A Housewarming Party

Mind you, I use the term housewarming and party in very, VERY, very loose terms!

Let me start from the beginning...

I moved yesterday to a new hut. I was actually content and very pleased with my original hut but was asked to move since my neighbors had 8 people in the hut next to mine and were sharing 6 twin sized beds.

My hut was the logical one for them to move into since the 6 kids could live in their original hut and their parents could live in mine.

So with a little bit of hesitancy I said yes.

Lets just say the last 24 hours have been interesting.

My new hut...while it looks like and is laid out exactly the same as my old one, has a few shortcomings...

Because most of the day it is in direct sunlight, the shower door and the front door don't close quite right...resulting in many visitors.

I managed, with some bug spray and a broom to get rid of the inhabitants of the hut before moving in and settled in for the night.

When I woke...I had a new lizard friend crawling the wall of my bedroom...turns out one of my screens also has a hole so each morning I may have some new little "friends" that call my hut home.

I went on with my morning like usual...Sitting in the institute classes...but this morning was different...it rained...and it rained HARD! No big deal right??

WRONG!

When I got home I found a housewarming party waiting for me...it was more of a surprise party...you know the kind when you really don't want a surprise party but someone decided you needed one anyway??

I opened my front door and there were thousands, yes...thousands of HUGE black ants... The source?? My door frame...apparently that is their home and all the rain disturbed them...

Armed again, once more, with a can of bug spray and a broom, I started my attack...spray, sweep, step on, spray, sweep, step on...chase...repeat!

It took about 30 minutes, half a can of bug spray, and the death of my push broom before I think I got them all out of the hut, off of the walls, and dead on the front porch!

So there you have it...A housewarming party turned massacre in one short afternoon!

Pray for Zam Zam

As I mentioned before, I have been placed in a family group here at New Hope.

I was told that the girls are much harder to get to know and that they will not let you befriend them easily...I didn't find that to be true with my new friend Zam Zam.

She was the first person to run up and hug me when I got to the family site, she sat next to me at worship time, she served me dinner, she came to my house friday morning to greet me before I left for my weekend in Mbarara, and she was the first to run over to my home when she heard I returned on Sunday evening.

She is so sweet!

Yesterday, Auntie Florence (the Ebenezer house mother) told me that Zam Zam's sister died suddenly. Her sister was just 17 and lived in a village 2 hours from where we were staying. Apparently she felt sick yesterday morning and by the time she arrived to the hospital she had already passed away.

Zam Zam went immediately and they held the burial the same day as her death. Of course, Zam Zam is struggling with this and very upset.

Please pray for her and please pray that I would know how to comfort her in her time of sadness.

Alfred and Faith's Wedding!

I have known Faith for a few years now and she is such a sweet friend to me. She is the one who taught me how to say "I'm going to beat you" in Lugandan, as well as "I'm going to pinch you" and "I'm going to kick you"....we really did love each other...we were just two very competitive Skipbo players :)

Either way...She was married this weekend to Alfred and I had the opportunity to attend.

I traveled to Western Uganda - which was quite a journey...one boda-boda, one taxi, one bus and about 9 hours later Joseline and I finally arrived and Faith was soooo excited to see me there that she was screaming and jumping up and down. I think she woke up all her bridesmaids and her uncle because of it!

The day of the wedding, Faith had me doing all of the toe and finger nail painting (french tip, I might add)...quite humorous in and of itself if you know anything about my finger painting abilities :)

The wedding was scheduled for 11am but in true Ugandan fashion it started at 12:30. It was great fun!

Here are some of the pictures from the day!

My Home

Here are a few pictures of my new home at New Hope.

My house:

My room:

and my outdoor shower…which I conquered by the way…more to come on that subject a little later on =)

Slashing 101

First off let me announce that I am officially apart of a family here at New Hope...I belong to the Ebenezer Family which has approx 21 kids. As part of the family, I will be fellowshipping with them, doing devotions with them, and working alongside of them in their fields.

