Yesu Ni Wangu

Our morning started with singing "Yesu Ni Wangu. Wauzima Wamilele" (Jesus is mine forever and always) right along with all the Africans. Church here is about two to two and a half hours long. It was pretty rough simply because I had a hard time understanding everything that was going on, and yes, it was in English. I realized that it is a time for lots and lots of community and church announcements. Think about how hard it is to make announcements about the community when most people don't have phones or TVs. Minus the length, it was about the same as church in America. I can't really tell you what I learned because I had a hard time following. :/ I did do some scripture memorizing during it though, which I feel was pretty productive.

This afternoon was spent relaxing and napping (with earplugs)! Between the road, the other MSTs, the chickens outside, and the little kids playing, earplugs are a necessity. Maybe now is a good time to learn not to be such a light sleeper. It's kind of like survival of the fittest .. my body will crash eventually even if it's really loud.

Tonight we went to the Cultural Center and had dinner and watched traditional Ugandan dancing. It was about 3 hours long, and they did dances from all over Uganda. Jonah, one of the Ugandans, sat by me and kept me updated on everything. While the girls and boys were changing clothes, the MC would crack jokes about Africa and wow .. they were even funny to Americans. Jonah decided that I was an African simply because I had big hips and a big butt .. hmm .. interesting? -- EAC is building a training center kind of close to the village of Zirowbe, and Jonah's vision is to have that kind of thing there to help raise funds.

My friend Stefanie and I decided last night that we were going to memorize a verse a week while we were here. I feel like that's more than practical. Any suggestions? Satan used scripture to tempt Jesus, and Jesus then used scripture to stand firm, so I need to make more of a conscious effort to do that. We did a time of verse sharing last night, and one of the ones that really hit home was, "For we cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20) I think that's going to be the theme of my trip.

Fun Facts:

- Ugandans think that white and Asian kids are the cutest thing EVER! Jonah went crazy at how cute the little Asian kids were.

- The Ugandans get asked at least 3 times a week if we can be bought. (The other day a taxi driver asked Ivan if he was really rich because he had so many white girls in his taxi. (we use old taxis as our vans). When he said no, the taxi driver proceeded to try and convince Ivan to sell me).

Of course, we danced with the kids that were there. They were all soooo cute!
We went into town yesterday afternoon to just walk around the downtown area, and we took a taxi to get there. Every taxi driver was trying so hard to get us to ride in his taxi. They have a driver, and then they have a "conductor." The conductor just sticks his hand out the window waving if there is an open space. To catch a taxi, you just wave back, and they pull over wherever you are and then merge back into the "lane" without even glancing to see if anyone is coming. I guess it wouldn't matter because it wouldn't prevent them from merging anyway.
We went to this cafe in the city, and this was sitting on the table. How weird is that. Not only is it only from America, but it's from home sweet home LOUISIANA! Collin, one of the Ugandans, really likes fleur de lis.

These videos are just some of the ones that I recorded tonight. I have lots and lots more that I would love to show you!

Tomorrow is a day of planning. I don't do well in meetings, so that will be quite interesting.

PRAISE THE LORD!

-B