Waiting in lines and God's timing

We just pulled into the driveway from three days in paradise.

I am going to try to put it into words, as simple as I can. The week I just experienced in the village was so God given and spirit filled that I feel like I am ready to take on the world. Although I cannot explain fully I will do what I can. I want to just say from the get go that it might be a bit of a ramble. My feet are dirty and my hair is frizzy and standing up from my head. The stink that is coming from me would make mother cry. My feet are cracked and covered in so much mud there it is quite possible there is a handful of jiggers in between my toes. But… my heart is FULL, my bones are no longer dry, and my God is so faithful. 

This week started out a little hectic as I am still trying to get a visa from the immigration office. Uganda is trying to seem as if it is all put together but many times their bark is much bigger than their bite (which is so great for me). Porsche and I both have expired visas and we are trying to transfer from tourist visas to work visas and it has been almost as bad as pulling teeth (after current events in Porsches life she may beg to differ on that brief analogy). We have spent the last two weeks jumping through hoops trying to get a special pass while we wait for the NGO board to accept our work permit application. They told us they don’t allow visitors to change the status on their visa while they are in the country. I sat there and nearly begged the immigration lady to let me be an exception, because as many of you know that I just was home for a whole month. I don’t mind having to leave the country I just don’t want to travel over 48 hours through airports anytime soon! She let us by this time by the grace of God,  but then told us we needed to go to a local DTB (like Key Bank or Bank of America). Porsche and I set off on Monday to get everything finished up. We got to the local DTB and stood in a long line for 25 minutes when we got to the teller he told us we needed to go to customer service. So we stood in the customer service line waiting to be helped only to find out that we needed to go to the DTB Head office in downtown Kampala. We stopped by the local grocery store to see our friend and pick up some soda and chips because we had a feeling it was going to be a long day. We hopped on a Boda and headed downtown to the Head branch to which we found a nice air conditioned building with a line of people so we stood in yet another line and waited our turn…again. Only to find out we needed to walk down the street to a different branch to see the right people. We walked down the street and walked into one of the most hot, stinky, African filled rooms that I had ever seen. Disorganization everywhere. Lines coming from every different direction. I didn’t even know where to start. I finally cut everyone in the line and walked up to a counter and asked for help. We were very much so out of place and were the only other Mzungus in a five mile radius. From here we had to stand in a series of lines, answer a few questions, and pay the most ridiculous exchange rate I had ever heard of. A feeling of defeat was coming closer. We hopped on another boda and at that point we were both broke because we didn’t realize how much this special pass was going to cost us. We had US Dollars because that is what we were told to pay in when in fact it was actually Ugandan shillings we were to pay in. So after that we headed to the immigration office. We of course found the offices closed because they were on lunch break. We looked at each other…and just bursted out laughing. Porsche even told me a story as we were heading into the offices (Which are all outside courtyards covered in rocks and dirt. Very informal.) that someone we knew had given their passport to these very same internal affairs offices and they lost it! Only one of my biggest fears. We waited another 45 minutes and ate some Pringles and Mtn. Dew. Once we got up to the window in which several people cut in front of us, the lady spoke not one word to us. Took our passports and had a very unhappy face. She stamped it, threw it on the floor, gave us a receipt and expected us to walk away having knowledge as to why she just threw our passports on the floor and did not stamp it and give it back. She said come back in one week.

With our identity literally sitting in the dirt we walked away in disbelief and just laughed out loud again.   

 

Tuesday was a much better day.

Jackie- my older sponsored kid came by the office because the school chased her away because her school fees have not been paid and it is only the third week of school. Oh! AND I forgot to tell you that Tonny’s little brother Kenneth just moved in with us. Everytime he laughs it brings back so many memories and it feels like a piece of him is here. We sat in the office (Jackie, Kenneth, and I) and we were just catching up on life and I asked them if they could be any animal what animals would they want to be and why? Kind of a difficult question. But their answers surprised me. Jackie would want to be a cow because they are timid and shy and just care free, easy animals that don’t stress anybody too much. What a modest answer from one of the most humble young women I have ever met. She challenges me to be a better person every day of my life, and she doesn’t even know the impact she has on me.  Kenneth is a very shy and quiet kid he told me he would want to be a lion because he wants to be fearless. Coming from a boy who has pretty much lost everything my heart broke but also built up so much confidence for him. I was blown away by his response and totally excited that those were the thoughts he had. Wanting to be fearless.

We headed to the village just after a lunch of rice and peas. We packed the van and we were all ready to head out into the bush and leave all responsibility and office work behind. Sometimes I feel like office work gets in the way of ministry. I am thankful for unplugging and disengaging that side of my brain when we get out to the village. Always a good balance. I can honestly say I didn’t think about my visa or my passport while we were out there. Tuesday night was filled with some personal ministry. Time for us to go out into the community and spend time with our favorite families. To just invest in lives and grow the community. I spent the evening with one of the new comer kiddos to the village and just asked him questions about his life, faith, and family. Both of his parents passed away. He has two older siblings that live in the city area but he chose to move in with his jaja (Grandmother) because she called and told him that white people live in the village with her! J To this I laughed but was taken back at the same time that a young man would give up a life of comfort just to stay near people “like us” like we are something different. Something special. We are not. Not realizing that we are the ones that benefit, we are the ones that are blessed by him being here.  