As part of our work today, I learned how to slash. We will be planting maize in the fields and so the first task is clearing the field of the 4 ft weeds that are currently calling that land their home.

Let me first say...slashing is HARD work!

What is it you may ask??

Well...basically, you get a huge knife with a handle...it kind of looks like it could be a machette but it is bent on the end kind of like a golf club and you swing it back and forth to cut away all the grass. I did it for about 30 minutes and I was EXHAUSTED! I walked away not only sweaty but with 2 new blisters as well.

I have decided a few things based on this new experience...

1. If Ugandans played baseball or golf...they would be AMAZING at it...just based on the skills they possess swinging around the slashers!
2. Ugandans have stamina that I have NEVER had
3. Ugandans are WAY stronger than I am...arms and backs!
4. God wasnt kidding when he told Adam he would eat of the land through painful toil and the sweat of his brow (Gen 3:17-19)
5. Weed wackers were an amazing invention, even if they do clog up every few ft!
6. We should be thankful for all the hard work that goes into preparing all those foods that we take for granted...

So for now...I will retreat as a tired, sore, and newly blistered muzungu...

Keep tuned for more of my adventures in Uganda as the days and weeks stretch on!

Shipping Address - July 5 to Nov 20, 2009

Let me just say, I like mail!

That being said...

You can send me snail mail in addition to emails....just know that letters can easily take three or more weeks to get here from the US.

You can also send packages but they MUST be sent ONLY by airmail, as ground can easily take 6 months to a year to get! Airmailed packages typically take 3-4 weeks (though this is Africa, and at times can be longer, or at times surprisingly quick!).

The address for both packages and letters is below but please note that I will only be receiving mail at this address through November 20th so all mail will need to arrive before that date to ensure that I receive it:

New Hope Institute of Childcare and Family
Lena Pira
P.O. Box 16
Luweero, Uganda
East Africa

I have roommates!

Haha…I use the word roommate loosely!

Rather than sharing my home with a roommate of a human variety, I am sharing with a family of bats. I was told they were living there when I arrived but I didn’t not see or hear them until about 3:30 AM when my jet-lag had gotten the best of me and had me wide awake from 3 to 5 this morning.

How did I figure it out?? Well…it was pretty easy…they squeek!

Needless to say…it didn’t help me get back to sleep quickly…thank goodness for my trusty ipod that offers hours of entertainment in the wee hours of the morning!

22 Stories...

The first couple days of the institute that I am in, here in Luwero, we are all sharing our life stories...Today it took 4 hours to hear the first 7 stories...

It is so amazing to hear how God has been so faithful to everyone even through life events that could and should crush us. Today I heard stories of people who were abused, of people whose fathers abandoned them, of people whose children and siblings were captured by LRA soldiers and have never been heard from again, people who were addicts, people who have lost husbands, and wives....So many stories...

The coolest thing is...God knows all of their stories and He has woven our lives together in this exact moment in time. We are all here for a purpose....To be used by God to minister to the people of Uganda.

I can't wait to hear more stories tomorrow!

Adventures with an outdoor shower…

I haven’t quite mastered the art of shower taking here…BUT that is not to say that I did not have any successes with my first outdoor shower yesterday…My successes you may ask?

1. I was able to fill my solar shower bag without getting myself totally wet in the process.
2. The solar shower bag actually did get my water semi-warm!
3. I managed to actually get myself semi-clean!

Yeah! Three successes in one day! Its amazing!!

My goals for today's outdoor shower you may ask??

Good Question…

To find a better (higher) place to hang that shower bag so that gravity and the water flow are on my side! and…if goal one is accomplished…my second goal would be to get my self COMPLETELY clean this time

…Ahhh…what an adventure!

Goodbye LA!

Goodbye everyone!

Today is the day!
I can't believe it is already here!

I can't believe my packing is done! Boy what a task that was!! It's hard to move and not take a shipping container with you!!

Pray that all my bags are under the max weight!
They are heavy and well...I'm not so sure the scale I used was that reliable :(

I love you all! Keep in touch!!!!