Find Religion

the first flight from nyc to london was so much fun. christina and i sat by a guy in college who was returning to kenya where his family are missionaries there. he hadn’t been home for 2 years. we made a club sitting together for 7 hours. the name of our club was the 50s club haha.. we figured since we were all single and sitting in row 50 on the plane it would make for a club.

next we spent the day in london where we ate breakfast at a restaurant in the airport. the service was really really slow so christina and i got our bill and decided that if we would put money down we could leave. well we didn’t know that our bill was written to us in pounds and so our waiter comes running down the airport calling us to come back hahahahaha… finally the poor little guy caught up with us and he explained how we had to double the amount since you need more american money to equal british pounds. we laughed all day about that experience.

then we come to uganda on saturday morning. the plane ride from london to uganda was good… christina and i were cracking up at anything becuase we were so sleep deprived and excited to be going to africa. so we end up making it to entebbe where we found our driver named abdula who was a very cute ugandan man. he was about dads age and very happy to see us. ha, he went to pick up our bags and nearly fell over so we offered to carry them ourselves, but he refused and ended up so winded by the time we got to the car he started laughing and asked us if we brought the whole united states with us.

next we drove 4 hours to jinja where we met ruthie the volunteer coordinator. shes actually form colorado and our age. currently there are about 18 volunteers around college age here. 2 guys and 16 girls. the girls are all sleeping in this house were we have a shower!!! and a normal toilet!!! (well kinda normal, it only flushes every 1/2 hour) but we aren’t having to squat over a hole in the floor so i’m living the high life! its been so fun, the other volunteers are amazing! They’ve made us feel so much at home! Wait, my capitialization button is now working!!! Ha gotta love stuff here!

So we went out to eat on saturday night and celebrated the fact that 2 girls were leaving after 3 months there. it really wasn’t like celebrating it was more like wishing them goodbye. then sunday the whole day was pretty much just spent in prayer, reading our bible, and just allowing god to show us what he wants us to do there.

(yesterday)-monday i walked to the babies home where there are about 70 children ages newborn to 5. i will be spending every monday, wednesday, and friday there with them. i’m working the toddlers room. so there are about 30 children running around and crying haha… but they sure are cute! i’ll be there from 8am-5pm on those days. then tuesday & saturday i get to do one on ones with children from 8am to 10am and then have the rest of the day off until 5pm - 7pm where i go and help the mamas put the children to bed. thursdays are my day off and so i can do laundry or hang out with the other volunteers and sunday everyone has off.

heres some fun stuff about what i’ve been doing, eating, and wearing.

when i’m not with the children i’ve been practicing on josh’s (one of the guy volunteers) guitar. he showed me lots of stuff and we went to the calvary chapel church right around the corner from our house to help teach some ugandans some things. actually josh taught them some things and i learned I was playing chords wrong, holding my pick wrong, and twisting my wrist too much hahaha… the other ugandan men laughed because they were doing no better!

i’ve eaten some strange but good stuff. I’m not sure of the names so i’ll describe them too you. i’ve eaten boiled bananas with peanut sauce… ha doesn’t remind me at all of mashed potatoes with gravy. then they eat alot of green grass like stuff that can taste good, but i have no idea what it is. i just pretend its like salad. they also eat a lot of potatoes boiled. the funniest thing out of it all is that it’s like 90 degrees here and all their food is piping hot!!!! so this morning when i took my little toddler girl to this cafe for some one on one time i got a fruit smoothie, which if you know me well enough i usually hate smoothies, but this one tasted amazing since it was like 85 degrees out. As for my clothing situation, i’ve been wearing a lot of the same things over and over again, the word dirty has a totally new definition now that i really see how dirty i am… hahahaha like i was holding this toddler boy yesterday who is autistic and his diaper somehow leaked onto my shorts…when i realized the brown substance on my leg wasn’t dirt I laughed and the mama laughed and pointed and goes “oh my….auntie” hahahahaha so she gave him and bath and me a rag and those lil shorts stayed on me for the next day. oh yeah by the way, the children call all the ugandan women who work with them everyday mama’s and the volunteers they call us aunties and uncles. so i’m auntie hillary which is extremely hard to say so i tell them they can call me auntie h.

If anyone is worried about me you don’t have to be. i’m completely safe here and the 2 guys usually ask if i want them to go with me anywhere so if i was really scared i could always ask for their company. there is also a guard at our gate into the volunteer house and usually at least 2 guys at the babies house at all times.

i’m really enjoying myself here and the fact that life is much slower. also the friends i’m making are very amazing. the lord is definately here and it’s really cool to be a part of his work. i’m loving every moment here and the time christina and i have been spending together. so far we haven’t gotten sick but all the other volunteers have so just keep praying for out health that would be amazing!

well i love you all and will try to write again in about a week!
have a great week in the usa! oh yeah, even though this is their winter season, it does not feel at all like winter to me!