A Week in the Life: Recap

Well there you have it. There’s an average week for me. I don’t always have a hot shower and things aren’t always easy or comfortable. I’m not always on an exciting adventure that is filled with sunshine and laughter. It involves laundry, grocery shopping, washing the dishes, and tedious office work like anywhere else. A lot of conveniences from home are found here such as a washing machine and restaurants just like you’d find in America. You can get M&M’s or Snickers or Pringles, or take your computer to the Mac store if you’re having a problem. Shoot, I celebrated my birthday with burgers and fries! I still get some funny questions or comments with people seeming to think I’m in a mud hut somewhere in the bush. But Kampala is a very modern city, and while it has its... charming characteristics that make it almost a different world from the US, my daily life isn’t too different. (Although they’ve never even heard of Starbucks or McDonalds here, which makes me very happy!) 

Sometimes, yes, my days are filled with crazy things that spring up like one of our youth who had a baby on a boda, or a mouse hunt in the apartment. Sometimes a trip to the grocery store means being stuck inside for 3 hours to wait out the rain while your ice cream melts (true story-- happened a couple of weeks ago. And even on the boda ride home, the rain started again and we had to seek shelter for another half hour). Somedays hours of my time are wasted going on trips into town that end up not being fruitful for reasons like the power is out at the store and they can’t mix paint for me. I’m frequently on carb and banana overload, and miscommunications due to the language barrier or cultural differences or both are to be expected every day. Even when I make a special effort to be late to events, I still find myself waiting hours for them to start, and my days frequently end very early because power outages tell my body it’s been dark for hours and it’s time for bed at 9:30 pm. 

But my days are always filled with joy, whether it’s from hanging around with our youth and teaching them about the Bible, or walking into the children’s home and being tackled by 20 kids. Or by attending fellowship time and hearing them sing praise songs and watching the little ones fall asleep on the benches when we pray. Or by singing sweet songs to them and watching their faces as I catch their attention by throwing their names in to make them songs like “Jesus loves the little Lucy’s, all the Lucy’s of the world.” Or something as simple as bouncing them on my knee or tossing them in the air and hearing the unadulterated laughter of a child that is unequaled by any other sound in creation. Sometimes it’s a boda guy I use regularly who actually looks out for me and gives me his coat when I find myself caught in the cold rain completely unprepared. Or a personal testimony of God’s goodness shared in staff devotions. 

Some days are filled with hours crammed on public transportation. Some are filled with taking kids to their homes and encountering their alcoholic parents and completely uninhabitable filth in the house, and seeing why a child would choose to actually run away from home and live on the streets instead. Sometimes anger at parents who choose to spend money on alcohol when there isn’t even food for their children is all that can fill my heart for the day. But anger and sadness don’t get anyone anywhere, so all you can do is focus on the positive work that is taking place through Dwelling Places. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

I’m learning so much and growing so much, but I’m also a slow processor and couldn’t actually begin to put into words all God is teaching me right now. Ask me in about a year what God taught me in Uganda and I might be able to tell you. For now I’m enjoying the ride, and enjoying seeing different projects I’ve started really starting to bloom now, and seeing relationships continuing to grow, and seeing God really moving here.

A Week in the Life: Sunday

Sunday

As part of my breakfast, I had some fresh fruit. How do you safely eat fresh fruit in Uganda? Well the method used by most people I know is to add a little bleach to a bowl of water, add the fruits or vegetables, and then rinse it with filtered water. I’m not the biggest fan of using bleach with something I’m going to eat, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

The church I go to is pretty Western, and actually starts on time (gasp). Well, really they have 3 services and they all just run back to back, so I guess in that way it keeps them on schedule. If you come late and miss worship, hey just stick around for the next service! My church has a lot of similarities to a church in the US. The music is Western, the preaching style usually has 3 points that start with the same letter, and they’ve got things like a snazzy announcement video each week. We do meet under a tent though, since they’re still raising money for a building. And the fervor of worship (and the occasional song in Luganda which makes them really get going) and the slightly pentecostal nature of the prayer segment of the service always bring me back to the distinctly African nature of the church. 

But the teaching is usually Biblically sound, which is what’s important, and I like the church for a lot of different reasons. This week though, we had a guest speaker, and honestly I didn’t really care for the message. I wasn’t necessarily against anything he had to say, but I opened my Bible for just a few seconds of the sermon, which is a big problem for me. I think the Bible should be priority in any sermon, and the message should flow from the Bible. When you start letting it be about your personal opinions and quote Scripture when it’s convenient for the point you want to make, you head into dangerous waters quickly. But anyway.

After church, Cassandra and I went for lunch at a very Western restaurant, which is a nice break from matoke and rice. On the way home it started to rain a little bit, but since I’ve now been caught in the pouring rain a few different times on a boda, a little sprinkle doesn’t phase me. 

The afternoon was spent doing laundry-- I know, again, not interesting blogging material. But I wanted to just mention that we’re blessed enough to have a washing machine in the building! I did hand-washing the first few months I was here, which I didn’t really mind, but recently one of the other long-term missionaries in the building got a machine that they let the rest of us use. And hearing that  beep as it turns on and says “let me do the work for you” is such a beautiful thing! But then again, you have to have both water and power turned on in order to use it, and that’s always a challenge! 

For the rest of the afternoon, I moved into another room in our apartment because it’s bigger than the one I had been staying in. I’ve now lived in all 3 rooms in the apartment!