In the morning, I got to write a letter to one of the girls I have gotten really close with and will really miss, which was good because she was gone visiting her sponsor kid in Luweero and I haven’t had time to do it since she’s always around. I also ordered a copy of the devotional I brought that my mentor had given to me because she really likes when I share with her the things that the Lord is teaching me through it, and I really feel like it would bless her a lot. Then the people who didn’t go on safari, rafting, or bungee jumping that day all went into town to get some last minute (for them) gifts from the craft market, and a few of them went out to eat while 3 of us returned to the house for lunch.
After lunch, I hung around the house a little bit and answered some e-mails and just relaxed. I went outside to the backyard and had the God-time I had been craving. I didn’t even realize I was sitting out there for about an hour and a half. It amazes me how incredibly spot-on this devotional book has been for my trip. I also tried to journal a bit in my prayer journal I brought, but that took a long time. It seriously helped a lot though because I ended up sorting out a lot of things that have been running through my mind simply by writing down on paper exactly what has been in my head.
After this, I sat back and closed my eyes for a little meditative prayer time. This is something I absolutely love in my relationship with Christ. When I take the time to do this, he blesses me richly, and I was excited that I would finally get to do it here. It’s really hard to explain, but basically this time was a lot different than usual and I started to freak out. However, I really feel it is simply because of my change in location, but not in the way you are thinking. My space in this world, my role in this generation is changing, and therefore I am changing.
In this time with the Lord, I was reminded of a poem a good friend of mine recently wrote and shared in her blog. It was so inspiring and beautiful, and dealt with a lot of things going on in my head right now. I felt God nudging me to try something like that, so I asked for His hand to guide mine in my journal, and I simply began writing. The words just came out. They flowed out of my pen, onto my journal, in a poetic fashion that I have never been able to do on my own. There are still some things I think I want to add or delete here and there, but once it is perfected, I will post it. This piece of prose, poetry, whatever you want to call it was really special for me to read because I know it was not me who wrote it. I read the words that His Spirit formed and am stunned into awe. I now know my purpose here, and it’s not this huge revelation or anything, but I know at least one reason why I am here this summer. I know His will and plan is perfect, and I know what He is trying to teach me, at least right now. I won’t give it all away just yet though, maybe in my next post.
I left this time with God fully refreshed and invigorated, ready for ministry. I felt joyful and I wanted people to notice that it was not my joy, but His. I saw the neighbor kids, Rihanna & Jeremiah (3 & 4 years old, respectively) and decided to take some time out of my day to play with them. That was SO much fun! They are absolutely crazy, and it is easy to invest in them since they live right next door, and are related to one of the Ugandan volunteers, so they are at the house all the time. I am really excited to invest in them over the next month of my stay.
This morning we went to St. Kakumba Chapel in Kyambogo, and thank the Lord we only had to attend the service. It ended up being a really great service because this woman preached and she was really funny and was easy to pay attention to, plus the content of her sermon was really deep and insightful. The rest of the day we just hung out around the house, those of us who didn’t go on safari this weekend. Vanessa and I decided to go back and visit the squatters, but this time we brought my laptop, some sweets, and The Lion King DVD. It was SO cute to watch them watching the movie. The little ones would giggle as Timon & Pumba started singing about fuyes (farts), while the older ones would translate what was happening to them. It was possibly one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Then after the movie was over, we had about a half-hour before we had to get back, and they wanted to sing and dance for us as they always do. It was really cool because they did a traditional Acholi dance, and I felt like a proud mother as I videotaped them haha.
I’m very excited to post my “purpose” post, but I want to save it until I have my piece of prose perfected. Tomorrow we are going to the Babies Homes in the morning and then spending the afternoon planning the week. Plus, this Saturday I will be attending a traditional Ugandan wedding ceremony. However, this is not the actual wedding. In their culture, they have an “Introduction Ceremony” before the wedding. This basically serves the same purpose as an engagement party; only it is a way bigger deal than the actual wedding day. Every attendee must wear the traditional dress, according to the bride’s tribe, and there are certain rituals that we will have to learn: how to kneel correctly, when to kneel, how to dance, when to dance, etc. This ceremony is set in place for the families of the bride and groom to be officially introduced to each other, and when I say families I mean full-extended-cousins-of-cousins kind of families. They find it really important to have as many people as possible at the Introduction so they have more people that will hold them accountable to keep their marriage strong, and bear witness to their vows. This is also the time when the groom presents the dowry to the bride’s parents. Yes, they still use a dowry system here. Only most of the time they don’t use money, they use cows. So the groom will either present the family with all cows, cows and some goats, maybe some chickens and fruits, and definitely a little bit of money in there as well. This is why it takes so long for a Ugandan man to marry, because cows here are very expensive and some parents are very picky about the dowry. I’m not sure what Sarah’s dowry is, but I am excited to see this traditional transaction. I will also be leaving for safari on Sunday the 26th in the morning, and will be returning on Tuesday, so there won’t be any posts during that time. I love you all, and I hope you are bearing with my super long posts, but most of all I hope you are blessed by them!
In His Perfect Love,
Em
"The longer I live, the more I believe that one of the most profound subjects in the Christian life is the will of God. The deeper we dig into it, the more we realize how little we know. . . Doing the will of God is rarely easy and uncomplicated. Instead, it is often difficult and convoluted. It is mysterious. . . . In fact, more often than not, God's will is downright humanly illogical." -- Charles Swindoll in The Mystery of God's Will: What Does He Want for Me?
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