Eight Weeks: Three Stories for my Patient Readers

Firstly, please accept my apologies at having let so many weeks elapse without a word on my blog. I'm hopeful that most of you have been following my shorter updates on Facebook, but for those who cannot, I sincerely apologize. 

Secondly, I have realized that tomorrow I will be here for eight weeks, which seems both a lifetime and a wink of an eye. There is far too much that has happened to tell all of it, but I will hope to paint a broad picture of my life here, and fill in with weekly updates from now on.

Thank you all so very much for your prayers for me, and for our work here at the mission. It is such a blessing to know that so many are praying for me. I have not been feeling well, on and off, and it's a comfort to know how many of you are holding me up in prayer. Today was a good day, I finished my latest set of medicine, and I'm only feeling a little bit off, so please pray that would continue to improve.

I will tell about three things, which should make for quite a long post, and then if my readers have questions, I'll gladly supplement to answer them. 

First, we had our spiritual retreat, if you are Pastor S. please read "Strategic Withdrawal," since I believe you came to mind every time I heard the word retreat. It was a blessed time of renewal and meditation, no matter what it was called. We were able to learn about the Christian's great unfinished work, from Ephesians, that of learning and growing strong enough to understand Christ's love for us. Praying for strength to know his love will require us to delve deeply into the riches he has given us in his word. As a part of each session, we were able to separate and think quietly about what we had heard, taking time to apply it for ourselves, and praying for the Spirit to use the lessons in our lives. Please continue to pray that this time would bear much fruit in the lives of all who were present.

The second story is that I climbed a mountain! Those of you who know me, know what an undertaking it was. Part of the way up was hiking without a trail, and part was climbing rocks; I only got hurt a little bit, and only got scared a few times. It was a hot day, but there was a good breeze at the top, and the view was incredible. I was so glad that I made the effort to climb, and that there were so many people willing to give me a hand up or out of difficult spots. There were a few spots where I was very tired, and I wasn't sure which way to go up the face of the mountain. It was good that I was with people who are better at it than I was, because they showed me what to do and helped me do it. When I got to the top I was so relieved and so grateful to be able to experience the panoramic views of the countryside, and the mission too. It was a crystal blue sky overhead, and we were on the same height as some of the soaring hawks!

Last, but not least, I went to Jinja and rafted down the Nile River! After rafting, we were able to spend time at a coffee shop in Jinja before going to bed, and with the Mbale mission for Sunday worship. My raft had our guide, and Sam and Alicia, from the mission, but there was also a lady from Colorado, who was backpacking, and three Asian men who were only half-day rafters. So halfway through the day we only had four people in our raft, plus the guide, which made it more fun and interesting.

After putting on sunscreen, checking in, hearing the safety talk, and picking up our jackets and helmets, we were given breakfast, and shuttled off to the place where we'd put in the rafts. Breakfast was a meal called a Rolex, which is usual for here. It's a chapati, an Indian circular flatbread, with a circle of scrambled eggs and vegetables on top. Then it is rolled up like a burrito without the ends folded in. It's literally, rolled-eggs, so you see why it's named roll-ex.

When we got to the put-in almost an hour later, we still had to wait for the trailer that got a flat tire to catch up. In the meantime, we had a safety demonstration, which involved us being dumped in the flat water, when the guide flipped the boat and watched us try to get back in. The other people were mostly able to do it themselves, but I displayed my complete lack of upper body strength by needing to be hauled back in. It was just too high to get myself pulled up over a foot out of the water with just a rope on the side of the raft to hang on.

The trip down the river was long, and there was a lot of rowing on flat water in between the rapids. The whitewater was scary, but I was never terrified, only pleasantly shocked and excited. We flipped over quite a few times, and there were a few more times that I don't think the raft flipped, but I'm not sure, because I wasn't in it. When you fall out, you're supposed to keep your head and feet up, and look around for the kayak guides to tell you what to do. The best parts were when we were all able to stay sitting on the side of the boat, paddling hard through the biggest waves of the rapids. There were two parts that we were all in for the rapids, and then we were able to surf with the raft, which is when the boat is in the rapids, but it's not moving forward. When the water is going past all around, it makes the boat shake like a bucking horse, and you just hold on tight and hope to not get thrown out. The scariest part was when I fell out halfway through the second from the last rapid, and went up and down a six foot crest without the raft, after spending a few seconds under the water. I was unable to catch my breath until I was through getting dunked under, but when I came up for air, there was a kayak guide telling me to hang on to his boat so he could row me back to my group. After the last rapid, the kayak guide asked me if I wanted to swim to shore, but after trying it, I realized just how exhausted I was from the efforts of the whole day.

Thankfully, they fed us well after our exertions, with a lovely buffet line of chapati (Indian flatbread), Irish (potatoes), rice, hummus, and salad, as well as beef, and any beers or sodas we wanted. Then we had the even longer ride to the hostel where we were staying, back at the main office where we checked in.

That night, after a blessedly hot shower, we walked toward the main part of Jinja until we found a piki that would take the three of us to The Keep, where we were meeting Erika. I suppose some explanation of a piki is required. Think of a small motorcycle, with a seat that goes out over the rear wheel, used like a taxi. So the three of us clambered onto the back of the piki and we took off for downtown Jinja. The Keep is a bit difficult to describe, but the most important thing is that it's run by ex-pats, short for ex-patriots, as opposed to Ugandans. The difference is that it serves American-style foods, along with African flavors. When we got there, we all ordered mint Oreo ice cream milkshakes! They were so deliciously cold and refreshing. We also had Ugandan chai, which is tea with strong spices, milk and sugar. The décor of the dining room is medieval, specifically, there are Rohirrim banners and Middle Earth weapons hanging on the walls! It feels like you're in an old castle, with big gray stone block walls, and arched windows with intricate metalwork. After our shakes, we walked a few blocks over and did some shopping, there'll be no hints here about what Christmas presents I may or may not be sending home to my family, since I know they all read these posts. Then Erika went back to where she was staying and the three of us caught a piki back to our hostel for the night, with only one minor stopover to re-explain to our driver which Nile trip we were with, and one stop to switch to a taxi car because our piki driver still hadn't understood where we were trying to go. But all adventures finished, I spent my first night in a hostel, and slept very well, with just our group and one other person in the room, except for when I dreamed that there were 20 people coming in and out.

All told, I was very grateful for the adventure, and also grateful to come home and recuperate from the trip!