Mozzarella Cheese

As you may have noticed, it has been a bit tough to muster up the desire to blog lately. I am in Uganda for one more month and two days- and blogging just hasn’t been jumping to the top of my list. Here’s the thing. I am soo excited to see you all. Can’t wait, really! And I’m excited to start my new job. And I am also really looking forward to eating some real mozzarella cheese (yes, that’s what I’ve been missing lately…) and momma’s fried chicken.

These pictures are from visiting my stand-in Mama, Janet, for her birthday last weekend

BUT, I loathe the thought of all these heart-wrenching goodbyes I have to make in T-1month2days. But thanks to my dear friend who just returned to the US (shout out Jessie!), I am trying something. For every time that something is so awesome that I just want to be sad for how much I’ll miss it- I instead focus on how extremely grateful I am for the blessing. Whatever it may be.

Hopefully that is enough of an excuse for my lack of blogging… In other news, work has been grrrreat! I’ve been posing as an architect the last few weeks and working on finalizing construction documents and doing 3D building renderings! I’m talking sketch-up, Photoshop, the whole 9 yards. Crazy out of my comfort zone and skill set. But crazy fun. And Lord-willing I will be working on the estimate and construction schedule for this project after a client meeting this week.

The Lord has been teaching me thousands of lessons. I have discovered how much he can teach me if I just walk ever closer with him. Tons of lessons in just a single day! He’s cool, isn’t he? And by cool, of course I mean amazingly kind and generous, so worthy, and unrelentingly loving. Anyway, I’ll just share one with you. Soo, orphans. If you’ve read any of my blogs- you know I’ve been volunteering at an orphanage a few hours a week. I’ve been digging in a bit to God’s heart on orphans, and just love this:

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

Guess what God’s heart is for orphans? (PS Not pretending I know it all- or even half of it…) He calls for justice for the orphans and adoption into his family. Beautiful! “Oooh, ooh! Pick me! Lord, I want to do that! Adopt all these precious ones that I’ve grown to know and love so that I can teach them about YOUR family! Lord, yes please!”

But guess what else. I’m 100% sure that is not what I am supposed to be doing right now. Mostly, because it is illegal. I’m not 25 and I am not living in Uganda for the next 3 years. Also, I have only half of the whole “parent” thing to offer. They deserve a Daddy, too. But at least while I am here for the next month I get to pour into their lives and try to help them understand (at the tender young age of 2 or 3) that they MATTER. But soon, I won’t have an orphanage to volunteer at. Or a design project that will be serving orphans. So….then, what?

I’m not sure yet. But of this I am sure. When I get back to the states, if I’m not serving the “poor and needy, the widow and the orphan” then I am NOT living a biblical faith. I think I kinda faked
it before. Give a little money here, sponsor a child there. But that is not the way God has taught me to serve. He gives fully of his time, resources, emotion, and energy. He gives that freely to me. And so when he calls me to give, he wants me to do it in the SAME WAY. Is that what your giving looks like? In the words of Brooke Fraser and James, “Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead.” (Shout out to Reid for pointing me to Brooke Fraser’s song Albertine.)

Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Ps 82:3

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Is 1:17

Praises:
-Can I list them all? Just thank the Lord for how good he is. He is worthy of all our lives and devotion and praise without offering us anything in return. And yet he gives us eternal salvation, an ever present helper, peace and strength for each day, and amazingly blessed relationships with others. So, just praise him for all of that.

Prayer Requests:
-For my attitude to remain thankful!! not sorrowful as I approach goodbyes.
-For the precious kids at Nsambya Babies Home. Pray that the Lord would be near to them this week and love them through us.
-For project work and all my fellow staff and interns. The end of a term can be a stressful time as we push to finish all of the projects and reports before the interns leave.