Wednesday we led devotions for the nursery section of Empowered Leaders Academy (ELA) and performed a skit of Joseph. We went on to organize class rooms, and split up into different groups. Some people repaired desks, while others chopped wood, and then I helped with organizing the media center. Getting term 2 and 3 teacher guides and exams all put in a filing cabinet. It is so challenging when you don’t have all the access to the normal office supplies that you really have to get creative. I love working on stuff like that so the time passed so quickly. After lunch we lead devotions for all of the upper primary classes and had a complete praise rally. I almost feel like a big sister to all of these kids. I stand at the door and as they walk in and I know most of them by name and they ask me in Luganda how my day is, or what I am doing, or that I can’t dance. I am so protective of them. They each bring out something so different in me and God has blessed me so much by having them in my life. One of the kids asked if I would sit with them during our scripture union and saved me a seat. He chose to sit smack dab in the middle of all the craziness. Amidst two hundred kids is where he chose to sit. I squeezed my way through after greeting all the kids and found my seat- but it wasn’t long until I was up again singing and dancing for the praise and worship. As the choir danced, so would I. Such a huge sense of community fell on me while we were singing. After scripture union the sun was up and it was HOT! So it was nap time for most people but it was too hot inside the church and we all want to take advantage of spending time with our loved ones in the village so it really turns into personal ministry time again. I was hanging out with Alex, and one of our good friends Sande- who is supposed to be heading to school fell really sick this week and was asking for me. So Alex and I went to see him. But in Uganda everything has to be done with a purpose and you don’t just go somewhere to go somewhere. So we went and fetched some water to bring to Alex’s moms house which was just down the road. All in all it is probably a mile and a half from the church. But with the sun shining in the sky it feels like it is about a 5 mile walk and a billion degrees outside. We put a stick through the top of the jerry can and walked it to the house together. We got to Sandes house and he hobbled out to the mud hut living room and just laid there in pain we spent some time laughing together and just sharing what was going on. Then spent some time in prayer and asking God to heal this boy so he can get to school as it is his first year in high school and he can’t miss any more of it! Like I said you have to have a purpose when traveling to anyones house, That 20 liter Jerry can of water on a hot day was getting very heavy very fast. Sande has a bike. So after we prayed with him we borrowed his bike to carry the water the rest of the way. When we got to mama Alex’s house she was not around because she had went to pick water from the tap. She arrived just about 10 minutes after we got there and she was so excited to see me at her house. When you get to anybodies house they offer you a chair and whatever was the last thing that was cooking. Most people in Zirobwe know how picky I am so they usually don’t offer anything but fruit. They know by now that is what I will eat. On the way back to Sandes house I hopped on the back of the bike and we headed back to the church.

We were prepping for the kitchen for Thursday so as I was sitting at the tap I was struggling because if something is broken in Africa you don’t fix it you just figure out how to use it until it completely breaks. So the tap was slowly leaking water out but we had two empty cans that needed to be filled. So there is a special way you have to wrap a piece of plastic at the bottom of the tap and hold it place just the right way to get a trickle out of the faucet. Since I am just a dumb mzungu everyone just stands there and laughs…until I heard a soft sweet little voice and saw a shadow standing in front of the sunshine that was hitting me. It was Dora, my sweet girl that reminds me so much of my Violet in America. She stood there and didn’t say much but helped me fix it. We played in the stream of water that was pouring out of the bottom and just watch things float down the small ramp. The water just kept flowing. It reminded me of Gods constant ever flowing love for us. Who will stand in the sunshine when it is too much for us to handle.  We walked to her house together and played in the backyard, ate some passion fruit, and just laughed together.

On Thursday we started construction we got to help rebuild the kitchen walls which of course is made out of mud, and of course resulted in a huge mud fight. We sang songs, and just spent time laughing and sharing our adventure together. Some of the boys in the community even came over to help us and spent time giving us tips on how to do manual labor the Ugandan way. This afternoon we had bible study with the local gamblers and after we read scripture we prayed with them individually. I prayed with a young man named Mpita because his eyesight is not well right now, after I prayed with him I explained that I would commit to praying for him every day and when I asked him if he understood (in Luganda) he looked at me with a big grin and just said yes ‘you me girlfriend’… You win some you lose some, but just don’t ever give up hope. We may be getting mocked and teased for the time we spend around that table. It is impacting these men whether they know it or not. Their hearts are being changed one by one. I am excited to be a part of an organization that not only changes the lives of kids but empowers a community.

 

 This is a small window into a week in the village. I can say without a doubt in my mind that as we approach the day of love I cannot imagine being anywhere else in the world to feel this loved. Not only by this community but by you. Thank you for loving me. <3