultations with them. Then, on Tuesday we did surgeries. And I got to be in the room, taking vitals and holding flashlights. Word of advice, do not have surgery in North East Congo if you don't have to. Adi is one of the best hospitals in that region, but it lacks a basic thing for surgery. Anesthesia. So we gave each person an epidural which lasted about an hour, but surgeries went about an hour and a half. Oh and when you have an epidural, you are awake. So I spent the day taking vitals, but also watching the meds wear down on people, having to hold them down so they don't make things unsterile, and holding their hands trying to get them through the pain. Rachel and Lisa do this every tuesday and friday and just by being there, holding peoples hands when the other doctors and nurses don't, they have been a testimony to both the patients and the doctors. 

Gulu, Uganda October 27 - 29th: 

On Monday, Megan and I hopped on the post bus up to Gulu. Five hours, one book, and a dead ipod later, we arrived. There is something about Gulu that I love. The minute I arrived I was happy. We were visiting Jeremy and Cori Sinclair, to short termers working with Favour of God Ministries doing counseling and youth work. Cori and Jeremy met us at the bakery (Laur and Jess the same one we went to often when we were there) and had a quick lunch of Somasas and soda then headed out to explore Gulu. 

We were only in Gulu for a short trip, but it was still good. Jeremy and Cori showed us all the different ministries of Favour of God, but my favorite part was going to football (soccer) practice with Jeremy and Cori's teams. I spent the time practicing with Cori's girl's team. The girls are mostly net ball players so seeing them learn was both exciting and funny. But what was more was watching them interact with Cori showed me that even through fun things like football you can show the gospel and do God's work and have an effect on people's lives. 

......

These barely scratch the surface of what I have seen in the past few weeks, it is so difficult to cram it all cohesively into a blog. But God is at work in Africa, I am confident of that. 

I am so sad... less than six weeks left here. I am in Kampala until the 20th, and then Megan and I head out to Sudan and then after that I hopefully go to Tanzania, then back to the States on the 18th of December. 

Miss y'all and hope things are well state side! 

 

Happy Independence Day!!

Woah, I am officially terrible at this thing. My sincerest apologies if you have actually been checking this more often then I do.

 

Well since I last posted, a TON has happened. So what I am going to do is just try to give you a glimpse of what has been going on. Forgive me in advance, this is not some of my best writing.

 

Wrap up at Smile Africa:

 

            Leaving Smile Africa was so hard. In just a short time I really fell in love with so much there. I miss every single one of the children I got to know there, but mostly I miss my ‘son’ as the teachers called him Derrick. Through Derrick, God showed me how powerful love can be.

            Derrick is a little boy maybe three or four years old, the teachers aren’t sure exactly how old he is because his mother died when he was tiny and she was the only one who knew his birthday. When I got to Smile Africa, he was one of the most volatile and violent three year olds I have ever seen, yet he was also the one that wanted to be held more than anyone of the other kids. So, from the first day I got there he kind of became attached to my hip. But at first, he was still violent and volatile. If any other child tried to come near me or touch me, he would reach out his little hand and pinch or punch that child as hard as he could. Or sometimes, he would be sitting in my lap and suddenly got angry and would hop up, run to the other side of the room and just whack another child square across their head. One day, I even had to chase him down as he carried a brick in each hand attempting to stone another child. Not only was he that violent, but he broke out in temper tantrums at least five or six times a day.

            But despite it all, he had the most beautiful smile and I was just drawn to him. Everyday we would be together at least for a little bit. By the last week we were inseparable. He would find me as soon as he came in the morning and run into my arms and would stay by my side until the moment school ended. A few days before we left, one of the teachers was just randomly commenting about a change she saw in Derrick. In the month since being there, Derrick had started sitting in class for the first time and being more obedient. Because she said this, I started thinking of the Derrick I first met and the Derrick I was now holding. Derrick had changed so much in so little time. I had not seen him have a tantrum in at least a week and a half, he got in very few fights now, and he even let other kids hang around me. I don’t think I can really describe to you how big this change was through writing, but I was overwhelmed by how transforming just a tiny bit of love can be. I didn’t do anything but hold this kid and play with him, I couldn’t speak to him or explain why I was there to him, but it didn’t matter. Just doing that was enough to change him. It makes me wonder what would happen to all of those kids if they could just have someone to show a tiny bit of love to him.

 

Kampala:

 

Ok so I am no longer in Tororo if you haven’t picked that up. On the 26^th Laura and I traveled back to Kampala and had two more days together before she flew home on the 28^th.  It’s hard to describe exactly what I do here in Kampala as I where many hats and my job will be changing again in just a few weeks.

 

The past two weeks I have been splitting my time working in the Central Region office in Kampala and working at Reformed Theological College in Kampala. At the office, I am doing whatever work they need done in the Short Term program. At RTC I am working with a AIM missionary from Kampala helping at the Nursery school there and helping her in whatever way I can.

 

Some interesting moments in Kampala:

 

-        Every lunch at RTC has involved political discussions with Kenyans and Ugandans about the upcoming American elections.

-        This week has been festival week at RTC so this allowed me to have experience such as:

-        Playing Korean style table tennis against seminary students

-        Judging a African Fashion show where my job was to choose who dressed the ‘smartest”. Among the contestants where cross- dressing males, who scarily looked quite normal in the girl’s clothes.

-       Judging a dancing competition at a Christian University, and once again it contained cross-dressing males who could dance quite impressively in a skirt.

-       One of the most meaningful experiences this week was getting to read my Pop-pop’s favorite book to all the children at the nursery school after not seeing that book in year. The teacher’s do really know how to use books, not many Ugandans read books so using story books in school is a foreign idea. So I had the opportunity to just demonstrate it to them and got to share the book “The Giving Tree” with all the students in the nursery school.

-       Freaky experience: getting in a accident in the taxi buses called Mutatu’s (14 passenger vans that you fit about eighteen in ) on the way home from celebrating independence day in Kampala. We completely side swiped another Mutatu right in front of a bunch of police. Our driver tried to just keep driving, but the police stopped and we had to all get off and board another Mutatu. Just a normal day in Kampala lol (Mom don’t freak it was not bad)

 

Ok so that is just a glimpse of what has been going on. Life is crazy, so I am terrible at posting but now that I get better internet I will try to update more.

 

Prayer requests:

-       Pray for my family and me as we are going through a trial right now and it is very difficult to be here and not be able to be with them

-       Praise God for good friends and mentors in Kampala

-       Pray for my friend Will Boyd that God would heal him miraculously

-       Pray for Derrick that he might now Christ

-       Pray for Emily, the girl Laura and I were discipling in Tororo

-       Pray for Smile Africa and all the children there