You May be in Kampala if:
-Your kiwi companion takes you all sailing one day off a semi-deserted island on Lake Victoria. (Mostly I just wanted to point out here that I got to go sailing on Lake Victoria…)
-Great worship is often characterized by lots of tribal dancing. Hips often move in Uganda as an act of worship to our Lord- which is pretty fun!
-You cannot imagine a better snack than fried banana chips.

Uganda Cranes game!

Thank you all for your love and support. And thanks especially for reading!
SForbes

I Am Home

A few weeks ago I found myself in a kayak out in the middle of Lake Victoria. I was somewhere between the shore and an island. I saw thousands of snails in the water that I knew would give me bill harzia disease, beautiful exotic birds along the shore, and lots of wooden fishing boats. And I was overcome with this knowledge: I am home.

Philippians 4:11-12
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

I used to think of this passage only in terms of material needs. But the Lord has been teaching me that I can share Paul's attitude here in every aspect of my life. Because the "secret" I think Paul is talking about is a really good secret. We have absolutely everything we need in Christ.

I desire good relationships, or home comforts, or wealth, or validation from people, or a wonderful marriage, or children (adopted or mine!), or satisfaction in my work, or a sense of peace and comfort- but I do not need those things. I find completeness in Christ. I find full provision in Christ. In Him, I live and move and breathe. I am content not because of his blessings. I am content that he is enough. I am fully content in Him.

In Him, I am always home.

Praises:
-The Lord granted my visa extension for FREE in Uganda in less than 5 minutes at the immigration office. Unheard of! Praise God!
-Following the successful visit to immigration- Anne, Uriah, and I went to visit the beautiful Sipi Falls in Eastern Uganda. The Lord is so creative, so beautiful, and so good!
-Julia Horne was born on Monday! I was blessed to meet her today. She is beautiful and Kayla, Matt, and Micah are all doing well!
-I've got a new roommate. Rachel arrived yesterday! She is not working with EMI, but she is living with us girls and she is super nice :)

Prayer Requests:
-There has been a lot of sickness going around the EMI office and families the last few weeks (including myself). Pray that God uses this time of sickness as he desires (maybe to make us slow down and/or rest) but that he would also heal us quickly- cuz being sick ain't no fun!
-Mom and Dad are coming to UGANDA! Please pray for logistics as we work out the details together.

You May Be in Kampala If:
-You miss cheese like nobody's business. It is either really expensive, really bad, or it's gouda. All they have is gouda.
-In lieu of an epidural, you are given laughing gas when you give birth at the most respectable hospital in town (PS that's Kayla's experience...not mine!)
-You have acclimated to the point that you wear jeans, long sleeves, and a scarf...but it's barely under 70F...

In His Holy Name,
SForbes

EMI Day of Prayer

So this past week EMI took a day out of the week for a Day of Prayer. It was so great and also super challenging. We studied Habakkuk during devotionals this week, and then took a further look into others in the bible who are examples of "striving" in prayer. The scriptures are loaded with examples of intense prayers! (Moses interceding for his people, Daniel crying out for the exiled Israelites, Jesus in the garden, any/all of the prophets...) It encourages me to be earnest and active in my prayers. I often think of prayer as a calm or passive activity. But it is not!

James 5:16b, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James does not describe a boring or calm prayer life...

So we studied a few passages, and prayed...and then we went out into our community to actively participate and pray! Just down the street from our nice, gated apartment complex is a neighborhood without gates or paved roads. I have been running through these streets a bit, buy some groceries from a nice lady (Katherine) there, and have also visited a primary school once to read stories to the kids. It's not a slum...but it is a much poorer community than I'm used to seeing.

One of the main thoroughfares through the area is a large pipeline across a swamp. Next to the pipeline is King of Kings Primary School. This school, run by a sweet woman named Florence, is not what you would expect to call a school. It is four "rooms" of boarded up walls and metal sheet roofing with a meager fence. I have visited this school before, and it is precious to see the kiddos (ages 3-7ish)! On our day of prayer, we put in some prayerful labor to help raise one of the classroom floor levels. It has had flooding issues (being in a swamp), so hopefully after raising the floor level this week about 6" things should stay a bit more dry!

