Preparing for Another Adventure....

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!  HE is RISEN....HE is RISEN indeed.

I head out this week to Masaka.  It is a smaller town out to the west, about two and a half hours from Kampala.  It actually reminds me a bit of the middle and western part of VA (if you take away the banana trees anyway).  I have been a few times before and really enjoy the slower pace, the lack of significant "jam" compared to Kampala, and the people I have met from there.

I am going more or less because it is a requirement, but I also know it will be good for me.  I am going to stay with a Ugandan family to have more of a true language and culture immersion experience.

I have been studying Luganda now for more than a year, but to be honest, living here in the capital has
actually made it "slower" if you will to learn as you don't HAVE to use it.  Most folks here speak English, and in some ways prefer to.  Most folks here in Kampala when I speak to them in Luganda, laugh (or I should say, kind of giggle).  They are not laughing AT me, they just do not expect their language to come out of the mouth of someone who looks like me.  Many expats here, at least it seems to me, don't learn one of the 40+ local languages because you really don't have to in order to function.

What I have found, however, even in what I feel is my limited Luganda, they are PLEASED that I have tried.  They are happy that I am learning, and as soon as they see I can say a little, they start talking REALLY fast with a big smile on their face, and I have to ask them to please slow down.  It has opened, even in small ways, doors to have more conversations.  It has allowed me to proceed without much more than a greeting with the traffic police when they stop me to "check my papers".  Many people have said they would gladly come and be my teacher, but I tell them I already have one thanks.

I am excited to go and see what I have learned, as well as what I have not, so we have some direction in where I still need to go.  My primary hope and prayer is that I will gain confidence in my ability to speak and hear well.  My teammates tell me I am doing well, but I don't have something to gauge it by, so I am just not sure...I am hoping this trip will change that.

As much as I am excited about it...I am also a bit nervous.  More about the unfamiliar surroundings I will be in.  As one of my teammates reminded me today, being in a situation where you are unfamiliar with and everyone else is very familiar it is stressful in itself.  Sleeping in a strange bed, being with people I don't really know all that well, eating food I am not used to eating every day, even going to the bathroom in a pit latrine (or drop toilet)....it is going to be stressful.


I keep telling myself if I have camped for 2 weeks straight on the side of a river with people I had never met before (and I did that TWICE), then I can survive, and even enjoy this time well.  My language teacher drew me a diagram to help with the pit latrine situation.  He also teaches with the Peace Corp, and they do that talk with each new class.  I modified it a bit...but it just reminds me how blessed I am to live where I live, as probably 90% of the country do NOT have indoor toilets, including many here in the capital city. This is normal, everyday life.  I want to experience that life...and at the same time, want to remain healthy and safe, so any advice I can get from teachers and other Ugandan friends, I am very grateful for.

Please pray for me during this time.  I will be hopefully meeting with some of the women in the church and in Hope Alive (a ministry affiliated with WorldVenture) while I am there.  I hope this will be the beginning of relationships that lead to ministry opportunities in the future.  I am still deciding if I am going to take my computer, but if I do, I will try and update periodically while I am there, and if I don't for sure I will fill you in when I return.