Another adventure

This week I have almost caught up on all my washing which has been no mean feat (I've had a pile of clothes that have been taunting me since I moved to my new place in early December). And as long as the rain holds off for a bit more today (it's meant to be the dry season for crying out loud!) I will go home to the last of the clothes I need to dry.

The reason it's so important to get it does is that on Saturday I will be heading to Entebbe Airport to meet up with a team coming from Australia to spend a month on a ministry trip to different parts of Uganda and DR Congo. This will be the third such trip I have been on and I'm excited to see what God will do with a group of people who are here, willing to be used by Him.

For me I can still remember that first trip, the wonder that I had finally made it to Africa, the wonder that I had finally managed to leave Australia, the sights and smells, so familiar now that then seemed so foreign, so different from what had been known. I can't imagine now never having being called 'muzungu', eaten matoke, riden a boda and all the other experiences I've had. I also can't imagine at one time being a stranger to all my new friends and having no real concept of the poverty that others live in and the excess that I was used to.

   

Defining moments

Coming to Africa changed my life, literally. I now live on a different continent, doing just my little bit to help Australia HOPE International share the hope that knowing Jesus brings, through the aid work they are doing on this continent. I am a different person than I was four and a half years ago, and this country, these people, have been catalysts of change for me.

I can only hope that for these new friends that I will meet and travel with, Africa also changes them. That something about its culture and people gets under their skin. That they will, like I did, start to see the world bigger and more vibrant. That they in turn will affect change in the lives of those around them, friends and family, those they have the chance to speak with about their experiences here.

Now that I have been here so long, I have the opportunity to be jaded by what I've seen, the things that are now so commonplace, and to no longer appreciate the eccentricities (to me) of Ugandan life. I am praying for myself that I will again feel that wonder as I travel, that I will drink in everything and that this will not be an ordinary few weeks but another adventure.

Not sure how I will go in writing for the next few weeks. We'll see.

Be blessed until next time

bron