The EMI office split into teams, so after lunch my team handed off the hard labor while we went around the community a bit to get to know the area and pray for people. It was great and it was heart-breaking. I'm not sure how else I can explain. Most homes have little or no power. No running water. In fact, they get their water from a nearby pipe that we tested. Not clean water. Thankfully most know to boil it before trying to drink it. I saw 3 dead dogs being dragged up the street. Kids were cheering because apparently they were the mean neighborhood dogs. We met with a local pastor and he explained that the community's greatest need was improved sanitation. But it was the children's smiles that were infectious. One child caught my eye on the walk... she was crippled and maybe 5 years old. She was playing in the dirt, just dragging her legs along. Oh, how I wanted to give her everything she would have in the states. Like a wheelchair! Or medical services that could probably fix her weak legs. Others tagged along with us the whole way. Godfrey was walking with us for a while before I even realized he was the son of an EMI guard! Godfrey later took me back to his home, where I said hello to his father, Patrick, and mother, Grace. Then Godfrey and his friends came back with us to Florence's school as we finished up the work. It was a whirlwind of a day.

Long story short: I now feel like I can strive in prayer for my own community here in Kampala. And I can't wait for heaven- when earthly suffering shall cease.

SForbes

Substitute Mum

This past week was full of great fun, unexpected blessings, lots of learning, and a fair share of challenges. On Monday night, I went over to the Jackson's house to begin my week of "substitute mum." (That's how they spell mom in Australia...) This week included:

-So much fun outdoor time! This awesome yard is a wonderful place for building dirt bike tracks, climbing trees, swinging, and kicking the soccer ball around. All of these activities were abundant this week.






-Movie time! We watched (and sang along with) the Sound of Music- the best. Also watched the original Parent Trap. Another gem. Watching movies with kids is somehow way more fun. You get to squirm and close your eyes if there is a kiss, squeal and laugh louder on all the good parts, and scream at any and all surprises and scary parts.

-A deeper learning about selfishness and selflessness. I thought God had broken me of my selfishness plenty before. But to be responsible for 3 other lives is a totally different ball game, folks! Trying to be there for others and meet their needs ALWAYS before your own? Tough. Because I am a selfish human being. Simply being a mother is one of the most selfless things I can think to do.

The kids picked flowers for me and set them in my room :)

-Lots of cuddling. Countless precious times my hand was captured by one of theirs, I found myself caught up in hugs, snuggling up during movies or lazy Sunday mornings. Talk about fun and heart-melting.

-A bit of discipline... So there are three Jackson kids (Brie-12, Madi-10, and Lachie-8) and then Evelyn, the Jackson's house help, has three younger ones (Jeremiah-4, Kevin-2, and Jacob-1). One time when we were all playing together Jeremiah disobeyed me, and so we had a little chat and he had to have a short time-out. Not ten minutes later, Kevin had misbehaved and little Madi was handling the situation so perfectly (with a chat and subsequent time-out). PRECIOUS. Watching the Jackson kids interact with Evelyn's kids was definitely a highlight.

-The realization that being a parent is going to be one of the toughest things I may ever do. On the first day, walking back from a store on the corner, the girls and I witnessed a bit of mob justice. A thief running away was caught and beat about 200ft away from us. Thankfully he was then taken to the police (not killed). This happened with THE GIRLS RIGHT NEXT TO ME! I could've cried then and there for feeling like I failed them. Mob justice is traumatizing for me, and I'm not 10 or 12. We talked it over the next day: to find out exactly what they had seen and heard, let them get it out and ask questions, and discuss justice and judgement. But obviously, I shared what happened with Jenny and Darren- and they will be the ones there for the girls to really process through what we saw. So I had to handle that for like a week- and was almost undone by it. I CANNOT imagine being the one responsible to help them process trauma longterm! Or to help them learn. Or to help them better understand the character of God. That is going to be so HARD! But it also gets me really excited that someday the Lord will equip me to take on that role.

