An ENTIRE week off :)

Ahhh, that's right, an entire week off :) I know that some people at the hospital where I worked at were under the impression that I'm taking a 5 month vacation! However, contrary to popular belief, I've been working like crazy here, just a different kind of work, and one that I don't get paid anything monetary for!! So, I definitely appreciated having this past week off!

Several people went white water rafting, went on a 3-day safari, or did a day trip to Jinja...I actually opted not to do any of them. I've seen or done all of these experiences before, so chose to save my money and instead "hung out" a bit! I've absolutely had the best time!!! I'll share just a little bit...

On Wednesday I was "home alone" for the first time since we've been in Uganda. I actually spent the entire afternoon praying and worshiping. I know, that sounds a bit weird. However, I live for an audience of One and will endure persecution and ridicule, and that's ok! I had an incredible day and I can't begin to tell you how freeing the whole afternoon was! Later that night, I attended my regular cell group (small group), even though we weren't "required" to go. I just love my cell group here. The leader is a young Ugandan physician, who I just seemed to connect with since our first meeting! Also, the couple that hosts the group (in their home) are extremely strong in faith, and just amazing Christians as well! It's going to be really difficult leaving the group in a couple months :(

Thursday was a memorable day! Myself and 2 of my other roomies took over our guesthouse kitchen :) (Yes, the guesthouse kitchen and entire guesthouse are still standing...we didn't burn the place down, hehe!!) One of my roommates family's was in town, so we wanted to make a "traditional" Ugandan meal for them. This is actually an extremely hard thing to do. In fact, many Ugandans don't even make some of this stuff because it's so consuming (time-wise and strength-wise). (However, one of our classmates taught us how to do it). Soooo, one of the cooks took us into the market (even catching a matatu, which is like a large taxi van was quite an experience). Then, shopping in the market with him (a local market that never sees muzungus) was SUCH a interesting time! Our cook kept telling the market sellers that we were the ones cooking the meal...and they were so impressed that we knew what ingredients to shop for and how to cook it. The ride back on the matatu was hilarious too! It's too hard to describe, but let's just say there were barely 2 seats available in the matutu we flagged down....and yep, we all 3 hopped in....I turned around and my roomie's face was smashed almost into the back of my head! I'm still laughing thinking about the look on her face and the comment she made, "...and how is this any safer than riding a boda". (Those are the motorcycle-like bikes that we are banned from riding because so many people get extremely injured on them). Well, we then spent ALL day cooking....such a fun experience for us and the 2 cooks. (I do believe they got great pleasure watching us try to cook, of course with LOTS of help from them, hehe). The meal turned out quite delicious...it was like a Ugandan Thanksgiving meal :)

Friday we ventured to a local "Friday craft market". It's the only day I really get to shop, can you believe it?! ;) Then Friday night, a couple of us went to see a play at the church. I just love learning more about the culture and God's People. The best way to do this is to be led by the Holy Spirit and to jump right in and engage yourself (no matter how uncomfortable it feels).

Besides that....hung out, played cards, talked, went to the pool a couple times, talked some more, read a lot, caught up on sleep, took walks, listened to music, prayed a lot, practiced some more guitar, tried to catch up on emails....just a nice, relaxed week :) You have to keep it pretty simple here...I am in Uganda after all!!

PS I was having dinner one evening this week in our guesthouse and glanced up to just say hello to a couple that I had never seen at the guesthouse before (just to be friendly). Suddenly, she stopped and said, "hey I know you..." I then looked up and recognized that I did indeed know her!! Back in 2007, my first trip to Uganda, I went with an organization called BWO to Jinja and Masaka. She was helping to run a baby orphanage in Jinja, and helped us with the medical team (which I was a part of). She "just happened" to be in Kampala to go on safari and it "just happens" that they got grouped with our team to all go on safari together!! She's only ever been on safari once before and she lives in a town about 2 hours away...the chances of us just crossing paths are so slim....God is amazing!!! She's a missionary from the States, and has now been in Uganda 5 years. I was talking to her a bit about full-time missions :)

Thanks again for all the prayers and continued encouragement! I love getting emails and texts from everyone!! I tend to highlight and write about the amazing things here, but this trip hasn't always been easy...I've definitely hit major low points. Just last night I struggled with little sleep because it was miserably hot and I was in incredible pain (several of you know that for the past several week, I've been battling with kidney stones...yeah, I learned my lesson DRINK LOTS OF WATER while on mission trips :) ) only to wake up still in pain, groggy because of no sleep, and immediately discovered that I lost my camera (through a dream I had the night before) but it contained ALL my pictures since the beginning of my trip :( What a way to start the day! However, God is faithful and still in control. I can't fix my eyes on the circumstances or myself...because that's exactly what the enemy wants. Instead, I told God how I was feeling, told Him how amazing He is, and who He is in my life, and then began telling Him all the things I'm grateful for in my life....and am continuing to keep my eyes fixed on Him instead of my circumstances. (The Bible tells us to be thankful IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances....certainly not grateful that I lost the camera, but I sure can keep an attitude of gratitude!) You can either fix your eyes on all the joy stealers and watch life pass you by, or you can fix your eyes on The One who brings joy and created life and you can chose to live life to its fullest, as the salt and light of the world (there is always someone around you who needs a smile, needs to hear encouragement, needs to hear about the hope of Jesus Christ, or is living in poverty and needs the basics of life to survive)!! Sooo, I do thank you for the continued prayers, because I/we need them :)

Until next Monday.....

Living to know Him more and more,

Michelle