Weekend Events

I have written many a letters in the past few days and none seem right to “post”. Before I begin into what the past few days have been, I have to be honest… these past 2 weeks have been good but challenging. I’m not really sure why, but for some reason, it’s been hard. Not feeling well for the majority of the time I’m sure is part of it (you can pray I feel better. It seems every other day is a rough health day: migraines, aches, pains, stomach issues etc) I may have to go to the doctor again if it doesn’t clear up. It hit me yesterday: Jesus’ 40 days of testing were NOT easy, wandering is NOT easy, Noah in the ark I’m sure was not pleasant, and although I’m not any of these might biblical characters, it hasn’t been easy. So I have to step back and say, God, what are you trying to teach me? Why the hardship? Why the sickness? Why the numbness? What am I supposed to be learning? And…can you teach it to me soon, so I can move on from these trails? Even in the joy of being here, there is a disconnect…and it’s really frustrating.

Saturday morning we woke up EARLY to head to the boys school, it’s about an hour and a half drive away, with almost half of it on pit holed roads in the middle of a jungle/bush. Beautiful, but a rough ride. All the girls were in prom like dresses, fancy and sweet. The graduation was supposed to start at 9, but as African time would have it, we began at 10ish. For almost 6 hours we sat as speaker after speaker spoke to the graduates, songs were song, honor was given. It was sweet and I was honored to be there. There were only a few relatives that made the ceremony (as most of these girls come from poverty so transportation is extremely expensive for them to get there) and not many teachers , so it made it even more special to be there. After the ceremony, we all sat around, ate (the same good ‘ol African food…I’m struggling a bit with eating the SAME thing day in and day out this time) and socialized. Sarah and I left in a taxi full of the students around 5:30. It was definitely a full day. My migraine had started around noon, so by the time we got home, I headed to my guest house, turned the lights off, listened to a sermon and headed to bed.

Sunday, we left at 6:30am to head to Kampala for the MTN marathon. They had asked early in the week if I wanted to run it and of course I did. So, David, Sarah, Obdu (our driver) and I headed to town.  There were about 50,000 runners and a see of yellow as we wore jersey shirts to run in. Cornerstones head office was a few 100 yards from starting line, so as soon as we arrived the race had started and we joined right in. About 3 minutes in, Sarah, David and I got separated…so I had the choice: wait or run. I decided to run by myself. It was very entertaining to run amoung thousands of Africans. Their hilarious and sweet humor continued to come out even as we ran (Ie: calling for Boda Bodas, complaining up every “mountain”/hill). What really got me was at all the water stations how much water was wasted, one sip and they’d throw the bottle on the ground… Amazes me how they struggle for water and yet are so wasteful of it…especially since at the girls school we have had a lack of clean water. So see it spilled all over the road made me almost angry. I finished in 51.23…not bad for not running in months and waited at the finish line for an hour and a half to see David and Sarah…. I saw a few friends, but never saw them so I decided to head back to the Cornerstone and see if they were there. After 2 hours we were all finally reconnected. Sarah and I had brought church clothes, so we relaxed and waited for the lunch being prepared while David drove back to Matugga to shower, change and come get us. Lunch was delicious (lots of protein, which was great for after the race) and then we headed to church. The service was great! They take their lead from Hillsong, so the vibe, songs and ambiance felt very American. As we were leaving church, an African man grabbed my arm. I was a bit taken aback and looked at him. How did I know him? He asked me the same question, “How do I know you? Are you from Holland?” …I asked if he had been on a bus ride to Rwanda, did he now Cornerstone etc… no no no. Then he said, wait, I think we sat beside each other on our flight from Amsterdam in February…I got a huge smile on my face and said, “BEN!!” Sure enough,  it was Ben, the sweet guy I had sat next to 8 months ago on my journey out here where I had NO idea what to expect and he had completely calmed my nerves, helped me with my lost luggage and been such a great support. I couldn’t believe it. 8 months later, there was my first African friend, in the middle of Kampala…at church. What were the chances!! We exchanged numbers and will hopefully hang out at some point while I’m still here.

Sarah and David treated me to a milkshake before we headed back to Matugga. It was fun to just sit and talk, no kids, no pressure. The only bummer was I was starting to feel horrible again. Jesus, heal my body, PLEASE!! We arrived home and went our separate ways. I went to the guest house and then headed to see the girls. For a few hours, we all just hung out and laughed and talked. THIS was why I was here. Relationships. Connection. And my heart was uplifted. I have felt so down for the majority of the time and I needed some good connecting time. We are saying goodbye to most of the girls, so it was sweet time as we bonded again before they leave and who knows if I’ll see them again.

Monday, I couldn’t get up for Fellowship (and I had warned the girls). Robina came at 6:30 to try and get me up, but it didn’t’ work. My body is fighting something and I needed to sleep so I skipped the morning time and took a relaxing day. After reading and relaxing, I headed out to see the girls. I am a bit concerned I may have malaria so I went to find Sarah and ask her opinion. We’re gonna give it another day or so before I head back to a clinic. Hoping maybe the marathon took it out of me. Today, I helped the girls with packing, talking about university and then did a computer class for them. It was good to feel purposeful today! I helped Sarah type her class paper and played with the kids. A group of us are going to walk to town in a few minutes…

So, yes, it’s good to be here. I want to come next year for the S5 girls graduation, but at the same time, I just want to feel better and feel like I can give of myself fully. I’m still unsure of what the next 3 weeks look like, so prayers for that would be great too.  Clarity in life…where to go next…etc. All those things lay heavy on my mind as well. Maybe after this week, my final 2 weeks will be dedicated to figure out what the next step of life looks like.