-Getting tricked. Those kids probably had way more sugar this week than Mum and Dad ever let them. Oops.




-Fun girl time! On Saturday morning, when Lachie was at soccer, the girls and I had a baking day! We made some Australian staples (Lumberjack cake and Lemon Delicious) and had a grand ole time. Then, Saturday night Lachie went for a boys play date (watching Star Wars, playing wii...you know the drill.) The girls and I went over to another EMI family's house and we had a girls night! They had a tea party, got makeup and hair done in the "salon", got pedicures (courtesy of yours truly), and finished off the night with popcorn and movies. Total blast.



-Learning about good parenting. The Jackson kids are angels. Seriously. They look out for each other, catch themselves almost immediately if they disobey or are mean to each other, love to read and discuss their devotion book, are kind and loving to me and anyone else I've seen them with, and are so full of joy and delight. Jenny and Darren have done some great parenting! Though I know they wouldn't take any credit- they'd give it all back to God!



Praises:
-An awesome week with the Jacksons! I'm going to miss not seeing them as much!
-The last Burundi project trip returned this week! Praise for their successful trip and safe return to us.

Prayer Requests:
-Three of my favorite people are leaving me in a week! Christine (LTV), David, and Belinda (interns) are all leaving Kampala next week. Pray for their last few days here and for their next steps! (And pray for me, too, as I deal with them leaving me!)

You May Be In Kampala If:
-You have to worry about your children seeing mob justice...
-The kids beg you to eat with their hands. You know, to be culturally sensitive and all...

LOVE
SForbes

Hand to the Plow

So, guess what I'm doing this week? Taking responsibility for 3 kids... Scary, I know. The Jackson family (who I love and volunteer at Nsambya Babies Home with) trusts me to watch their kids. (Good decision on their part? I'm still not sure.) Jenny and Darren are going to be in Burundi this week for an EMI project trip- and so I'm going to be staying over with Brie (12), Maddy (10), and Lachie (8)! I am beyond excited because they are awesome! But, I think I will be exhausted by next Monday...

There's Brie and Lachie at Nsambya. Maddy and Jenny's faces are both hiding in the corners.

So... I know I told you all that I was coming here to do some engineering and construction management... but pretty much all I've blogged about is the precious children at Nsambya Babies Home, what God is teaching me, and some awesome African adventures.

But, from 8:30 AM to 5 PM every Monday through Friday, I am at work! If you're already bored, you should probably stop reading now. (Except to check out links to the ministries we're serving- because they are really amazing!) I have primarily worked on projects for two different ministry partners:

1. African Children's Choir- Music For Life LINK!

I have shared a bit about this ministry in a previous blog post. They are an amazing group that has taken many children from impoverished situations to give them education, music, and eternal hope for the future.

Since my time here, I have assisted with:
-a campus-wide rainwater catchment system estimating and purchasing
-site master planning
-architectural and some mechanical design, drafting, and 3D modeling for a new facility

Quantity take-offs, woo hoo!

Rainwater storage tanks...so exciting!

A 3D model ; whoopie!

Gutters!

Beautiful view!

2. Cherish Uganda LINK!

We visited this ministry in my first week here- and I immediately fell in love with how passionate the group is and the work they do! Last term (and finishing through this term) EMI has been master planning and designing a Health Clinic for the community.

The last few weeks, I have:
-helped create and maintain the construction project schedule
-refined a detailed estimate based on the permit drawings
-gone around town to do some landscape pricing

Rachael ,of Cherish Uganda, proudly standing in front of the EMI plans

The site for the Health Clinic!

