BONDING: round 2!

Ok so its been a few days since I got to update! I guess I will just start from the beginning. My time here in Mbarara has been awesome. It has been really cool to see different missionaries doing different things in a COMPLETELY different environment. I am so glad I am getting to experience rural Africa along with urban because it is just a totally different world. If I had only been in Kampala, I would have had a significantly skewed view of what all of Africa is like. 

One of the huge differences I have come in contact is the language barrier. Basically everyone in Kampala speaks and understands English well, sometimes even as their first language. Most everyone can also speak Luganda, which is what I had been learning in my language lessons. Here in Mbarara, people hardly speak any English. Usually one person per family speaks it a little bit. To this you may say, well thats fine, thats what the Luganda lessons were for. This is not the case. Here, they speak a completely different language. Luganda doesn't help me at all. It is SO frustrating to not be able to communicate anymore, and that has been really hard on me. 

Another major difference is the overall poverty level. Out here, there are just farmers. Things are just not as well off this far out, and banana farming is everything. You eat it for every meal. Very different than busy city life.

So on Friday morning we went into town and picked up this incredibly energetic guy named Joseph. He looks like he is about 15, but has a wife and baby boy named Am, which stands for something much longer but i don't know what it is or how to spell it. It is obvious that they are his whole life and it is so precious to hear him talk about them. It is a rare outlook for a Ugandan man, especially from a village. We bought some food in town then headed to Joseph's house. From there we walked around and visited EVERY church member in the village, which was an exhausting process, especially since we couldn't understand any of it. We tried to begin our language learning process again, but that was frustrating for me. I got to hold on to a little girl named Grace though, who is probably HIV positive. I just loved on her and she was so cute, even though she broke my heart a little bit. Mandy and Hannah were both feeling pretty terrible so when we had lunch at 4, we were all pretty ready. It was a great meal of rice, matoke, g-nut sauce, and beef stew. We left the boys there because they were going to be bonding with Joseph, and us girls headed off to the home of a man named Benard.

Hannah was feeling really bad, so she decided bonding wasn't the best idea, so it was just Mandy and I. We got there and were warmly greeted by Benard, the only English speaker in the house. He greeted us warmly and brought us fried casava (a root) and chai (have i meantioned that i LOVE the chai?). Mark, Hannah, and Theron left us there and Mandy and I ventured to the bathroom. We found that there was no door. so while you are doing your business, you can view the beautiful Ugandan countryside, all the while hoping that you don't have a visitor. Benard showed us to our room which was a foam pad on the floor. We were thrilled. Our mud hut had concrete floors! It was a really nice house. They brought us dinner, and we had MORE matoke and cabbage stew on top. After dinner, Benard and his wife Middias came in a prayed with us. Remember how the L's and R's get mixed up? Benard asked me if i liked to play, to which i replied YES! many games! cards, and many others! I later realized that he probably meant pray. Anyway we wall prayed toogether, and that was just really cool. Benard is an amazing guy. We went outside because Benard was fascinated by my flashlight, and Mandy and I had to ask him to please turn it off. the stars were INCREDIBLE. Seeing them like that is just enough to change your life. I can't even describe it, except I think i could see every single star, and even the white haze of the Milky Way. God is HUGE. We looked for probably 10 minutes without getting bored. completely captivating. We came back inside and Benard set up MOSQUEETO nets for us, which was so sweet. He was trying to make them perfect for us, then he wanted us to practice and make sure we could sleep under them properly. Mandy and I had some pretty awesome pillow talk and learned a lot about each other. We woke up at about 6:40 the next morning and went and used to bathroom-with-a-view again. We watched the sunrise through the matoke trees and then Benard put us to work. He gave us a stick and told us to follow him, a half mile to the well to fetch water. FETCH WATER. who can say they have fetched water? this was very entertaining to me for some reason. We hauled our first load back to the house with only one little break, and Middias had English tea and rolls waiting for us. We had our quick breakfast, then we were heading back to get our second load. When we got back for the second time, there was ANOTHER breakfast of matoke. seeing the trend here? matoke EVERYWHERE, ALL the TIME. After our breakfast, Middias had Mandy and I wash all the dishes. Mandy is a good person. I don't mean to sound like a princess or anything, but wet food just really grosses me out. A LOT. So Mandy took the scrubbing job and I was the rinser and putter away-er. When we had finished all the dishes, We went out to the matoke trees and cut down leaves and bananas. Then we skinned the bananas to make MORE matoke. I was given a knife without a handle, so i was basically slicing into my hand the whole time. (speaking of my hands, i am having a super weird reaction/rash to something. i have had it for about 2 and a half weeks so be praying it clears up. it just itches and it hasn't gotten any better, only worse.) After that, Benard took Mandy and I out, and we planted 13 trees on his land. I was feeling pretty hardcore at this point. Kind of like an African woman. I also got to use a machete. definitely hardcore. Then we had some lunch. We had the matoke we had just cut and sliced, rice, cabbage, and beef stew. Little bit of background: Benard is 60 years old. Middias is his third wife; he has outlived all the others. He has 11 children and one on the way. Only 4 live at home right now, and they are all boys. Danny, Devin, Franc, and Nicholas. He is a pretty busy guy, i would say. Anyway, after that we were out shelling g-nuts and i just couldn't help but play. I had been hard at work all day, and the boys were just there, being cute, and i just couldn't sit by and watch anymore. We started a game where i chase them in circles around the house and hid behind corners and jumped out at them. It was great, and i can still hear their laughter ringing in my head. It is a sound straight from God. After that we shelled more g-nuts and waited for the boys to come and get us. They were 2 hours late, and we were definitely exhausted so hearing that car was a great thing. 

