We arrived in Uganda nine days ago. I am incredibly happy to be here and feel very blessed to have this opportunity to meet people I have heard so much about and to serve alongside them. I miss our cooperatives in El Sal and continue to pray for them but I have developed some amazing relationships here in Uganda already.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by a group of our brothers and sisters with such joy and love. I met Genesis & Rebecca for the first time in person. Meeting my online classmates of five years in person for the first time has been an experience that I struggle to even put into words. They are both incredible and I have been blessed to get to spend time with them.
I got to meet Peter after years of hearing about him. He told fond stories of his time with my parents and my brother. He spoke of how much he loves my family saying that my father’s connection to people was special and that my mother has “African beauty.”
I met our lead chef, Richard. Upon walking into the kitchen he saw my nametag and told me “you are friends with my brother.” Naturally I asked “who is your brother?” He laughed and said “Ty of course.” Richard and Ty had worked together in the kitchen last summer and spend a lot of time together. This year I got the opportunity to help Richard in kitchen for a day. We talked about Ty a lot and laughed the whole time. Everyone on campus speaks of how much they miss Ty and that I remind them of him.
Everybody wants Ty to come back next year and for him and to spend time with us together. I am grateful to meet everyone he spoke so kindly of and get to hear about him from them. I hope that in the future Ty and I can both be on one of these trips together. I think that it would be a special experience to share.
We recently finished up the Uganda SLAM week. SLAM week was an incredible experience where the Lord moved a lot. Many kids testified at the end of the trip to the ways that the Lord moved in them and how they never thought that white people could be so hospitable. Every kid had a hunger for the word and engaged in all of our teams activities and teachings.
For the SLAM week I was on the AV team. It was a fun and hard time of constantly setting up and tearing down streaming and recording equipment. It was challenging to have to always have multiple boxes of video equipment on us and have to set up in often less than five minutes. Our team was often up late after the day had ended cleaning up all of our equipment. All that to say that it was a challenging week for our team that lead to a lot of team reflection and growth.
As we move into Kenya I am so excited for the little bit left of our trip. It feels like the trip has been so short. I wish I could spend more time everywhere with all of our cooperatives. I am super excited that our Ugandan brothers and sisters are joining us in Kenya. I am being intentional to be in the moment and to not dwell on what feels like such little time. I want to deny myself in every moment and be sure not to give into my tired flesh.