Praises:
-Project work this week has been a blast! Cherish is a really cool project
-The community around me has been so helpful while I've been processing lots of lessons from the Lord!
-I have accepted a job! It has been a long and very challenging decision process- but I will be coming back to KC to start work in August!

Prayer Requests:
-That I would keep my focus on the present- not focusing much on August
-For the Jackson's this week! Pray that I don't break their kids!

You May Be in Kampala If:
-You are basically immune to people asking for your phone number. Or maybe are still really annoyed by it because it happens so often...
-Almost everything you eat is fresh and unprocessed (it's too expensive to add all those chemicals or something?)
-Monkeys live a few doors down from you in the empty lot. Seriously they do.
-You iron your clothes, not because you want them unwrinkled, but because you DON'T want mango flies to bury into your skin...(no worries; this hasn't happened to me yet!)

Thanks for everything!
SForbes

A concert at African Children's Choir that we went to. It was fun and very African :)

These are the 3 coolest EMI staff you'll probably ever see. Janet, Edith, and Stella (left to right)

Belinda and Oliver. More EMI love

Rice and Beans

Today, after a run around the neighborhood, I walked to the road just down below our street for a few errands. There is a sweet woman, named Katherine, who has a little store that I like to buy my eggs from. She plays Christian music, is so sweet that she even asked after me when I was sick, and also has a little gray kitten. Her niece, Florence, helped me today since Katherine was out. While Florence was bagging up my eggs, half kilo of rice, and kilo of beans, a woman came up behind me. The two guys behind me in line and this woman started talking to me a bit.

Woman: Mzungu (white person), how are you?
Me: I'm fine, how are you?
Woman: I'm fine.
Me: Gendi (good), ah. (Ah and eh are noises that I now add in to regular conversation due to the way Luganda is often spoken...)
Woman: Mzungu knows Luganda!
Woman and Men: (rapidly speak to me in Luganda that I can't begin to understand.)
Me: Neda (no), sorry. Eh, I don't really know much.

Woman: Take me to your country. (Yes it was this blunt. It often is.)
Me: Ah, nyabo (ma'am), you don't even know which is my country! I live here.
Woman: You're a citizen, no way. Take me home with you.
Me: Ah, no I'm not a citizen. But I live here.

Woman: (suddenly noticing my purchases) You eat RICE AND BEANS!?
Me: That's why I'm buying them! (All laugh...)
Woman: Ah, but I know you're mzungu. You eat Meat and Chicken, too.
Me: Ah...(awkardly trail off in conversation. She's right. I do.)

Woman leaves; men help me pay Florence since her English isn't so good. I buy a pineapple from the stand just up the way, and on the 10 minute walk back home, Jesus decides to teach me a hard-to-swallow lesson that I did not expect.

I eat rice and beans, and I eat meat and chicken. I eat seafood and vegetarian, and italian, mexican, german, indian, israeli, brazilian, and ugandan food. And until today, I've been pretty dang proud of that fact. I highly value being able to be flexible and diverse. I love being able to travel a lot and experience other cultures.

God asked me on the way back, "Will you eat rice and beans when you get back to the states? Would you ever feed your children just rice and beans? What about for the rest of your life; would you be able to just eat rice and beans?" Immediate response, "No, Lord. I want my kids to be flexible and well-versed and diverse like me." (Note: I'm referencing potential future kids. Not exactly sure why my mind was jumping so much to my kids today, but probably due to the fact that kids are on my mind from the Nsambya Orphanage this week..)

"Oh? So it's really important that your kids are able to eat lots of different kinds of foods? OR is it important that they know how to walk with ME?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry. You are the only important part, aren't you?" wide-eyed and chastised me responds.

And suddenly he brought to mind like 10 things that I highly value, from a cultural standpoint, that I realize are 100% not important. I really value and respect being flexible and well-rounded. I value looking presentable and professional. I value cleanliness ("My mother taught me that cleanliness is next to godliness"- Ever After quote...). I value having a nice home, because it will be a conduit for good hospitality, right? I value having a lot of varied experiences and being able to eat lots of different things. Seriously, I kinda highly value these things. Like, to the extent that I judge others when they aren't flexible, presentable, or clean. I judge others who lack much experience or accepting tastes. Yikes, right?