We headed home and showered. It took me 30 minutes in the shower to wash off the dirt and grime of living in the village, but what i saw and experienced will never wash off. I will wear their names and faces in my heart forever. We headed down to the Glisson's house for dinner. They are such an awesome family. Emily, the wife, is actually Jana Brown's sister. Crazy connections. Anyway, they have 6 kids (Preston, Tripp, Briley, Harper, Ansley, and Brooks), the youngest 2 being adopted Ugandans. They are all so cute, and you can tell how special their family is. Emily made poppyseed chicken, carrots, green beans, banana pudding and PEACH TEA! (she reminds me of my mom:) They have a tradition in their family where anytime they have a new visitor, they all sit in the family room and listen to each person tell a story about their life. And each kid hangs on every word. It is the craziest most precious thing. Then we played celebrity and it was really fun. The Glissons are just a really really cool family and I loved getting to know them here. 

We woke up this morning and went to church out in the village. We fit 13 and a half (Sarah is pregnant!) people in a car that comfortably seats 7. Hannah, Sarah, and I each had a Hutton kid on our lap. We went out to a man named Truman's house. He is the preacher and we had chai and popcorn before church. Then we loaded up. Hannah and I made eye contact when Theron said that service usually lasts 3 and a half hours. We went in to a small room that was quickly filling with people. There was really cool worship, even though it is all in this African language that I now know about 4 phrases in. I didn't really understand anything, until Theron got up to speak. He hung three big blank pieces of paper on the wall. He asked what was on them. Someone said nothing. He went on to talk about how people will tell them that they have nothing. And how that is not true, and that God has blessed them in many ways. He got them to write their blessings on the paper. Some things we very different that what we would put, like cows, and goats. Some things are very similar like salvation, and family. Never again will I say Africans have nothing. That is simply not true. In some ways we have much more than they do, but in many other ways they have more. It was a great lesson and Theron did awesome. After church (which really was 3 hours) we went and had lunch at Truman's house. I will never eat American pineapple with the same satisfaction again. I have tasted how God intended it, and there is no going back. We had MORE matoke, rice, beef stew, and pocho. Classic Ugandan! Then we loaded back up and headed home. 

I held Claire, the Huttons' 3 year old daughter, in my arms and she was asleep almost instantly. The roads are TERRIBLE, and her little head and body were bouncing all around. I felt like my primary objective in life at that moment was to hold her still and keep her safe and make sure she got the best sleep she possibly could. When i was holding her tight so she wouldn't be as jostled around, it was the sweetest most precious thing. I loved every second of that ride, and didn't even want to make it home. I started to get a little drool spot on my arm, and it just made me smile. It made me think about how God feels when he gets to hold onto his kids. I know that he wants to keep us safe and protect us and give us the best things possible. I felt all of these things when i was holding Claire and she isn't even my child. God has taught me such incredible things. I am incredibly blessed. 

We all hung out, played some Nertz (i got dominated) and talked until dinner. We had some great Mexican food and after that the boys went to go watch the soccer game, so we stayed and talked to Sarah. It was so fun. The girl talk was really awesome and she is incredible. I absolutely love her. My entire Mbarara experience has been a wonderful one, but now I am off to bed. I have to get up really early tomorrow to go meet Leya, my Compassion child. SO excited! 

Thank you for your continual support and prayer. I feel showered in your love and covered with your prayers. It has translated very clearly and i am repeatedly shocked and touched by how many people are interested in what I have been learning and experiencing. You are truly a gift in my life. Thank you thank you thank you! love from UGANDA! God is GOOD, all the time, and all the time, God is GOOD and GREAT!

For His Glory,

heidi