Almost done!!

Can you believe that? We leave Jinja in four days to fly back to Canada. Then a week and a half after that I'm back in good ol' Minnesota!! Every time I realize that, I'm just like, "Crazy!!" All of my emotions are so mixed. I'm sad to be leaving Uganda, but then again I'm ready. I think you unintentionally set a clock in your head for how long you'll be somewhere. And then your mindset reflects that. I'm sad for the end of DTS. How do I even go about saying goodbye to everyone? I don't even want to face that. Oh, and I'm happy and so excited to be home and see my family again. Oh to be home. I'm sad, I'm happy, I'm content, I'm anxious. BLEH!!

Last Saturday was a good day. Very good. Saturdays are our days off, so in the morning we went to Kalagala falls. Beautiful. Large stream with rapids, waterfalls, rocks for climbing... sigh. We kicked off our shoes, set down our backpacks, and climbed. Over rocks and through forest. It was tiring and intense, but then we sat on big boulders in the middle of the stream. Can you imagine? I don't think you can - good luck!! The water was so intense that you could barely hear anything. If you know me well, you know that sitting by a body of water is one of my favorite things to do. RHAH!! The falls just drowned out so much noise. So great.

We took motorcycle bodas to get there (even better than bicycle bodas!), and on the way back, we had to squeeze Mike, Jas and me on one. Four people. One motorcycle. Heck yes.

Later that day we all headed to Jinja and had chocolate cake and milkshakes at Ozzie's for Lindsey's birthday (which was the next day). Yummmmm. Jinja is just a great place to hang out. And get a few marriage proposals. And say no to every single one of them. LoL.

Sunday we went to the same church - Kangulumira Pentecostal Church. This time around Mike spoke about acting out our faith in terms of responding to the needs we see around us. Jesus was a servant - we should seek to be servant-hearted as well. The congregation split off into discussion groups to talk about what they can do to serve their community like Jesus would. Great discussions. I really like how they went because it wasn't about us Muzungus. It was them - discussing, brainstorming, planning for themselves without us telling them what to do. It was great.

The whole time, there was a boy sitting in front of us. I'd say he was about 5ish. He was facing backwards, just looking at us. LoL. So I invited him onto my lap and held him for a bit. Then he started to get more relaxed... and his eyes started to droop... and soon enough he was fast asleep. Complete with drool (yup, all over my arm ha!), twitching and light snoring. Don't worry - we got pictures!

Some time this week we were riding back in a taxi talking about Mount Rushmore (not really sure how that conversation started...) and we were arguing about which state it's in. I thought it was in South Dakota, while both Michelle (also an American, and who's actually been there) and Mike though North Dakota. Since the odds were against me, I gave up. Gosh, some American I am, I don't even know where Mount Rushmore is!! When I got out of the taxi, I saw a man with a "Mount Rushmore, South Dakota" shirt on. I went AH! and used him as proof that Mount Rushmore is indeed in South Dakota!! LoL - yup. I definitely freaked the man out. Oops!! It was hilarious anyhow.

Tuesday, Crystal, Carolyn and I (C Squad!) worked with MCH, Mothers' and Children's Health, in a village. Since I've done it before, I was starting to get the routine. Mother comes in - blood pressure, palpation, someone who knows what they're doing with the chart and how to speak Luganda does the rest. Off to HIV testing!! All tests were negative that day, thank the Lord!! MCH also does immunizations for children, so I weighed lots of babies for that part.

I wanted to punch myself this week. I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but a couple weeks ago, Carolyn and I spoke at a Spring of Hope clinic about child abuse. It was the topic they had asked for and God put it both on our hearts. We talked about the effects and how scarred it can make someone. For the rest of their life. But then we turned it around - God is good and He can work good out of any horrible circumstances. He is a Healer and He can restore.

A few days later, Crystal, Mike and I were walking on a side road to get back to Sam's house. This is from my journal, I don't think I could word this again:

"We were walking home from town and along that road, there's a BILLION kids and they all scream MUZUNGU and sing and dance and go WILD! In midst of that, I saw Mike looking back, disturbed. 'That guy just hit that kid.' I looked around and saw a man standing over a hysterical kid. Screaming. I only saw him grab the kid's arm and whip him around a bit. Enough for a protest, I think. But inaction gripped me. Inaction. It was all so fast and I didn't know what to do and Mike and Crystal kept walking. So I went with the flow.

"Who do I think I am? I talk one day against child abuse and I proclaim the healing and wholeness and restoration that God can give. But then I just let it happen. I just let it happen. Hypocrite.

"But then I think, what could I have done to stop it, really? The effects would seem only temporary, if anything.

"But then a voice answers, Something. Anything.

"Anything."

I prayed that God would give me another chance. But I hate that, too!! What are my motives in that? Excusing myself for the first time. Redeeming myself and proving that my default isn't indifference. I think it's ok if that's my default, but I can't let that grip me. I have to work against that and friggen do something!!

I'm ok. And I hope he is, too.

A group from the UK flew in on Sunday. They're on their gap year (in between high school and university) and plan to work with Spring of Hope for 6 weeks before heading to the southwest corner of Uganda. A few of us worked with them Wednesday and Thursday starting to paint the new SOH office in Kangulumira. This group is so fun!! While painting, it's easy to talk and get to know each other. Jen from their team was asking me about school and large cats and whatnot... and since I'm such a good painter, she decided that my calling is to paint large cats in churches. Wow!! I'm so glad I finally know what I am meant to do!! LoL - thanks Jen. What a lifesaver.

From the paint, my feet are now even dirtier than before. Imagine stepping in oil-based paint (not easily removed in the slightest) and then in dirt. That's what my feet are right now, LoL. Diseased looking.

Today we are heading to the Source of the Nile. Woohoo!! So next week, I'll let you know how devastatingly beautiful that was!!