And I scoff at the thought of eating rice and beans for the rest of my life. I disapprove strongly of thinking of doing that to my kids. Don't want them to be weird missionary kids or something, right? I want them to be well-rounded and worthwhile people who are well-thought of by others. BUT GOD is the only important thing. Many things will flow out of that, but there is only one priority. There are no secondary priorities that fall in line after Him. Just Him.

The life of a Ugandan who eats rice and beans their whole life is just as valuable, respectable, and effective as the life of an American millionaire...if they both devote their lives to the Lord. The goal for my life and my children's ought to be a life that values Christ; that's IT. I know that, and you probably do, too. But I didn't realize until today how many secondary priorities I was trying to squeeze in close to Christ.

This is a poorly packaged summary of something God is teaching me. But I pray he will try to use my words anyway!

SForbes

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! (But Really, Just Lions)

I haven't updated the blog in a while, except for a brief post yesterday. Somehow life has been very busy here the last few weeks!

Last week I was sick again, this time for about 6 days. After day four, I finally realized I was just being stubborn. So the moment I finally convinced myself to go to the clinic downtown, I just hopped on a boda boda and rode by myself downtown in the rain. Which was also stubborn. But I did let Anne know where I was and she kindly asked someone to come pick me up (thanks Brittany!), even though I hadn't been wiling to ask. There are probably another thousand anecdotes in there about the clinic waiting room, or sending my "lab sample" with a boda driver in a nondescript black bag to drop off, but I'll suffice it to say that we still don't know what it was. The doctor said it was either some mean food poisoning or an unidentified virus, and it would run it course eventually. Thankfully, the Lord healed me enough by Friday morning to leave with my fellow interns for our SAFARI!

The interns, minus Daniel Iya who couldn't join us, took a long weekend. We drove Friday to Rukungiri, in western Uganda, and visited our fellow intern Daniel Nyongesa on his construction site. It was great to see the site in action! Daniel is the "clerk of works" (sim. to owner's rep) for St. Paul's Primary school's new girls dormitory. The boy interns stayed with Daniel at his apt, and the girls were hosted by the Nursery School's headmistress, Joann, and her husband, Steven. We experienced some true Ugandan hospitality as this sweet family shared their home, meals, and morning devotions. We stayed with them Friday night, then spent Saturday night in the national park, and stayed again on Sunday night. I pray God blesses them tenfold for their kindness to us!



"O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures." Psalm 104:24

Talk about COOL! On the drive down we saw wild Zebras! They were grazing in the same fields as cows, just off the side of the highway. Seriously? We crossed the equator, too, which was anticlimactic...because we've all done it before.


Friday night we drove through the MOST beautiful mountain valley. On the way there, we were swarmed by village children. They made us feel like celebrities, which was kind of cool and kind of sad. Their laughter and smiles were precious. But being ascribed status because of my white skin is not exactly a good feeling... But check out the scenery! The sketchy mountain roads also unfortunately tore up our transmission...

Which led to the first few hours of our safari being in a matatu (van taxi) on probably the bumpiest thing you could call a road. The way plans kept changing and the way we squeezed into different sized vehicles to get from one place to the next gave everything the air of being very African. Not to mention that our taxi driver accidentally drove 2 hours in the wrong direction... But even in the taxi, as we entered the southern portion of Queen Elizabeth National Park- we saw baboons, waterbuck, a buffalo (blocking the road, and almost charging us!), and elephants!

That afternoon, after switching vehicles again... we saw some warthogs, more sweet birds, AND THEN A LEOPARD! The leopard had just caught his lunch! It was amazing to see. And they can be a rare one to spot. Our driver said he's only seen them 4 times in his 20 years as a safari driver.



