African Muzungu

This past weekend after celebrating a wonderful Thanksgiving (as in AMAZING food, TOO much fun, and GREAT company!) with a bunch of other American missionaries, my friend Natalie and I took a trip to Jinja, just a couple hours away. Jinja is the town right by the source of the Nile river which flows from Lake Victoria, and our accommodations were situated overlooking the Nile. It was truly wonderful to take the time to rest, be refreshed and fellowship with the Lord and with Nat for 3 days. Soaking up the beauty around me, and just being for a while was so wonderful. In the confusion and commotion of living in Africa, there is so much to think and analyze and evaluate and feel and change and do . I'm so grateful for the opportunity the Lord provided for me to go away for a time and find my balance and center around Him alone again. Time away also gave me a chance to read/listen to some books while cross stitching! I've been reading Hannah Hurrand's book, Hinds Feet on High...

Anybody remember your elementary school cafeteria? I don't....I didn't have one since I was home schooled, but that's besides the point. I certainly got to HEAR about all my friend's school cafeteria experiences (you know, the whole "I'll eat your brown stuff if you'll eat my green stuff"), but I thought I'd show you the school cafeteria at Covenant Primary school here in Mbale..... Here, everyone just eats their brown stuff. otherwise known as ebijanjalo, or to you muzungus, beans. and posho. Posho or rice with beans is definitely one of the most common meals here in Uganda, and they eat plenty of it! I seriously marvel at how much one Ugandan can fit in their flat stomach. When I was growing up, the most common concern I heard expressed about being a missionary was what you would have to eat. Pictures of bugs, slimy slugs, and floating chicken heads danced through my mind, and I asked myself, "Would I be willing?" I said yes....but sin...

Thank you so much for all of the prayers you have offered up for me since my last blog! I have definitely found strength, encouragement, peace, and comfort through your prayers and mine in situations that would have been so defeating otherwise. One of the greatest joys and blessings to me for the past several weeks has been my new language helper, Margaret. My concerns with my last language helper, Diana, (not as a friend, but as a teacher) led to one of the challenging situations that I've had to face here, but I really do believe the Lord has worked in some incredible ways, and I have been blessed abundantly with a new teacher, helper, and friend in Margaret. (I just stopped to look at this picture from an American perspective and noticed the bare light bulb and exposed wires in the background.... I guess the fact that I don't even think twice about it anymore says something....I'll leave you to decide what that is :) ) Margaret is quite the busy lady! She teac...