It has been two weeks since we last updated our blog so when
I sat down to write a new one, I felt like there was way too much to write. So
I will try not to make this too long.
And we are off...Gulu here we come!
Two weeks ago we began our trip to Gulu. For those of you
not familiar with Ugandan geography, Gulu is about 400 kilometers north of
Kampala. Because we have friends that live outside of Kampala, we stopped off
there and visited them on the way. We were able to once again visit Donela
Orange School in Bombo. After having another awesome day in Bombo/Wobulenzi we
went to a guest house close by to stay the night and then headed to Gulu
Tuesday morning. Luckily Jamesdon got a good night sleep because the only road
that goes up to Gulu is a pretty daunting road to drive.
Even when the road to Gulu was at its best , it was a
stressful road to drive. You share the
road, which is barely wide enough for one car in each direction, with huge
buses that go very fast and as they head towards you, you feel as if you are
going to be run off the road. The road is filled with potholes and rain
continually erodes the edges of the road, so there are times when there is
barely enough road for one car let alone for the bus with bad alignment, that
is literally driving sideways and heading towards you. This does not include
the people riding bicycles, school children running alongside the road, or the
women carrying babies on their back and jerry cans of water on their head. Jamesdon says it feels like 6 hours of playing
some twisted game of chicken and Russian roulette. Most of the time Jamesdon
was trying to find the best path to travel and sometimes there wasn’t really a
best path, but he did a great job.
Nemo (baby Mzungu) always gets swarmed!!
Lazyboy Seesaw
It probably goes without saying, but Jamesdon was exhausted
by the time we traveled the 320 kilometers to get there! Even though he was
exhausted, Jamesdon really wanted to see
the Congolese women at Remnant International (the organization Jamesdon worked
with when we lived here before) so we headed straight there to surprise them.
Although, not all the women were there, the two that were there were very
excited to see him. We then headed to CTCM (Christ the Center Ministries)
school and visited with Pastor Ron and Mama Joy. We wrapped up our day be
getting together with our dear friends, Kent and Becky, who are missionaries
sent out by Antioch church. After 2 years of not seeing them, it was great to
have dinner and catch up with them. Plus Daniel and Nehemiah were stoked to
have kids to play with, since they have four girls.
I really missed these Remnant gals!
On Wednesday, we got the chance to meet Jake and Khara, some
fellow Rock Harbor goers, that moved to Uganda shortly after we left. Although,
I had only met Khara once in Uganda, right before we left, it was so great to
sit down and talk with them about their time in Uganda so far and to get the
chance to pray for them and what they are doing in Gulu. Later that afternoon,
Jamesdon met up with Kent and got to visit their discipleship school as well as
a new income generating project that will be used to support the discipleship
school and provide business and management training for their community. (Kent
spent the better half of the week trying to convince Jamesdon to move back to Uganda
to come work alongside him, and Jamesdon spent the better part of the week
telling him no!)
Jamesdon moonlights as a baking instructor!
Ana, one of the Congolese bakers.
We spent the remainder of our week meeting with friends and visiting
different projects/ ministries in Gulu. Jamesdon celebrated his 30th
birthday, which was very low key. (I always pictured getting to do something
big and exciting for him, but that didn’t happen). Kent and Becky’s daughter
did make him a pretty tasty cake though!! The boys had a great time road
tripping and getting to see more of Uganda and its beauty, including the Nile
River and some of its wild life! All in all it was a great week and a good
reminder of why we love being here in Uganda!
Worn out from our AWESOME week in Gulu!
No big deal, just a scary baboon on the side of the road!
Beyond worn out, just
CRAZY at this point!
Getting to spend a week in Gulu and having the chance to
reconnect with friends made the past week in Kampala a tough one. Reality set
back in! Jamesdon has now been here for 8 weeks and I have been here for 4 weeks
and there has been absolutely no movement in the courts. While the family time
we are having is priceless, not knowing how long this whole process is going to
take is a really difficult reality. We know that God has a plan for our family
in all of this, but sitting and waiting is not easy to do. Our previous time
spent in Uganda was spent in a posture of serving and ministering to the people
here, but this time around we are just waiting. Even though we get to visit
different ministries here, it is tough not being a part of one and really
getting to take part in what God is doing here. As we wait, we continue to pray
for God to show us discernment about where He wants us to be, but so far we
just feel like we should be home! We feel like God has blessed us with such an
amazing community at home and that He is not ready to take us away from that.
Although we love Uganda, we do not feel like God is calling us back here. With
that being said, He hasn’t allowed us to leave yet either, so we continue to
pray and wait on God.
Please continue to pray alongside us for the following:
- a court date
- discernment about God’s plan for our family
- that this would be a period of spiritual growth for our family
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