Then we made it to our lodge and went out for a boat ride on the Kazinga channel. Hippos, crocodiles, more buffalo, a monitor lizard, so many cool birds, and much closer elephants were in abundance!

As we exited the boat, our original driver Baruku stood there beaming at us. We were so glad to see him! He was able to get his van fixed and stay with us the rest of the weekend! Big bonus because he has a pop-top in the van for safari drives and he had ample seating for the 8 of us interns. We went on an evening drive, saw a LIONESS dozing in the sun, tons of Kob and waterbucks, more warthogs, and the Rwenzori mountains. The blazing orange sun set just to the left of deep blue mountains, and the scene faded into pinks and purples. The pictures do it no justice. On our way back, we were delayed about 10 minutes as the road was blocked by a huge male elephant. He faced us and flared out his ears: a sign of aggression. We revved the engine and started yelling as we drove forward...but dude did not back down. After reversing the van some 100 meters to where we were hiding behind a bend, he finally cleared off the road for us to drive back.

 

That night, after dinner and a few rousing rounds of spoons, Paul, Uriah, and Meggie walked me back to my room (which was about 200 meters from the main guesthouse where everyone else stayed). I'm so glad they did. There was a hippo grazing in the field 30 meters away. I probably would have done something really stupid and accidentally provoked it if I had been alone, haha.

Ok, I'm writing way too much. I'm going to try and let pictures do most of the work. But they hardly capture it. God has displayed his glory here in SO many ways. The landscape, vegetation, the animals...all of it brought me right before his feet, praising him for his creativity and his glory.



Game drive the next morning. Elephants, BABY elephants, warthops, kob, and a whole lion pride! They were kinda far, but still super cool. We even heard the male roar (I think!)

On our way back to Rukungiri that afternoon, we stopped by a natural hot springs. There are no pictures of this, and I'm going to let you guess why. Talk about an African experience. I had my swimsuit on... That night the foreman from Daniel's site invited us to dinner at his mother's home outside of the town. Ambrose, the foreman, and a few of the other site guys all enjoyed meeting Ambrose's family and seeing his house and land. Sitting and talking with the construction guys on Sunday night was probably one of the best parts of this weekend. We were sitting on top of a hill on Ambrose's land, his cows and goats were grazing nearby, and you could see lush green mountains and farmland for miles all around. The river and valley were just down the way, and off in the distance we could see a mountain that also touches Rwanda and the DR Congo. This sunset takes the cake of all the others. I want to live in this village someday, no joke. Ambrose told me he would help me find good land to settle and farm. The stars were everything you would imagine they should be, in the middle of an African village on a hill with no disruptive lights on for miles.





We made it back to Rukungiri, had some late night tea with Joann and Stephen, and then settled in for our last night in western Uganda. Today, we spent a few hours exploring the site, visiting the primary school assembly, being sung to by Joann's nursery classes, and enjoying a leisurely breakfast before hopping back in the van for a 8 hour trip home. (We saw zebras on the way home, too!)

Thank you Jesus for such an amazing experience! It was a great weekend to renew my love of Africa, grow closer with my fellow interns, and better understand Ugandan hospitality in all its glory!

Praises:
-How can I count them? Praise for all the beauty we've beheld this weekend
-Safe travels, even in the midst of many changed plans
-Blessed fellowship with the interns, site guys, and our wonderful hosts

Prayer Requests:
-A few of the interns, including myself, are still battling some lingering sickness.

You May be on Safari If:
-You fall asleep to the sounds of...well, something loud that roars or trumpets just outside your lodge.
-It smells so fresh outside that it reminds you of the beach in Florida. Weird, right?
-You count the day a success because your vehicle was almost charged by large animals more than once.
-For a nice change, you point and stare at the animals. (Instead of people pointing and staring at you while yelling "mzungu!")

SForbes